Jake Sitler was a latecomer to professional cycling, though he quickly made up for lost time. Within a few years of joining the sport in his mid-20s, he was competing at top international events, like the Rás Tailteann (Ireland’s most-prestigious race), where he finished second in a 2017 group stage.

Sitler also had an abrupt exit from the sport. The year after he set personal records, he got T-boned by an SUV at an intersection. He was riding at 40 miles per hour. The car, which blew through a red light, was going equally fast. After a gruesome vertebrae injury, he began using products derived from hemp — a subcategory of cannabis sativa (the plant from which we get marijuana) with low levels of THC, the chemical compound that produces a “high” — for pain relief.

“Hemp saved my life,

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