This article was produced through the NPR NextGen/Texas Observer Print Scholars program, a new collaboration designed to offer mentorship and hands-on training to student journalists and recent graduates interested in a career in investigative journalism.
Every morning when Viridiana Edwards wakes up, she says her body feels like a roll of aluminum foil crumpled up into a tight ball. Her legs are numb; the muscles in her arms and back are tense. She feels so tense that when she lifts her arm up to brush her teeth, she worries she might pull a muscle. “The best way I can describe it, is just a marionette that’s been in the case for years,” Edwards says. “I feel like a puppet with all of my strings in a knot.”
So she starts each morning with a series of stretches, and by rubbing a homemade body oil on her neck—one made with olive oil, chamomile and arnica flowers, and cannabidiol (CBD) derived from hemp. Almost immediately, she says she starts to relax. “Once I use my CBD, it’s like the strings just fall off.”
