Under The Radar
Trevor Marcotte graduated from Wahconah Regional High School with a 4.0 grade point average and five football records, including: most rushing yards, total yards, and touchdowns in a season. Marcotte can run a 4.48second 40-yard dash, bench 335 lbs five times, and run 22 miles a week. In addition he was accepted into the top ranked physical therapy school in the country. But unknown to most who pass him by, Marcotte has a dirty little secret. He takes drugs.
Does he take A.) Alcohol B.) Steroids C.) Marijuana or D.) Adderall ?
The answer is C, but most would not assume such a talented person uses marijuana. In today’s society there is much debate on the topic of medical marijuana and its complete legalization. Scientists and politicians are hesitant to legalize a drug that is thought to create a generation of Cheechs and Cheongs.
Since he was 15, Marcotte has suffered from hereditary migraines. “It’s like someone is taking a nail and hammer to the right side of my head. Sometimes I feel really nauseous and I just want to curl up in a ball. Any light and sound any non ordinary smell can trigger it. It got really really bad, two years ago, I had migraines six times a week and I began vomiting. I had no appetite and it made me not want to do anything.”
Marcotte’s roommate is Jeffrey Cirillo a physical therapy student from Longmeadow, Mass. Cirillo described Marcotte’s migraines as devastating. “He is almost incapable of doing anything when he has them. The lights are off in the room with no T.V. or loud sounds. He is both light and sound sensitive.”
Like any patient with migraines, Marcotte was given pain killers like Vicodin and Vicoprofen. “At one point I was on 12 different medications. I had to get blood drawn three times a week because they had to check my liver and kidney enzyme count and heart function and spinal cord function and I had to get spinal tapped. I actually saw a 5 percent decrease in my liver enzymes and an 8 percent decrease in my kidney enzymes.”
During his senior year, Marcotte found something that most people with hereditary migraines never find, relief.
Marcotte discovered the herbal therapy of marijuana and began smoking under his family’s radar to help his migraines. Most children get grounded or beaten when their parents go in their room safe and find three-quarters of an ounce of marijuana, but Marcotte got a prescription. After his parents realized how much the marijuana helped his migraines, they went to his fifth neurologist and got a prescription for five milligram liquid THC tablets.
“I take the weed pill typically once when I wake up and once before bed, and maybe one or two during the day if I have a nasty headache (before it reaches a migraine). Marcotte gave a Cheshire Cat smile as he described the wonders that marijuana has done for him.
“Taking the pills, one, takes away my headaches, two, it calms me down, three, it helps my anger issues and it keeps me from getting stressed, and four, when I don’t have to worry about throwing up or curling up in a ball because it takes my nausea away so I can eat, and I can concentrate on other things more. Instead of six migraines a week, it’s now one or two a week which is a huge difference for me. There are no limitations or side effects from the pill, just relief.”
Cirillo also noticed a positive difference in his roommate from freshman year. “Since Trev has started taking his medical marijuana, he has been a much happier person. I cannot remember the last time I heard him say that his head was killing him, or the last time I came in the room and the lights were off and blinds shut due to his migraine.”
Marcotte’s enthusiasm over marijuana is not uncommon and either are his results. In his freshman year of college, when he smoked only twice, Marcotte had a g.p.a of 3.5. He has since increased his grade point average from 3.5 to 3.8 in the top ranked physical therapy program in the country using weekly.
“It doesn’t affect my work because I’m focused on work and not pain.”
Marcotte is extremely hard working regardless of his drug use. All the social stigmas that go along with marijuana do not fit Marcotte’s personality. As Cirillo would tell you, “Trevor is someone who you can trust.” On a regular day you might find him at the union, under the radar, working on his homework due weeks away. Head down buried in his texts with his mind totally lost in the trippy world of human anatomy and body chemistry. He might be a marijuana user but Marcotte is more addicted to the high of success.
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