FACES IN THE FIELD
FACES IN THE FIELD:
CJ Hagan from Green Xtrax B Y I A N S T UA R T
CJ Hagan is a Maine-based caregiver who owns and operates Green Xtrax located in Southern Maine. CJ grew up in the Garden State of New Jersey, playing sports year round, a healthy and happy four-season athlete. As an energetic and focused young man who excelled in long-distance running, it was clear that he was headed toward his lifelong dream of an athletic scholarship. CJ’s dream of a collegiate scholarship was tragically cut short after an unfortunate diagnosis; at 18, doctors found a tumor the size of a cantaloupe growing on his spine. “I went from practice to emergency surgery in a day,” CJ lamented during a phone interview. With the tumor being as large as it was and located where it was, CJ’s doctors were not sure they could operate on him. He was warned that not only would he never walk again, there was also a chance he wouldn’t live through the surgery. So, at 18, CJ went through a full 24 hours of surgery. The surgery was successful, but his future was uncertain. Determined and unwilling to succumb to his medical diagnosis, CJ pushed himself as hard as he could, and within a year he had amazed his medical team. Not only had CJ taught himself how to walk, but he had also started running again. Defying all odds, he began practicing with his team, determined and aiming for his dream of an athletic scholarship. “I didn’t know it then, but it was a pipe dream. About the time I started practicing again, I went in for a routine check-up. The tumor was back. I needed another surgery.” Crushing news. CJ was angry. He had done everything his doctors had asked, he had pushed and worked hard to get where he was, and the tumor was
back. The second surgery was successful but had put CJ in a tough spot emotionally and physically. His doctors loaded him up on pain pills and other medications that left him feeling half alive, “a shell,” he said. He was lost after high school, his dreams of a scholarship shattered. The medications were weighing on him, making life more difficult. He began to research cannabis oil as an alternative. With the help of the oil, he was able to wean himself off the pills he was prescribed. He was able to eat and sleep better, and his strength was returning. As he began to feel like his old self, CJ decided to enroll in a local community college but was arrested on campus for making edibles. With three arrests in three years—all simple possession charges—it was time to move to a place that was more cannabis-friendly. CJ and his girlfriend Haley packed up a little van and moved out west to California to work on a commercial marijuana farm. Their time there was short-lived. After a few events occurred that were out of their hands, they decided it was time to move again. They were invited up to Maine by a friend who happened to be a caregiver with a garden. CJ, continuously educating himself on cannabis oil, began to process extracts. “Right place at the right time.” CJ was able to work with a number of local caregivers and continued expanding his knowledge of extracts. A year after moving to Maine, CJ started Green Xtrax. With a focus on extracts, they began to perfect their full-spectrum concentrates. CJ talks about his Rick Simpson Oil (RSO) and concentrates bringing relief to MAINECANNABISCHRONICLE.COM
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