Hey GC! Well I've been lurking in the shadows (myyyy precioussss) and finally decided to sign up since it's good to know others with more experience. Little about me. Never was a pot smoker until about a year ago. Long story short, my back gave out one day at work and I couldn't walk or hardly breathe the pain was so intense. After the hospital it took almost a month to be able to walk upstairs (I crawled before then to make it since my wife couldn't carry me). Sex hurt like hell, the pain meds didn't help and I soon began washing the pills down with 5th's of vodka almost daily. I became a total asshole (I read the rules which clearly state I can not call others names, yet nothing of calling oneself such lol), severe depression and my family could barely stand to be around me. Lost job, had to move back to this crap-hole desert from beautiful Colorado. Moved in with family, finally found a job that I can do (previously auto tech of 16 years) and one of my old friends one night on the phone told me to try it. Not hard to find on CL lol. I didn't want to waste my money on garbage and found another Colorado transplant (WOOT!) that hooked me up on some juicy fruit. One good hit and I felt so much better. 2 and I was good to go. The drive home took another, I told my wife I loved her like a dozen times, cried because I FINALLY had some real relief and then we ordered $20 of mexican food from our local 24 hour spot. Fast forward, my wife always asks how much I have so she can put it in the budget. Everyone that's close to me knows I smoke now and is very supportive. Seeing how much it helped my life, people are starting to ask questions. I learned what types work for me so far and have tried about 6 good strains. I still have a LOT to learn but personally I can say this... without marijuana, I'm on 2 pain meds, muscle relaxer, anti-seizure med (to help with inflammation) and acid reflux meds. Not counting my thyroid medication, I would take a dozen meds a day. WITH marijuana, just my thyroid BTW, final diagnosis is Spinal Arthritis/Degenerative Disc Disease... I will have to have surgery in the future, but pot will help along the way and so far has taken me from ready to go under the knife to greener pastures lol. I'm preaching to the choir here, but there is SO much pot-ential in this wonderful plant. I guess you can say I love her. Anytime I hear about someone with chronic pain, I suggest it. Brief explanation that you don't have to get "stoned" for it to work, etc. I would love to grow and learn all about how to use the whole plant. Buds, leaves and all. So that's where I am now and hope to learn more from seasoned tokers/growers. Thanks for reading my long post (blame the sativa lol). Happy toking!