But Doc, I don't smoke pot!
That's what he said, this 50-something truck driver on the other end of the phone,when I told him his random urine drug test was positive.
"Can you help me understand why the specimen you submitted was positive for THC, the metabolite of marijuana?", I responded.
"All I know is I take a little of this hemp oil under my tongue at night to help me sleep. It's the only thing that works and doesn't make me hung over in the morning" he said. "I buy it online as a nutritional supplement. It's legal!"
So okay, I look into it.
And what I found was pretty amazing. There are videos on You Tube of persons with severe Parkinson's movement disorders that dramatically improve only a few minutes after taking a couple drops of this oil.
Turns out this CBD hemp oil doesn't make you high, but can help several medical conditions... Things like seizures, pain, as well as the movement disorder caused by Parkinson's disease.
Problem is, it may or may not be legal... hard to say, and it depends.
What may be needed is a new state law that allows Tennessee hemp farmers to make the oil and sell it, or maybe they can just sell the hemp to a state licensed company who then makes the oil and distributes it.
Hello lawmakers? Can you please look into this?
Oh, by the way, I still had to tell his employer the drug test was positive. He said he'd worked for the company many years, would talk with them and they'd understand. I wished him luck.
Matthew Hine, M.D.