What a remarkable story: from cheese to cannabis! I’m still waiting on that infused cheese 
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Thanks for sharing you and your lady’s journey to recovery and how the plant found you. I’ll never forget the day you told me she was cancer free: I sat at this very desk and wept with joy.
It’s great to have you share the story, my brother!
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It’s amazing the path life takes us on. Cannabis people are friendly people! We have a lot of reasons to smile 
Even though you have never considered yourself a patient, you still occasionally use the plant as medicine (hey it beats the conventional pills, right?)
Thanks for the shoutout to @Vangst! Great to hear another successful placement story! Welcome to the business! What has been your impression thus far?
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Wouldn’t be able to share this story without your help there buddy. 
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It’s been an honor to be a part of the healing process. Wouldn’t change a thing 
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Impressions are great so far! There’s seems to be a lot less sharks and shills in this industry when compared to design and marketing, as far as I’ve experienced anyway. Also, because I’m mainly working internally I don’t have to deal with 100s of client requests a week anymore, so that has been a huge relief. Forgot to mention that I have WWOOFed for about 5 months total at 3 different farms in 3 different states (NM, OR, MT) and was very active member of a permaculture group back in Florida, so growing in general is something very familiar to me, I just have never grown cannabis before, maybe soon when I get the space. 
Glad to be a part of GN, thanks for making it such a great community everyone!
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I was cooking lunch on the hotline at a local golf course when Ed Rosenthal and Subcool (Monty Ball) called me and asked me to give them my definition of “phenotype” as they were arguing between each other’s definitions.
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What an awesome topic! Its great hearing others that lives that took that “shift”! Funny how it does!
I will say that I have had that shift as well on a very abstract level.
I can recall a few times in my youth enjoying this green fluffy stuff. Fun story, my very first experience is an exact demonstration on how powerful this plant is!
Working at a truck stop as a teen on graveshifts, getting through school, an older pickup pulled into the parking lot, and parked for a bit with the hood up. Being that at the time and era, seeing a couple hispanic fellas discussing what seemed to be engine issues, in a language I didnt speak, was unusual for that region.
Doing the right thing is what opened my door to cannabis.
After approaching those fellas, even with a language barrier, it was clear they needed oil for their truck, and were short on funds. I left to return with more then enough sufficient oil for them, to fill their engine and give them a little extra down the road. It was blizzarding out, and these fellas weren’t too prepared.
When i thought they would have been on their way about ten minutes later after coming inside, i watched them sit in their truck starring at me until the driver waved to me to come out. Reluctantly, i did so, in hoping they would get going. When i approached the drivers door, and the window rolled down, this little fella pulled a big square squish of alf-alfa wrapped in cling wrap. He pulled out a blade, cut into the side, and grabbed himself a big ol hand full of this green packed plant matter, put it in a sack and gave it to me, then drove off.
Now… here is one of the retarded parts. In my youth, there wasnt a lot going on. At one point I think there was this whole D.A.R.E. thing at some point.
Had that police officer actually had some of that squish on him to show us kids what “marijuana” was (instead of black and white pictures of what looks like fuzzy spiders), and i could have smelled it… I would have thought he consumed drain cleaner. The stuff the southern boys gave me smelled like heaven, and made a lot of sense after smoking it!
Anyways, life went another direction, and it was off the table completely. It wasnt until shortly before retirement, that i had more freedoms to explore what was out there.
Again, that squish found me… This time I was better prepared! For some damned reason, every time I drop a seed in the dirt, what comes out, takes me on another trip to further this whole deal! Having been afforded the opportunity early on in life to travel the world and meet quite an array of cultures, cannabis always poked its face up somewhere. I made to sure to learn as much as i could as that was all I was permitted to, but I made every bit of it count.
Fast forwarding, Colorado was a great intro to commercial cannabis for me. Being that this whole line of fields are so new, its very prime to soak up as much as possible. We are just waking up here in the US… There are many great roads involving this plant! It was actually the aspect of medicinal that made its impact for me. Being that i have a bit of an agricultural back ground involving other crops, i was asked by a parkinsons patient if i could grow a different plant. This is what sparked my drive for cultivation.
We all know… One thing leads to another. Next thing I know, i got to start out trimming for farms, cultivating, helping dispensaries, and just becoming involved with propagating this entire shift as we end prohibition!
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I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s stories ! As for myself, I have been around growing cannabis for as long as I can remember. From my teenage years I had an idea that I would be in the “business” of cannabis in some way or another. Today, after growing, and toking, for much over 40 years I have never had any regrets of my decision. I have great family, and friends, and my love for cannabis has only grown over the years. I keep my “vision” fresh daily (of what I hope to accomplish) and educating myself continually keeps me up to pace. I’m thankful for this community and for everyone who is a part of the conversations within it. As Mark Twain said, “Even if you are on the right track you can get run over if you’re not going fast enough”. We ,as a part of the growing community, need to always keep up the speed of cannabis advancements and this group is helping keep me there.
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It’s a long story…I started smoking as a teen although I was an athlete playing 4 sports in high school. I used cannabis in lieu of drinking because quite frankly, drinking made me sick.
Fast forward 20 years and I has a snowboarding accident while living in SoCal whereupon I break a rib. While getting X-rays to confirm the location of the break, a tumor was found on an adjacent rib which soon led to the discovery that I was dealing with terminal bone marrow cancer.
Within a few weeks my prognosis became clear as I was given 2 -3 years to live. Wrong…my original diagnosis just had its’ 20th anniversary!
During my treatments I received 2 bone marrow transplants and participated in 4 clinical trials in an attempt to help others if I couldn’t live any longer. I received my transplants and care at City of Hope in Southern California where they have remarkable doctors and caregivers. During my second transplant I had lost weight from 190 to 145 lbs. I’m 6’1" and didn’t look well.
While lying in bed during my 61 day stay, I chose to use edibles and MMJ without my doctors knowledge. I felt terrible taking my health into my own hands without my caregiver’s permission and approval…but, I’m still here! Cannabis is a remarkable plant and we are just starting to learn the myriad of medicinal benefits it can provide. Feel free to call me anytime if my story can help any of your friends or family.
Jon Workman
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I would love to play a round of golf with Monty and Ed! I see Subcool around from time to time these days since he is down here with us in the desert.
What a cool foray into cannabis @AlphakronikGenes !
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Ah, the ever great thread of how people got involved in this industry, I love it!
My favorite part is seeing just how cannabis has influenced all of us in different ways! Thank you, truly, for everyone that has shared their stories. It easily puts a big smile on my face, knowing how many people are using cannabis to help them.
My story is pretty simple. It all started out in 8th grade, when I caught my mom smoking. She sat me down and explained how it’s her medicine, and how it’s like when people drink a glass of wine before bed. My mom has a few medical conditions that cause her chronic pain, as well as other things.
Being from an illegal state my mom didn’t have the funds to keep purchasing low grade cannabis. So that’s where I stepped in. I began growing in my backyard, then indoors, all to help my mom get her medicine. Then once the passion took hold, and Ohio had no foreseeable plans to legalize, I decided to head to Colorado to follow my passion.
4 years later and I am completely immersed in the Cannabis industry, and love to spread truth and knowledge to anyone and everyone I can!
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You had me at charcuterie! <3
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You gave me chills! Thank you so much for sharing that. How is she doing?
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You lost me…
But thank you for asking about her. She is doing great so far, excited for her hair to slowly grow back in all sorts of different tones of grey. Bottom line is she beat cancer 3 times!
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I had a friend who helped get me a job working at BHOGART. They’ve been quite good to me ever since.
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I like this topic and I kind of miss it. I want to hear from our @memberdirectory who hasn’t yet posted to this thread. Let’s keep it going!
How did the cannabis industry find you?
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I had my toe in the industry working with Ecommerce solutions with regards to payment platforms to work around banking issues. This was years ago. But it wasn’t until my family was plagued with cancer that I really started looking into medical cannabis options for my family. That endeavor lead to learning more and more about the industry as a whole and it changed my life completely. I refocused my entire life into this space. I have never looked back and I have never been happier!
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Nick,
Key Solutions Group and Bio-Cide together “found” the cannabis industry.
One of the industries we at KSG wanted to target was cannabis and shortly after becoming manufacturer’s reps for Bio-Cide we started the process. We were contacted by a few growers on the East coast and since have been supplying our water treatment technology to these same growers, with great success.
Our product has been proven over and over again throughout the flower and vegetable growing industries, so moving into the cannabis industry was just a natural direction to go.
Thanks for the opportunity to tell our story.
Tom Johnston
Key Solutions Group
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Unfortunate as it is, illness is one of the most common reasons people discover or re-discover the benefits of cannabis. Thanks for sharing @RayWearCC. Glad to hear you have never been happier!
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