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Many years ago I was sitting at my computer smoking after work like I normally did, and I asked myself, "What would I be doing if I wasn't smoking right now" and I couldn't answer it. I tapered off pretty easily and began to fill my time with other hobbies.

I was never the type of smoker which was "active". I would smoke socially and began to hate that I could never remember people's names or conversations. It made me fairly quiet and anti-social compared to without.

Now I really can't enjoy marijuana, even when buying low THC high CBD bud and vaping it, it's still very easy for me to overshoot and get into a state I hate. Marijuana turns me into a complete idiot and creates a sort of cerebral haze I can't stand.

I really dislike the lack of education surrounding marijuana. People, especially young people, seem to disregard the impact of excessive consumption. You can argue with me all day it's safer than alcohol or tobacco, and I agree if we're talking equivalent amounts, but I'm not saying you should drink daily or multiple times a day for years.

Everybody is different, my experience isn't necessarily everyone else's. For those that do fall into the trap of spending too much money, time, and failing to understand how weed might be holding them back, better education, regulation, and support should net society a bunch of happy well informed people living their best lives.

4 comments

> it's still very easy for me to overshoot and get into a state I hate. Marijuana turns me into a complete idiot and creates a sort of cerebral haze I can't stand

I can only enjoy THC as a sleep aid for the reasons you’ve highlighted above. For me, it feels like mj is underclocking my brain. I am aware of it and I hate being slow. It’s a terrible feeling. I enjoy alcohol much more even though mj is safer overall.

The real danger of marijuana is that for a small portion of the population it can induce schizophrenia, but it only affects a very small segment of the population since I believe you have to be in your early 20s or younger and be genetically prone to it

When I was in college I tried weed. It was not a recreation for me, it just put me to sleep, a couple hits and I was out on the couch. So I never got into it.

Fast forward a few decades. I now have chronic insomnia due to things like on-call and anxiety. My brain will not shut down enough for sleep. I had tried Ambien, melatonin, blah, blah. Nothing really worked. I went to a party, they had green brownies. I was on the verge of a migraine, so I had a couple. Out on the couch in half an hour. I woke up without the migraine.

So now I use THC/CBD to deal with migraines and insomnia. I can get a good night's sleep if I take a nice, measured dose gummy just before bed. I wake up slightly before my alarm, alert and refreshed. This is a big change from before. If I feel a migraine coming on I put stuff on hold, take a big dose of CBD and some THC and sleep it off. I wake up without the post-migraine stupids that Imitrex causes.

Used responsibly, in moderation, it can have a life-changing benefit - just like other drugs. If it's abused... well, alcohol abuse will kill you too.

Interesting. For me the roles are reversed. Alcohol makes me feel dumb, like I can't think as fast or clearly. THC has a very different effect. I don't feel slow, I mostly feel calm and clear. Sort of in the ballpark of meditating. I've done some of my best writing on weed. I've written some great code high. I prefer low doses (10mg) of a nice hybrid edibles with a decent amount of CBD (1:1 or 2:1) for this.

And yeah, the schizophrenia risk would make me think twice about it if that ran in my family. Though I'm now at an age where that wouldn't matter (schizophrenia almost always manifest by your 30s which I cleared a while back).

>For me, it feels like mj is underclocking my brain. I am aware of it and I hate being slow. It’s a terrible feeling.

That's funny. I like it because it underclocks my brain. It's not as needed these days now that I have meds for ADHD, but before I was diagnosed my brain felt like I was constantly thinking too fast. While I enjoy that I make connections quickly and that I retrain and recall information quickly, it's a depressing burden when it's out of control. So before the meds weed was the only thing that kept me feeling calm, focused and in control

I am in the same boat… there is a serious lack of education. It’s like the pendulum has swung completely the other way from drug abstinence, and now there is tons of disinfo claiming weed is harmless and non-addictive when that’s not the true story.

I’m still in favor of legalization, but cannabis needs some of the regulations we apply to tobacco. Producers shouldn’t be able to make packaging that looks like a bag of skittles or a candy bar. There needs to be warnings on the packaging, informed consent when purchasing it, possibly even hotlines or pamphlets given out to help young people avoid addiction.

Because children will think smoking weed is like eating a candy bar?

I don't know of any place that allows selling to minors or even allowing them in the store. What good is changing wrappers when kids don't shop in those places?

Cannabis has stronger laws compared to tobacco already. Plenty of medical and church related pamphlets exist. What do you think is missing?

The truth is you grew up and turned into your parents.. it happens to many who have kids.

> Because children will think smoking weed is like eating a candy bar?

Yes and no.

Yes. Kids sometimes find parents/adult things and think it’s candy and eat it. Parents should be careful blah blah blah. Parents make mistakes. Kids are crafty at rifling though cabinets. Making something look like candy increases the odds kids eat it by mistake.

But also by making things taste good (esp addictive or habit forming things) you’ll increase the ease at building the habit. Ask Juul how that’s going. That’s the whole idea behind menthol cigarettes and mango vapes. Make the habit easier. Even for adults.

Cannabis has stronger laws around distribution and dosing… tobacco has way stronger packaging and advertising laws. You can’t make nicotine candies, you can’t use shiny flashy colors, you can’t make fun ads etc. You can do that with cannabis.

> The truth is you grew up and turned into your parents

Sometimes you grow up and find out adults knew a few things about the world.

You can think cannabis and drugs should be legal without thinking it shouldn’t have basic regulation to protect people from themselves and from the product. We have plenty of other laws for other products to prevent bad advertisement or to include warning labels.

For what it’s worth, I personally think we should require things like edibles to be low dosage and packaged with warnings but I think we should still allow candies and fun packaging. But I’m a sucker for a cool package and maybe that’s the point…

The problem is that the weed community actively silences any mention that there might be any danger involved. I’ve had multi hour exchanges where I’ve sent peer review studies showing it is dangerous and been constantly shut down as a federal agent or FUDder

Totally agree. I hate modern weed. It is as if all alcohol producers were in a race to create the highest proof moonshine but I just like having a glass of wine.

Of course, everyone drinking moonshine is also going to lead to more alcoholics than people just having a glass of wine socially.

I use to be able to smoke once a month and not even think about it the next day. Any modern strain I wake up the next day thinking "I should smoke more weed!". Just crazy.

Indica or sativa? Most people with complaints as you describe are smoking indica, sativa is more appropriate for social situations, but can still make you get stuck in your head. Most people I know who use sativa find it helps their creativity.

If one more person tries to tell me it's strain... Both, any mixture, any strain. Edibles, vaping, smoking, all of it.

Some of the more pleasant times are when I mix up ABV (already vaped weed) into edibles. Those I can get weak enough and with only the more stony compounds remaining where it can be pleasant, but it still turns me into a drooling idiot with absolutely horrific munchies.

> If one more person tries to tell me it's strain

It's like telling an alcoholic to try switching from vodka to tequila, because vodka makes you angry and depressed but tequila makes you a fun drunk. THC is THC, and any difference is psychosomatic.

Drinking beer vs vodka is a big jump. Fruity drinks with vodka can leave you trashed because of the high.

If you think all weed produces the same effects then you first need to understand it's not all about thc.

First lesson Terpes: https://www.amazon.ca/Primary-Terpenes-Cannabis-Marijuana-In...

Next lessons: thc vs thca vs cbd

THC is THC, but there are other compounds in the plant that appear important in the texture of the experience. Many people report the same, and following the delta-8 legalization wave they are apparently fractionally distilling the plant extract and separating out many of the active components.

https://bedrocan.com/international-research-shows-no-genetic...

> The research shows that genetically it is impossible to prove whether a cannabis plant is an Indica or Sativa. There is no difference in the genes.

> The overall chemical profile, like the genetics, shows no apparent difference between the labels.

The GP is talking about the "overall chemical profile" that depend on the strain and growing conditions. There are over a hundred cannabinoids identified in cannabis that have a variety of effects in humans (not to mention the terpenes/terpenoids), including several that are produced when THC oxidizes so the "overall chemical profile" depends on the age of the plant matter in question as well as how it was processed and stored.

Whether the Indica/Sativa marketing labels correlate with that chemical profile or not is besides the point. We know that different batches of the same strain can have different concentrations and ratios of all the of the relevant compounds because most legalized states require testing every batch. I don't know of any high quality research that studies how the subjective experience correlates with different doses and ratios but given that at least one of the most common compounds in cannabis is FDA approved to treat epilepsy (Epidiolex) and all the anecdotal evidence, it's really not a stretch to see how different strains produce different highs in different people.

I mean, this is like saying that sweet onions aren't sweet. Yes, it's a regular onion, but growing conditions, fertilizers, and in-situ conditions mean that it is, in fact, a sweeter onion. Genetics would show that it's not different, but it has an obvious difference which is measurable through non-genetic means.