In 2012, I went on a business trip to the beautiful Rancho Santana resort on the coast of Nicaragua. I was prepared to settle in for a relaxing week of connecting with subscribers and sharing investment ideas. Upon arriving at "the Ranch," I was anxious to hit the beach and enjoy the waves. Having grown up near the New Jersey shore, I was a big fan of bodysurfing: riding the waves without a surfboard. I'd done it hundreds of times before. The only difference between bodysurfing in Nicaragua and New Jersey is the size of the waves. At that time of the year, the waves were 6 to 8 feet in height - about twice the size of the New Jersey waves I was accustomed to. I convinced two co-workers to join me. In retrospect, that decision saved my life. The first two waves I rode into shore were fantastic. I turned around and saw another one building that I wanted to catch. There was just one problem. I had ridden the last wave in so far that by the time I waded out to catch the next one, the water wasn't quite deep enough. And when you're bodysurfing, you want a lot of water beneath you in case you wipe out. I was on top of a 6-foot wave when I realized I had gotten ahead of it. I was staring down at wet sand that looked awfully far below me. With no water to cushion the blow, my neck slammed onto the sand. I saw stars and was violently tumbled around. When I opened my eyes, I found myself facedown in 8 inches of water, holding my breath. And I had a big problem. I was paralyzed from the neck down, unable to move or lift my head up to breathe. As my co-workers lifted me up, I said, "I can't move anything! Drag me onto the beach." They were in as much shock as I was. Fortunately, a nurse from the local medical clinic was showing a visiting doctor the beautiful beach just as I was being dragged out of the water. The doctor immediately immobilized my neck while the nurse helped arrange my transport to a hospital in Managua, Nicaragua. There, it was determined that I had a spinal contusion. That's a serious bruise to the spinal cord. The impact of my injury caused my spinal cord to swell up. That cut off all nerve signals to everything below my shoulders. It took about two years and a lot of therapy for me to regain about 90% of my pre-accident movement. Now... when I was at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital, the doctors over there started me on 50 milligrams of OxyContin two or three times a day. When I left Good Shepherd, I had it down to 10 milligrams three to four times a day. I never became addicted. Nor did I feel any adverse side effects. But I always wondered whether there was a better way to treat my nerve pain. About six years ago, my eldest son suggested to me that I try cannabis. | 
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