'I'm tired of trying to survive': Opioid users seek alternative to manage pain

When Mark Gunn’s spinal nerve pain flares up, he often ends up writhing on the floor, unable to function.

“It feels like somebody has taken a real sharp, frozen knife and punched it in my lower back and it goes all the way down my lower leg. My leg goes numb … and sometimes I can’t move my thumbs and my arms lock up on me,” said the Smyrna resident.

Gunn is on an opioid painkiller regimen strictly regulated by a local pain clinic, and he’s worried he’ll become dependent. To some degree, he already is.

“I’m on 7.5 milligram pills and I took three yesterday and it barely took the pain off. … They don’t even make me high,” Gunn said, who has been taking Percocet, a combination of acetaminophen and the opioid oxycodone.

He said he’s looked into trying cannabidiol (also known as CBD), a non-psychoactive extract of the cannabis plant family.

CBD has been in the news recently with Rutherford County’s Operation Candy Crush. In February, law enforcement agents raided and padlocked 23 businesses in Rutherford County, accusing the owners of selling a controlled substance. The substance in question: CBD, which the Operation Candy Crush indictments labelled as illegal and a Schedule VI drug.

Charges have since been dropped.

More: Operation Candy Crush: Businesses to reopen, judge said

More: 'Operation Candy Crush': District attorney, TBI disagree on who was responsible

What makes it CBD?

CBD that can be sold legally in Tennessee is derived from industrial hemp, a sister plant to marijuana that falls under a strict legal definition. Hemp, like marijuana, is from the cannabis species of plants, but industrial hemp only contains trace amounts of THC.

Gunn is worried about trying CBD because the pain clinic checks his urine monthly for illicit drugs, including THC, a chemical that produces a hallucinogenic effect in users when consumed in larger doses.

“Here in Tennessee, if (CBD) has .3 percent THC or greater, it is viewed as marijuana. If it has less than that, it’s viewed as industrial hemp. How the plant is bred produces the level of THC,” said Christian Grantham, a former hemp farmer who sells CBD products at Wellness Emporium in Bell Buckle and Half Hill Farm in Woodbury.

“A lot of folks who come in really want to know if they can get arrested if they buy it,” Grantham said.

Gunn’s fears of failing a drug test at the pain clinic may be valid. However, multiple clinics in the Middle Tennessee area declined to comment for the story.

More: What is CBD? A glossary of terms

'Safer options'

Murfreesboro mother Shea Brock has chronic spinal pain caused by an autoimmune disease. She was prescribed opioids from a local pain clinic for a while. But she didn’t like the side effects.

“I didn’t feel in control (when taking opioids). Then I reached a level where they’d have to up the dosage to get the same kind of pain control. That’s where people accidentally overdose,” Brock said. “I have two kids. I can’t afford to accidentally overdose. So I had to look for safer options.”

A friend suggested Brock try CBD oil and she did, despite the fact she felt “pushed” to take the pain medication.

“I wanted something more natural. … And I could never take pain medication and consciously go to work and have other people’s lives in my hands. I can’t work, I can’t homeschool, I can’t drive,” said Brock, a registered nurse. “Opioids make me groggy … and I have a slow reaction time. CBD doesn’t do that.”

As a science-minded person, Brock did a lot of research before taking CBD, although she said there are a lot of misconceptions about the product.

“THC (found in marijuana, a “sister plant” to hemp) is what gets you high. When you take the THC out of it, you don’t get high,” Brock explained.

So far, regular use of CBD has helped Brock, although she said her autoimmune disease will never allow her to be “completely pain free.”

“CBD decreases my pain and it’s a safer alternative. I feel like I can function and make decisions without feeling … fogginess and having that delayed reaction time. I didn’t realize until I got off (opioids) what an effect it was having on me,” said Brock, who took opioids for a year before trying CBD.

Getting off opioids is tempting to Gunn, who has taken as many as five pills in a short period of time to relieve pain. As his doses have increased, so has his depression and anxiety.

“I have to be careful. One day last week … I wanted to die. I was done. I’m tired of trying to survive, tired of the pain,” Gunn said.

Benefits of CBD

CBD could be the relief Gunn seeks.

Proponents say CBD is so beneficial because it delivers clinical benefits like marijuana, without the high, Grantham said.

“It’s important people not walk around stoned (high) while trying to address health issues,” Grantham said.

Results for customers using CBD have been “really good,” said Grantham, whose customers suffer from a range of problems such as arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia and autoimmune diseases.

“Lots of people are on paid meds and trying to get off of them. They are looking for a natural alternative,” Grantham said. “People are coming to us in tears for finally finding something that helped them. For decades, they’ve been taking … some pretty dangerous drugs.”

While Operation Candy Crush in Rutherford County negatively affected businesses that were raided, Grantham said he’s noticed a lot more consumers are asking questions and seeking information on CBD in his stores.

“If anything, it’s driven people to our stores and that’s a positive thing that’s come out of it,” Grantham said.

But “ignorant politicians” have perpetuated the misconceptions about non-psychoactive CBD being within legal bounds in Tennessee.

“I think every politician has a mother and father who will suffer later in life and will absolutely benefit from CBD. Every lawmaker will wake up to the fact this helps their family members, their loved ones, the veterans in their lives, preachers, teachers — everybody they know,” Grantham said. “The genie’s out of the bottle and it’s never going back.”

Reach reporter Nancy De Gennaro at 615-278-5148 or degennaro@dnj.com, and follow her on Twitter @NanDeGennaro.