Episode 495: Combat Veteran Faced Prison For Using Medical Cannabis

Welcome to Cannabis Health Radio, where we share powerful real-life stories from people around the world who are using cannabis as medicine. The goal of this podcast is to raise awareness of the healing potential of cannabis and is not intended as medical advice. And now, here's your host, Ian Jessop.

Welcome to the Cannabis Health Radio podcast. I'm Ian Jessop. A big thank you to Swan Apothecary for supporting Cannabis Health Radio and helping make episodes like this possible. Swan Apothecary isn't just about selling cannabis. They're committed to creating safe, lab-tested products that truly support your wellness. From tinctures and oils to topicals and capsules, every product is carefully formulated for consistency, potency, and effectiveness. Not sure which product is right for you? Reach out to Swan Apothecary directly. Their knowledgeable team can guide you based on your goals, whether it's easing pain, improving sleep, or supporting overall wellness. To explore their products, go to cannabishealtheradio.com and use the code cannabishealth to receive 15% off. Our thanks again to Swan Apothecary, because how it's made matters. Now in this episode, we meet Jeff Krynock, combat veteran from Nevada whose life changed dramatically after military service left him dependent on opioids for pain management. Determined to reclaim his life, Jeff turned to medical cannabis and CBD, using cannabis at night to calm severe night terrors and CBD cream to help manage chronic pain. With cannabis, he was able to reduce his opioid use from 11 pills a day down to just 1. But after surviving a tragic car accident involving another driver who ran a red light, Jeff found himself at the center of a legal nightmare. Despite passing field sobriety tests and showing no signs of impairment, He was arrested weeks later because THC metabolites remained in his blood. Facing charges that could have resulted in decades in prison, Jeff ultimately accepted an Alford plea to avoid the risk of a much harsher sentence. Today, Jeff is speaking out about cannabis, DUI laws, the lack of science behind THC limits, and the growing number of medical cannabis patients being criminalized despite Not Being Impaired. Jeff, you got a very interesting story. Thanks for doing this. I greatly appreciate it.

You're very welcome, sir. Thank you for having me.

Jeff, I want to start our discussion with your military service. Tell us about your time in the Navy and the injuries or trauma that eventually led to your medical discharge.

Well, I joined the service in 1999. Went into the Seabees, construction mechanic. My first push to the combat zone was Kosovo. So I did that push, came back, finished my time with the Seabees, and then I went down to San Diego and I got attached with the SEAL teams in San Diego. So that proceeded to push me out to Iraq and Afghanistan combat tours. Um, which was a way different way to see war when you're with SEAL Teams because that's the tip of the spear, you know, when it comes to combat and the constant onslaught of rockets coming in and gunfire and everything else that was going on over there. So I came back with severe PTSD. It was just a nightmare and ended up getting med-boarded out in December of 2013. I was med-boarded out partly because of PTSD, but mostly because of the fibromyalgia and the ankylosing spondylitis arthritis I have that affects my hips and my back. So the pain management for that was, of course, opioids. And I was honorably discharged, came out on opioids, highly addicted, to the point where I wanted to change. I was drinking every day too. I was drinking a bottle of vodka and taking 2 Vicodin and going to the bar. I was totally out of control. I wasn't me. And the other 11 pills, you know, they're for this and that, for inhibitors, for SSIs or whatever they're called, everything else. And I made the choice to get off the opioids. I made the choice to send my family back out to Henderson because I knew I was gonna get very, very dope sick. So I went and got my medical marijuana card, cannabis card, we call it cannabis now. Mm-hmm. And the doctor prescribed an indica to help me sleep and this amazing CBD cream that helped manage the pain. Um, which was—

Jeff, which was worse for you, the emotional part of being in the military or the physical ailments that you suffered?

I'd say it's 50/50. The pain management, I mean, we were on— everyone was on opioids back then in the military. It was given out like candy.

Wow. Yeah, that's amazing. Was there a moment when you realized, I just can't live like this anymore?

Yeah, it was a— I was detached. I wasn't a good father to my twins. I wasn't a good husband to my wife. I was out of control, and I wasn't me. So to the point that my mom said she didn't even recognize me. I was a totally different person then.

Yeah, you know, it's interesting listening to your story because I've, you know, in the past interviewed a couple of people who were in the Vietnam War and in Afghanistan. And they all say the same thing. It's the emotional part of it just drives you crazy. And it's like a loop in your head. It just goes around and around and around. And they drink. They get into trouble. And there's a point where I guess you realize, "Hey, I can't live like this anymore. This isn't who I am." And a lot of them do something about it. And others, unfortunately, the suicide rate in the military is very, very high.

Yeah, yeah. And to caveat on that, I myself am a victim of that because I couldn't shut off the suicidal thoughts and I wound up in a psych ward. For 8 days because I was going to off myself.

Oh man, that's— and so these opioids, they didn't help you at all?

They helped manage pain, that's for sure. I was numb. I didn't feel anything. I was detached though. I mean, that was the That's the whole point of getting off of them is the detachment. Even with the other pills they put you on through the VA system, it's— they're detachments. You're not yourself. You feel like a zombie the next morning.

Yeah.

You're not living your— up to your potential. You're just there. You're a shell.

And you say this was pretty widespread in the military.

Oh yeah, constant, constant veterans tell me zombie state, not themselves. Suicide rate is astronomical still to this day. Even with the spouses of military veterans, the suicide rate is going up because they have to deal with us.

Mm-hmm, yeah. Did it ruin your marriage?

It, it, the marriage got saved. But we did get as far as putting divorce papers in. I moved out. Um, I lived with a friend and then we decided it wasn't best for us after like 6 months, 7 months apart.

Yeah. Well, that's nice. Now the transition into medical cannabis, you mentioned briefly about that, about, uh, the cannabis and the fantastic CBD cream for pain. Tell us about that and how you got into that.

I had a vet tell me that cannabis weren't for him. So he was telling me, you know, you need to kick this habit and get off these opioids because they're gonna kill you. So he recommended the doctor that gave me my medical card, and that doctor was very good on getting the right strain to me and the right CBD cream. California way they did it back then was head and shoulders above what Nevada's doing.

Oh, and, uh, what do you take? You were at 11 pills a day, now you're down to 1, right?

Back then I got down to 1, yes. I was just taking a Motrin once in a while or an aspirin once in a while.

Do you take anything now besides cannabis?

Um, right now it's just cannabis, yes.

So you're pretty much off opioids?

I am. I broke totally free, and even when I had a couple injuries They prescribed opioids and I dumped them down the toilet.

Good for you. Now, let's get to this car accident because I think that is really a miscarriage of justice, what happened to you. Take us through the accident, what happened.

Well, me and my son Got up in the morning and we went out to Shadow Ridge. It's a fossil farm. My son was a dinosaur buff back then, so we wanted to look at some fossils. Well, we were heading back and we were going to stop at McDonald's and get a bite to eat because at that time also I was a coach. I was a T-ball coach, so I coached my son. So we were coming home and I got off the exit. I'm coming through, green light, and bam, car accident. Another driver ran a red light, wasn't wearing a seatbelt. I cooperated with police. Me and my son were wearing seatbelts. We weren't seriously injured. I was administered 3 different field sobriety tests in the hospital. They ended up taking my blood, which I let them take my blood, but they got a search warrant anyways. The cop testified to the judge on the search warrant for my blood that I wasn't impaired, but under the current statute in Nevada, it's not based on impairment. You're under the influence if you're over 2 nanograms.

Hmm.

So When that happened, um, I was let go from the hospital. I wasn't impaired. They let me go home. Then 32 days later, a SWAT team came to my house with automatic rifles and decided to arrest me. I wound up downtown in the county jail. I spent 6 months in jail there before I got bailed out. I invoked my speedy trial. Never got that. Um, the charges were felony DUI resulting in death and felony second degree— or second felony child neglect. So two felony Bs, um, that they were charging me with. Um, I bailed out. I did another year on house arrest. Well, going through this case. I hired a lawyer, we ran out of money, I ended up with a public defender, um, and we were getting ready for trial and the DA came out, um, and offered a deal. But I want to reiterate what was said in the courtroom too. Um, every cop that was on scene testified I wasn't impaired. The cop that administered the field sobriety test wasn't in the courtroom that day. The one that sat with me for 3 hours in the hospital was not in that proceeding. They kept him from that proceeding. I had all the cops testify I wasn't. I had the DA say I wasn't impaired. I had the judge say I wasn't impaired. But under the statute, I was under the influence. So I ended up taking an Alford Clause at the very end of it.

Um, tell us what the Alford Clause is for people who aren't familiar with it.

It means, um, if I took it to trial, I could have wound up with 20 years in prison. That's what they wanted. They were going for 16 to 20 years on the books for me to sit in prison if I didn't take the Alford Clause. Um, I took the Alford Clause under a felony reckless driving and a misdemeanor DUI. The judge during sentencing, because I even reiterated I wasn't impaired, we have the best investigator show that he ran the red light, I didn't run the red light, marijuana was not the cause. It's written right in the accident investigation. But the judge made a very interesting statement. During my sentencing, when I said I wasn't impaired and I didn't understand this, is that she said, you weren't impaired, but I can't do nothing about it because of the law that's written in the books, and I have to charge you.

So her hands were tied because of the laws?

Yes, her hands were tied. I ended up, uh, getting 5 years of supervised probation.

Jeez.

And I finished that in 4 years and got an honorable discharge. Um, but during that time I went up to 22 pills because the judge took away my medical cannabis during my probation time. So I was on 22 pills during that time.

22 pills?

22 pills a day.

Just the anxiety was just driving you crazy?

Yeah, it would— my life was turned upside down during probation. I didn't do anything. I stayed home. I sheltered myself in my house. I didn't go anywhere. I quit coaching. I recently started coaching again. And the fact that I was a coach then and a cannabis user, I was never on cannabis in front of them kids ever. And I only used cannabis in the evening when my kids went to sleep. That accident happened 19 hours after I had last medicated.

What strikes me as very weird about this is what happened to to the guy who hit you in the vehicle that wasn't wearing a seat belt?

He ended up passing away.

Oh, from the accident?

From the accident, yeah. Oh, so I broke down, and that was written in the cop report that my eyes were red from crying, not, not from being impaired. I was not impaired. I did not smoke smoke that day. I, I was following the law. I was going the speed limit. I was wearing my seat belt.

Another thing that strikes me as very odd is when they came to arrest you, it was with a SWAT team.

A full SWAT team had my house surrounded.

Jesus Christ. I mean, that's something out of a Grade B movie.

Yeah. To the point where they were slamming me around and I was being cooperative. I turned to acknowledge another cop because I was barefoot and he asked if I had a pair of shoes. I turned and then the other cop slammed me against the wall.

Oh man, that's, uh, I can understand why you went up to 22 pills a day after that. I mean, your whole life was turned upside down.

Yeah. Well, my life, my family's life, their family's life, everyone's life was upended for this. And, you know, it was a tragic accident.

Yeah. So after the, after the accident and you were— you spent 6 months in jail, you were on probation, house arrest, I guess. For 5 years?

No, house arrest for a year.

House arrest for a year?

Yeah, and then sentencing, I got probation.

Probation. And then you were up to 22 pills a day.

Yes, because we, we can take 22 pills a day and be compliant, but we can't use cannabis and be compliant, which makes no sense to me.

Yeah, I mean, you could have been on 22 pills a day, got into the accident, and nothing would have happened to you.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

God, that is very— that's an anomaly that really needs to be corrected.

Yes, it really does. It got to the point where I got pretty active in advocating for more common cannabis laws and helping people not to fall in my position that I fell into. And I got elected as the president of Coalition for Patient Rights. And right now we're reorging and going to the national level because we're gonna have to take a lot of fighting to the federal level too.

How is your son in all this? He was in the car with you.

He's doing fine. He was a little worried for a little bit in vehicles, but now he's coming around. And he knew I didn't run the red light because we had a conversation while I was in jail. And he goes, Dad, why are you in there? You said green means go. Because I used to tell my kids red means stop, yellow means figure it out, and green means go. And I told him green means go, so he was confused why I was sitting in jail.

How old was he at the time?

Uh, that was in 2017, so he must have been 8 or 9.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. No, 7. He was 7.

7. So born in 2010. Yeah. So when you were on these 22 pills a day, how did you wean yourself off those?

Um, I quit cold turkey. When I got off probation, I went back on cannabis.

Wow. Was that tough?

Um, it was a couple bad weeks with withdrawals from certain antidepressants and stuff. It got a little shaky, but I managed through with, uh, cannabis, and I managed through with CBD again.

Mm-hmm. That, uh, it's amazing what cannabis can do. For you, isn't it? It's totally different than alcohol. People— the thing that frustrates the hell out of me is that people don't understand cannabis. Most people.

Yes, they— the stigma on cannabis is prevalent everywhere, but it actually helps. I mean, it's proven that it helps cancer patients. It's proven that it helps veterans with PTSD. It helps curb the night— night terrors. Excuse me.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And then you use the cream for your pain?

Yes.

Was there any use of cannabis when you were in the military?

No.

Just, uh, just the opioids.

Just the opioids, yeah. I don't know what's going on with my voice.

That's okay. So, uh, what, uh, what does life look like for you now, Jeff?

Um, it's better. I have a better quality of life. I'm a better father now. Um, I go and do more things. I'm not always driving because I don't trust driving and cannabis in Nevada with the 2 nanograms. It's ridiculous. And that law was put in in 1999. Wow. Here in Nevada, and the big finding for it was a study done in 1986, '87, where they were pulling over reckless drivers and urine testing them. Had nothing to do with impairment then either. But that's how Nevada got to it back in 1999.

What has all this taught you, Jeff, about this experience that you had? What has this taught you about resilience? And kind of fighting to correct the wrongs?

Well, I think my story hits hard for a lot of people, and I do a lot of speaking events.

Mm-hmm.

Um, I've spoken to the Normal chapters, I've spoken to the Cannabis Board, um, I've got article in the New York Times, I've got Articles all over the Review Journal, um, legal magazines, um, I go to the cannabis events in town and I tell them 2 nanograms is on the books. You get in a wreck here, you're looking at up to 20 years. And they don't get that. It's not told that if you drive with cannabis the next day and you get in a car wreck, you're gonna get in trouble if you get in a bad car wreck. I mean, it's, it's ridiculous.

How long does the cannabis stay in one's system to make it an impaired issue in Nevada?

Well, that depends which study you look at, but it could be up to 90 days depending on what testing method. And it depends if you're using wax or edibles or smoking.

Yeah.

Um, but in blood it can stay— if you're a chronic user, it can stay weeks in your bloodstream. So it's not science that 2 nanograms is based on. That was the lowest amount they could detect at the time.

And you were a A smoker of cannabis? Or are? Yes.

Yes.

Yes. What would you, if you could sit down with lawmakers today, what would you say to them?

I would say it's time for change. I mean, base your driving laws on impairment, not residual THC left in your bloodstream. You can tell when someone's impaired off cannabis. The cops are trained to do drug recognition, um, base it off impairment. Did they do something wrong? Was there— they can't even go on odor because if you— it's ridiculous. Um, it has to be based on impairment. I mean, that, that's the main goal here. Um, and we're trying to do it for medical patients here and we got kicked kicked to the curb on trying to put BDRs in with our legislation, to the point where when we were doing testimony with them, people that said they were help— certain politicians that said they would help us with our BDR would turn around in session and say it's an unfriendly bill.

BDR, what do you mean?

That's how we change the laws here.

Oh, okay.

And our organization is a unique 501 where we can put law changes in and run them through the legislation.

It's interesting. What is the legal impairment for alcohol in?

0.08.

Yeah, it seems to be everywhere 0.08. So you could have a couple of drinks, be under 0.08, and you'd be fine.

Yeah.

But you could smoke a joint and 3 days later drive and you could be considered impaired.

Not impaired, under the influence.

Under the influence, sorry. Yeah. Under the influence.

Yeah. That's how the current statute reads.

Jesus, that's insane.

Yeah.

I mean—

And my nanograms were at 4:00 the next day, and my metabolite was up to 40. And I remember the DA saying, "Well, he was 8 times over the legal limit of metabolite," because metabolite was 5 nanograms.

Well, you know, the judge was right. You weren't under the influence. You weren't impaired, but there's nothing she could do about it. That's the sad part.

And she was one of the toughest DUI judges in the county.

Oh.

And that's who they pitted me against. And I got a lot of respect for her because she saw the case for what it was.

Yeah, she knew it was bullshit.

Yeah.

Yeah. But I mean, to have a SWAT team come to your house, my God.

That's what I didn't understand. They could have called me. I would have went down. I wasn't trying to run or hide from it. I was just trying to live.

Yeah. Jeff, what keeps you moving forward today?

Um, the fight. We have a long way to go in the cannabis space, and lots of other states here need help too. I mean, We got AGs in states saying horrible things about cannabis that aren't true. We got states rescinding cannabis law. We got other states that are friendly to it, like Colorado. You can be 5 nanograms, but you can rebuttal that if you were impaired at the time. California has 5 nanograms. Washington has 5 nanograms. Michigan doesn't even prosecute their medical patients. But here in Nevada, we stay at basically zero tolerance at 2 nanograms.

Yes, you gotta move, you gotta move, buddy.

I've been trying to tell my wife that for years.

That's right.

The fight is there. I've been working with a little bit of NORML, not too much, a little bit of MPP, couple other organizations, and we're trying to push this. We have a petition to deschedule cannabis in America, 'cause Schedule III still ain't the answer. I mean, it's time to free it. It helps. It's proven it helps. Um, the science isn't there because it was Schedule 1 forever and they couldn't get science on it. Mm-hmm. So once we have more science studies, I'm hoping they'll change their minds because it's proven it doesn't impair you the next day. It impairs you for 3 to 4 hours if you smoke. And if you take an edible, maybe 8 hours, but after that, you should be good the next day.

Yeah, I mean, I took a capsule, uh, 2 nights ago, and I don't feel impaired or under the influence. I mean, it's just— it's nonsense.

Yeah, the whole thing's nonsense.

Yeah.

And they're still giving DUIs here left and right for cannabis now. It's ridiculous.

Jeff, I wish you all the best in the future. I think your story is really tragic, um, the way the lawmakers have gone after you. Uh, you were on opioids, you got off them, and cannabis helped you. Cannabis helped you reclaim your life, I suspect. And I really appreciate you sharing your story. Thank you very much.

And thank you. Thank you for giving me a voice to address this. You know, it, it's people like you that help us push this cause, you know, and we need more people like you in this space.

Thanks for tuning in. You can find more information and check out all our past episodes at cannabishealtheradio.com. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. And follow us on social media and our Rumble channel. This podcast is listener-supported, so if you've found it helpful, please consider making a donation, big or small, right on our site. And if you know someone who could benefit from this episode, please share it with them. Leaving a quick review also helps others discover us. We really appreciate you being here. Thanks again.