Zachary Rinaldo on CBD use in the NHL

Zachery Ronaldo, born in Hamilton Ontario Canada, is a cannabis user. He is also an NHL hockey player who has an anxiety condition that is treatable with a natural product, cannabis.  However, for many years, Rinaldo was treated with pharmaceutical medication. The side-effects from this medication have had devastating effects on his life. Zac spoke at length at the Hamilton Hempfest in June about his CBD use in his life.

Zachery displayed anxiety and sleep disorders early on in his life at age 18. His father is doing what parents do following the doctors’ orders. Zachery was given a prescription for anti-anxiety and medications to aid in his sleeping disorder. He continued to take this medication for three or four years. His hockey career suffered as did his health. His game was off, he was overweight he gained 30 pounds, and he was slow on the ice. It took time, but eventually, through online investigation and speaking with knowledgeable users of CBD, he was able to put the responsibility of the decline in his physical abilities, on the medications he was taking for his conditions. He knew there had to be something else to help him. This was when he turned to CBD. He had researched about using CBD as a medicinal aid, a substitute for the pharmaceutical drugs he had been prescribed and taken for three or four years.  He sought out advice from other athletes.

Three former athletes are part of a wellness company, who believes in treating anxiety and insomnia issues with natural products, namely the cannabis plant. BodyChek Wellness assisted and educated Rinaldo to the benefits of CBD and how it could be the answer to his health problems that had been with him for many years. Rinaldo decided to start treatment for his conditions with the daily regime of CBD and a healthy diet. He did not experience a high feeling that THC another component of the cannabis plant does. Instead of the opposite, he was calm and capable of doing his job on the ice. He lost weight; in fact, he lost 30 pounds and found his way back to the big leagues. He was fast, in shape and ready to do his job in the hockey arena.

His daily regime includes healthy eating and has homed in on the correct amount of CBD needed to maintain his healthy physical, and mental needs. Rinaldo credits the use of CBD daily to his well-being. CBD helped him to:

• Reduce pain associated with musculoskeletal pain from exercise and stiff joints
• Improve sleep quality
• Reduce anxiety

Within one year of removing the pharmaceutical medications from his system, Rinaldo had proven to himself and others what benefits the cannabis plant, particularly CBD can have. The NHL policy for their athletes involves drug testing five times per year. Never has he failed a drug test. However, through respect for the game and his fellow players, Renaldo has agreed to not transport his medicine across borders at the request of the NHL. He feels ok with that decision because his CBD regime has built up his body to where it should be, and he can do without his medicine for a few days when he is working out of the country and borders are necessary to cross.

The “enforcer” as he is known has played over 500 games including 351 of those games in the NHL. He accredits the use of CBD as his saving grace.