Ed Kressy

Ed Kressy may be the only person ever to have once been arrested by the FBI, and gone on to receive a community service award from the director of the FBI. His life’s turnaround is the subject of his book, My Addiction and Recovery: Just Because You’re Done with Drugs, Doesn’t Mean Drugs Are Done with You (Lifestyle Entrepreneurs Press, April 2020).

Growing up outcast and bullied, Kressy found solace in reading, writing, and flights of the imagination. At age fourteen, he discovered a new favorite pastime: drinking.

Through college and a professional career, Kressy progressed through drug addictions: marijuana, cocaine, and, for eleven devastating years, methamphetamine. He threw away his career, home, life savings, amateur kickboxing hobby, all his relationships…even his beloved dog.

Methamphetamine psychosis caused him to believe in vast conspiracies against him. He heard disembodied voices, saw pictures of himself in magazines and newspapers, and tore apart walls and electronics looking for surveillance devices. He carried a loaded pistol for protection against people he thought were after him.

For years, he bounced in and out of jails, rehabs, a psych ward, and a homeless shelter or two. Finally, in 2007, about to be evicted from his flophouse hotel, not having showered or brushed his teeth in months, and nowhere near employable, Kressy made his decision to get clean for good.

Yet he discovered: Just because you’re done with drugs, doesn’t mean drugs are done with you. He continued to experience a schizophrenia-like condition and crushing paranoia around the FBI. Fortunately, compassionate individuals inspired him to pursue a spiritual path of self-improvement and serving others.

Kressy dove into spiritual practices, and dedicated himself to serving his communities. He became a volunteer first responder, and left a lucrative biotech career to pursue socially conscious work. Eventually he joined nonprofits that deliver entrepreneur and employment training to currently and formerly incarcerated men and women.

Incredibly, he even found a way to volunteer for the FBI! He utilized his skills as a self-defense instructor to train FBI SWAT team members in unarmed self-defense. After being nominated to attend the selective FBI Citizens Academy, he began assisting the FBI’s outreach to communities affected by incarceration and addiction. In 2019, at a ceremony at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., FBI Director Christopher Wray presented Kressy with his Director’s Community Leadership Award.

Kressy’s work has been published in The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Vox. As a speaker, he’s inspired audiences at MIT, Cisco, Google, LinkedIn, Slack, and numerous other organizations. He’s won several speaking contests in Toastmasters, and twice appeared on the storytelling stage of The Moth, to positive audience response.

Going forward, Kressy carries his message of hope to the most people who might benefit. He volunteers inside jails and prisons, publishes a weekly blog on recovery called Meditations on Meth, writes articles, conducts fundraisers, and is expanding his ongoing speaking appearances a guest on podcasts.