LINCOLN COUNTY, Ark. (KTHV) - We're putting a face to controversial medical marijuana story.
39-year-old Daniel Hankins of Lincoln County has dealt with chronic pain for a decade now. He says not a day or night goes by when he's not feeling his chronic pain. And now he's now hoping Arkansas voters will feel his pain and allow medical marijuana in our state.
"Caleb, what did you do in school today?" Daniel Hankins asks his son.
Daniel Hankins enjoys some "living room" time with family Thursday evening at home. His sons Caleb and Ryan provide some laughs, keeping him smiling but not for long.
"What are you feeling right now?" THV's Max Seigle asks.
"I'm feeling intense pressure in my lower back, my legs are throbbing," Hankins said.
Hankins suffers from chronic pain. It's something he says started after a 500-pound bomb fell on his back by accident while serving in Desert Storm.
"I have my pain medication here and I have my kidney medication that I just started, they added to it," Hankins said, showing us the bottles of medicine by his bed.
They are medications for the pain and the side effects he gets from pain-killers.
"Just a collection over two years, maybe one and a half years," Hankins said, showing us a nearby drawer packed with previous medications he holds onto in case he needs them.
"The down side to is your tired, you're in bed, you can't do anything with your children that I want to do," Hankins said.
It's a tough situation for a Dad but it's one that Hankins feels could change with medical marijuana.
"I've done a lot of research on it, I've read so much about what this medicine has done for people," Hankins said. "You only take so much, not to where you are stoned as they say, but to where it stops the pain and you're living your life."
That's something he longs to do again and ditch these meds for more fun living room laughs with family.
Hankins condition also makes him unable to hold a job right now. He went to work as a police officer for the City of Altheimer in Jefferson County after his military service. But he says that his pain eventually forced him to leave the department.