Recreational drug use/experimentation

[Cogwulf]

I heavily doubt Cannabis would ever be legalized. It's a political, ethical, social and economical issue.

It's a case of there being little reason for it to be illegal, but not a good enough argument for it to be legal.
The real obstacle would be finding a single high ranking politician who would commit to supporting it.

In the same way there's a good argument for making tobacco or alcohol illegal, but it would never happen.


I've met several people who have either told me or strongly implied that they smoked cannabis regularly for a while, and they all have a certain distant or vacant look in their eyes. Even one person who said he hadn't smoked it for years still had that look.
However, people I've known who have smoked it but only infrequently haven't got this.
Has anyone else ever noticed this?

 

[Solitaire U.]

Yes, people who have smoked pot regularly at some time in their lives do often appear to have an extended range of focus.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

It's a case of there being little reason for it to be illegal, but not a good enough argument for it to be legal.

Yea this is mostly the problem. It's a pretty immature situation.

The real obstacle would be finding a single high ranking politician who would commit to supporting it.

In the same way there's a good argument for making tobacco or alcohol illegal, but it would never happen.

Most definitely, there's too much money involved.

I've met several people who have either told me or strongly implied that they smoked cannabis regularly for a while, and they all have a certain distant or vacant look in their eyes. Even one person who said he hadn't smoked it for years still had that look.
However, people I've known who have smoked it but only infrequently haven't got this.
Has anyone else ever noticed this?

Being far off? Yea. Then there's the LSD look which is similar to the "thousand yard stare". It's unmistakable.

 

[snafupants]

I heavily doubt Cannabis would ever be legalized. It's a political, ethical, social and economical issue.

Right, and alcohol is in an entirely different arena and should be exempt from judgment.

 

[snafupants]

Hallucinogens as a concept fascinates me. Eventually I'll try it. But I'm afraid of the risks, even though the chance is small. Most likely I'll take the risk someday and in one big chunk buy some synthetic variant. Even though there's fleinsopp locally, possibly even on my lawn - it doesn't appeal to me like a synthetic, clean drug does.

Alchohol is... wonderfull. I can drink my troubles away. My brain works better when I'm slightly tipsy. Drinking all evening/night is fun. Mixing various forms of alcohol mindlessly, just drifting along to a state of drunkenness where the world just spins is good. Anything from beer to moonshine is fair game.

There is nothing remotely enjoyable about the spins, and the methanol in moonshine, wait where are the keys? Have you seen the keys?

 

[Cogwulf]

Right, and alcohol is in an entirely different arena and should be exempt from judgment.

Alcohol has been part of human life for millennia. It is simply so entrenched in our culture that it would take several lifetimes to eradicate its use.
Cannabis on the other hand has only been involved in our culture for several decades

 

[snafupants]

Alcohol has been part of human life for millennia. It is simply so entrenched in our culture that it would take several lifetimes to eradicate its use.
Cannabis on the other hand has only been involved in our culture for several decades

At the turn of the last century you could purchase morphine, cocaine, and heroin at a pharmacy or through quasi medical elixirs like cough syrup and Vin Mariani wine.

Alcohol is definitely not the only substance to gain widespread acceptability in the last few centuries, especially if we are extending the scope of this beyond America.

That comment of yours about weed might need a touchup, as hemp has been around for a while.

Several lifetimes to eradicate? Maybe, Prohibition was basically a flop and Americans love their booze even more today.

Personal take: these drugs have been around forever, and are more "organic" than many of the foods we eat. Drugs should be legalized across the board, which would declog prisons, potentially create revenue from taxes, and undoubtedly cripple cartels. Does anyone want the government telling them what they can consume and what, sorry, you will never experience? Obviously, folks would overdo things following these delimitations on drugs, but it would be followed by a leveling out period and a more responsible outlook towards drugs. Anyway, alcohol and cigarettes do the body, and society, more harm than most of the stuff I am talking about. You will find a few elderly former junkies and stoners, but not too many alcoholics and speed freaks, kicking around past eighty five.

 

[Glordag]

<3 Hallucinogens of all kinds immensely. Weed is nice to relax to and get a little more enjoyment out of the senses and contemplation. Caffeine is my crutch. I've done enough caffeine a couple of times to reach the hallucinogenic stages, but I was so strung out that I couldn't sleep for what seemed like eternity and had trouble enjoying the experience. Tobacco and alcohol both fall into sort of relaxing categories for me, though the most enjoyable and outgoing bursts I've likely had in my life came when I was near blackout drunk. Salvia is the only sort of dissociative I've had, and it ranges from mind blowing to intensely scary to kind of dull and lame. Never really tried the rest, and don't plan to.

These days I mostly just consume caffeine with the occasional bit of alcohol. I dip in and out of other usage on the rare occasion.

 

[Meer]

I'm about to try weed again very soon, but I'm always afraid of panicking.

I try to be at least a little drunk before doing anything with marijuana, it seems to help with the paranoia n stuff.

 

[Synchro]

I believe the real reason alcohol and tobacco are dominant is that our culture is based on war; our young males are hardened in order to ensure enough of them will be willing to go to war so that our nation can continue to wage war around the world; it is characteristic of ruling classes that depend on war for control, power and revenue to encourage the consumption of alcohol and tobacco, but especially alcohol...anyone who has spent much time in real drinking bars has seen the bar fights that inevitably break out; in Amsterdam, fights in pot cafes are simply unheard of; ethnobotany studies of cultures suggest that ancient cultures that embraced pot or mushroom hallucinogens were largely very peaceful, not at all given to war or needing to wage war. The ruling class in America uses mostly alcohol and cocaine; the rich kids branch out into speed but only a few get into hallucinogens.

The war on drugs is a cultural war, and has nothing to do with ethics, morals or potential harm; alcohol is a direct neurotoxin - hallucinogens are not, and pot is only mildly neurotoxic over a long period. It turns out now, from recent research, that the standard SSRI antidepressants probably cause far more harm than pot, causing brain remodeling that results in a virtual addiction; stop the SSRI and the patient will plunge into a deep depression they cannot get out of, a far worse depression than they had to start with.

Just a few perspectives on this whole area from my own experience and wide reading on the subject and decades and decades of observation, that might not be represented well here by a younger population.

 

[snafupants]

Good points. Sugar actually played quite a role in perpetuating the centuries long slave trade; that and the perpetual sweet tooth of Westerners. To shift gears, modern antidepressants basically operate, as most people know, by inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin in the synaptic cleft, but the implications are less well known. What happens when you try to fool the brain in this manner? The body has a built in stabilizer on the amount of serotonin in the central nervous system, so the axons send less serotonin and the dendrites wither to receive less. The double whammy is that when you discontinue medication you now have a compromised sending and receiving apparatus and no serotonin in the synaptic cleft because the medication has been discontinued. The inevitable result is a crash. Doctors erroneously interpret this crash as a return of depression because of a discontinuance of medication, when in fact the medication exacerbated the depression through damaging the intricacies of the brain. Doctors seldom wonder if depression, or anxiety for that matter, was more manageable before the medication. So what snafu, offer some solutions. Well, I think it sucks that some people have to face these moods and I will admit that getting the right genes is a crapshoot. No one probably reads these mega posts, but I enjoy writing them anyway. Oh, also ever wonder why doctors, and the clients they see, will insinuate, warn that that these medications might "stop working" after some months? Hm, why might that be? As long as someone is making money...

 

[warryer]

Hey guys I heard jenkem was pretty cool. Anybody ever tried the shit? ....I crack myself up sometimes.

 

[Cogwulf]

At the turn of the last century you could purchase morphine, cocaine, and heroin at a pharmacy or through quasi medical elixirs like cough syrup and Vin Mariani wine.

They still didn't reach the same widespread acceptance that alcohol has. And after being made illegal, the mainstream public perception has been altered to thinking these things are bad.
Legalising drugs would require gaining the support of the public, but just providing evidence in support of drugs wouldn't work, most peoples opinions on the matter are too strong.
The easiest route towards legalisation is waiting for the older generations to die and raising the new generation without bias

Alcohol is definitely not the only substance to gain widespread acceptability in the last few centuries, especially if we are extending the scope of this beyond America.

last few centuries? There is evidence of alcohol production all over the world dating back many thousands of years. Alcohol is almost universal.
Use of all other drugs up until the last couple of centuries has been geographically limited.

That comment of yours about weed might need a touchup, as hemp has been around for a while.

Perhaps, but the point I'm trying to make is about how it fits into mainstream culture.

 

[Andropov]

Did 15mg hydrocodone today for the first time. T'was nice, but I don't think it's something I'll do very often.

 

[Solitaire U.]

I read somewhere that a bag of Reese's Pieces is worth more than Heroin in prison black markets.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

I've met several people who have either told me or strongly implied that they smoked cannabis regularly for a while, and they all have a certain distant or vacant look in their eyes. Even one person who said he hadn't smoked it for years still had that look.
However, people I've known who have smoked it but only infrequently haven't got this.
Has anyone else ever noticed this?

I have not...
Would you say this is some sort of traumatic look or something? Is it something bad?
I know quite some people who have smoked/smoke a lot of cannabis, but they don't look that bad at all. I HAVE noticed however that a large portion of the people I know who have taken LSD seem more cold towards silly human troubles(which is not that bad for THEM, but it's annoying if you want to talk about regular stuff like the weather or relationships.)

Edit: Oh god I just realized I have the thousand yard stare... Is this something that's typical for INTPs? Being lost in thoughts? Should I be worried?

 

[EyeSeeCold]

I read somewhere that a bag of Reese's Pieces is worth more than Heroin in prison black markets.

I think it was a prison story that was posted on /b/.

 

[snafupants]

I have not...
Would you say this is some sort of traumatic look or something? Is it something bad?
I know quite some people who have smoked/smoke a lot of cannabis, but they don't look that bad at all. I HAVE noticed however that a large portion of the people I know who have taken LSD seem more cold towards silly human troubles(which is not that bad for THEM, but it's annoying if you want to talk about regular stuff like the weather or relationships.)

Edit: Oh god I just realized I have the thousand yard stare... Is this something that's typical for INTPs? Being lost in thoughts? Should I be worried?

You should perhaps worry about worrying, but definitely not too much about absentmindedness. Also, with these LSD cases, can you prove that this substance somehow morphed their personalities? Essentially, can you say that they were not slightly that way before? Their indifference to what they perceived to be the mundane may have lead them to attempt to transcend it. You can basically categorize people by the drugs they habitually use.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

You should perhaps worry about worrying, but definitely not too much about absentmindedness. Also, with these LSD cases, can you prove that this substance somehow morphed their personalities? Essentially, can you say that they were not slightly that way before? Their indifference to what they perceived to be the mundane may have lead them to attempt to transcend it. You can basically categorize people by the drugs they habitually use.

Yeah, you're right. It's probably just their personality, it surely did get stronger when they tried hallucinogens though. Until now I've categorized about 3 hallucinogen-people: The escapists, they seem a bit depressed to me, seem kind of cold and apathetic, and tend to use trips to escape from boring reality and feel like a kid again, exploring a new world. If I were to try hallucinogens, I'd probably fit in here pretty well. The fun seeking kind of people, they really make me want to try hallucinogens, because they make the whole experience sound freaking orgasmic. And then the intellectuals, who analyze their experience and try to truly learn from it and make themselves a better person. I could possibly also fit in here.
Usually it's a bit of a merged form of the three though.

 

[Meddle]

Voted alcohol, tobacco (only a couple times, felt good), cannabis (done many times over the last few years, never developed as a habit though), hallucinogens (done mescaline about 5 times), and amphetamines (guessing.. sold as ecstasy, don't know what it was, could have just been loads of caffeine?).
Im getting kinda of sick of pot now. Psychedelics are too much of a hassle where i live although that may be changing for things like 2ce. Mescaline obtained from store bought San Pedro cactus, lots of preparation, induces nausea and vomiting, lots of fun thereafter.

 

[Panopticon]

I will now list the drugs I have done in the order in which I tried them. I also include the erowid links because drug I didnt try most of these until I read about them.

The first drug I tried is caffeine. Started drinking coffee and dark soda age 11. I now call myself a caffeine junky.
So thats one: http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/caffeine/caffeine.shtml

Next drug I experimented with was pot. first time when I was 14. I now consider myself a pot head. I justify it by saying its an alternative vice. I could pound diet coke and eating cheeseburgers all day and I would be much worse off.
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis.shtml

I eventually ran into alcohol in high school. got drunk a few times never really got into it too much. Ive seen what it does. http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/alcohol/alcohol.shtml

I smoked stogies with friends who smoked them because you look like an asshole standing next to someone as cool looking as a smoker.
http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco/tobacco.shtml



After being satisfied with the effects of pot for about 7 years....someone opened the door to other things. I tried salvia at the beach with a girlfriend. It was weird, felt like being stoned on pot, but a little more intense. I tried more potent salvia and learned that there is no way I can enjoy a salvia experience. I've had bad freakouts on it in addition to alot of sweating. No bueno IMO. http://www.erowid.org/plants/salvia/salvia.shtml

I found erowid.org when I was trying to find out about the dangers and effects of drugs and I guess this is where the revolution for me began.

I just slightly mentioned wanting to try lsd to a co worker and she got her boyfriend on the phone and asked me how much? I was stunned. I tried sugar cubes that night with my brother. It was a different experience but nothing too memorable. We have since done it more times and consider it a friend for a rare special occasion. It can be beautiful.
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd.shtml

I tried MDMA after a few months of research. I dabbled for a few times but overall I found it too unpleasant on the body. the impurity of street pills was another factor. http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma.shtml

After lsd became scarce my interest grew. I eventually purchased a 4 dollar bag of Morning Glory seeds. 500 seeds. I chewed and swallowed the entire fuckin bag somehow. I experienced horrible nausea but never threw up. It was the LSA dose compared to about 4-5 lsd hits. Not nearly as visual but still very fun. However, I dont recommend it.
http://www.erowid.org/plants/morning_glory/morning_glory.shtml
If LSA does interest you I suggest Hawaiian Baby Seeds as an alternative to MG seeds. 8 HB seeds are as potent as 500 MG seeds. http://www.erowid.org/plants/hbw/hbw.shtml

I finally came around to some mushies. They were very fun but also very profound and even despairing at times. I have only done them a few times. Im itching to do a heroic dose experience just once. http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms.shtml

Eventually, my interest overcame me and i got my grubby little hands on some "grandmother". I cooked the mixture on my stove as my parents slept. I was very excited about what possible thrills and chills this would bring. I choked down the horrible tasting red drink(which tastes like the devils shit, piss, puss, and blood in one). Within 15 minutes of doing so a feeling came over me that said "OH FUCK" and I began to feel the common disassociation from the body that comes with the experience. The double dose was literally a death dose and I felt myself die, eventually everyone I ever loved died, it was a feeling of timelessness. I found myself in the distant future looking back and asking myself "what mattered?" It was too profound and meaningful to ever put into words. I can only say its like finally realizing the implicit knowledge within us about nature and the universe. a 4 hour ayahuasca experience can feel like 1000 years of experience. I highly recommend it to everyone in the right state of mind.
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ayahuasca/ayahuasca.shtml

Then mr. DiMiTri himself came around. I sampled him a couple of times. The experience is far too fast and intense to gather a clear perspective on it. I'd say its a little less valuable in that sense than the ayahuasca. http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dmt/dmt.shtml

Then, one time when I went to my pot dealers house for more pot...they were doing ketamine. they asked me to chill and smoke a bowl with them which I did. They offered me 2 times and I refused...but after a couple bowls and some conversation I was feeling "chill" enough to say "yeah" on the third offer. I snorted 2 or 3 lines. It was ok, nothing too profound or interesting that I can remember. I remember drunky feeling with willingness to talk. Made me feel like shit the next morning. No interest in doing that again.
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ketamine/ketamine.shtml

 

[Andropov]

Does anyone know if hydroxyzine would potentiate 15mg of hydrocodone?

 

[Dimensional Transition]

The first drug I tried is caffeine. Started drinking coffee and dark soda age 11. I now call myself a caffeine junky.
So thats one: http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/caffeine/caffeine.shtml

Next drug I experimented with was pot. first time when I was 14. I now consider myself a pot head. I justify it by saying its an alternative vice. I could pound diet coke and eating cheeseburgers all day and I would be much worse off.
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis.shtml

Can you explain why you find caffeine, weed and psychedelics apparently pleasant(and possibly unpleasant?) in its' effects? I'm curious to know how different people's reactions tend to be.

 

[Andropov]

Popped another 15mg vicodin. Ate a big meal beforehand so the effects are delayed. It's been almost an hour and I don't feel anything except a better appreciation for music.

 

[Citizen]

before I forget, snafu, love your SK quote, f-ing awesome.

I've done the usual stuff, caffeine, tobacco (which I made a habit out of the both of them, caffeine I don't mind. Tobacco is more troublesome, also it is hellishly hard to quit on something you associate with pretty much everything enjoyable).

Alcohol I've tried extensively, I've drunk myself into a stupor more times than I can remember, and I don't regret it even though I become a complete asshole with it. Guess that's one of the reasons I like it so much. Also of course, it's awesome for getting to know new people as well as making the move on the girl you've been eyeballing the past few hours (if that interests you). Overall I find it the most social drug I've taken along with tobacco.

Then comes my favourite, pot. I've smoked pot very often over the past few years. It is my ABC, the one drug I could never say no to more or less. I enjoy it extremely much. It makes my mind wander in the most relaxing ways, makes my obsessive thought behaviours less obsessive, brings my mind to ease, relieves boredom and eases loneliness.

Of course, pot is also highly amotivational, one of the reasons I failed uni and fell even deeper into a depression that I'm still struggling to cast off completely. But it has also made me a nicer person I believe, I'm not as ruthless or uncaring about people as before.

Hallucinogens I've tried quite a few both legal and illegal, ranging from the dissociative madness that is Salvia (total ego-death is something everyone should experience) to LSA, shrooms and RD:s. Ironically, my first trip at age 16 (too young for most I'd guess, I was more than ready) was also my best, on an RD which is no longer legal but was the closest thing to a synthetic shroom trip you could have without any of the side effects and with increased general happiness as well as having more or less bodily orgasms on it.

Drugs have been a big part of my life since I first stole cigarettes when I was 10. Some of it have been bad, I've had my fair share of shitty stuff happen, which is inevitable while using any drug, or generally just being alive, but I don't regret it, it's made my life more bearable, and richer in some ways, than it could have been otherwise.

@Panopticon: Could you give me some more details about your ayahuasca experience, from aquiring to preparation (was it difficult?) and the general trip? I've read quite alot about it and find it to be increasingly the one drug I can still get truly excited about trying.

@Andropov, you're probably tripping it right now but usually it can take quite a while. Or you need more. have you popped vicodin earlier today? if so it probably interfers.

 

[Panopticon]

Can you explain why you find caffeine, weed and psychedelics apparently pleasant(and possibly unpleasant?) in its' effects? I'm curious to know how different people's reactions tend to be.

Certainly. I'll start by apologizing for not getting back to this way sooner. I deal with people all day at work. they drain the shit out of me...talking to so many people. I want to get used to posting here more frequently.

Caffeine was pleasing to me for reasons I didnt really understand. I guess I liked warm coffee on a cold evening and morning. eventually it became a throughout the day thing because I must have been reaping the supposed "boredom reduction" that caffeine is reported to do. Personally, I want to get rid of the need for caffeine. It's basically a constant stimulation of the nervous system with a crash a few hours later. I dont need it. and energy drinks to. fuck em.

Cannabis originally attracted by the mild psychedelic experience that some users report upon first couple of uses. I enjoyed the closed eyed cartoony visions and the mind fuck. I continued to smoke pot really just to chase that intensity of the first couple times. After a while I realized those were long gone, but I still enjoyed the increased appretiation of art and music, enhanced taste buds, mild euphoria, and perceptual change. But this too, has advanced into the field of use just to feel alright throughout the day. I want to change that. TCH is a very powerful compound. I want to regress back to making pot a friend for special occasions once in a while.

And as for the mighty psychedelics......where do I begin? Initially I was intrigued by people's experiences that I read about online. The intensity, the variability, and mostly, the mystery. Then once I got my hands on them(lsd) I was instantly drawn to the playfulness. How, as you pointed out, one feels like a child again. the world becomes your canvas, and you have an increased curiosity for life again. One never finds the time to do all the things they feel like doing on an lsd trip.

Once I found the more natural psychedelics(shrooms, dmt) I realized the true value of the psychedelic experience. I learned that the true purpose is to "lose yourself", or ego loss. This allows you to have some very valuable insights into your own life, and it also allows you to see life through everyone elses shoes. You see things how they are, and not how your ego wants to see them. This has allowed me to knock down some personal walls ands barriers that my ego had built and fortified. This includes, being able to say "I love you" to the people I love...and being willing to admit that I am wrong when I am. I feel a stronger recognition for people's need for positive affirmation, and overall just feel like a more respectful person. I try to give everyone the same kind of respect that every human being should have for one another.....and I try to remind myself of my trips when I feel like being an asshole to some irrational fool.

 

[Panopticon]

@Panopticon: Could you give me some more details about your ayahuasca experience, from aquiring to preparation (was it difficult?) and the general trip? I've read quite alot about it and find it to be increasingly the one drug I can still get truly excited about trying.

Sure.
The aquisition and preparation felt way too easy to be true. Since it's legal to possess certain plants that contain dmt and moai I simply went to a shamanist website and got me some mimosa hostilis bark and some syrian rue seeds. I was going to use them for incense(like the package said) but...
My pet monkey got a hold of it and boiled the mimosa hostilis on the stove for 25-30mins until the water was completely red. He ground up the rue seeds and spoon fed them to himself as he chased the taste away with fruit and water. I could tell in the monkeys eyes that these seeds were awful tasting. Monkey gestured to me that next time he would rather put them horrid shits inside some capsules, to avoid that taste. 15 mins later he was ready to drink up the red drink(dmt). Monkey intuitively knew that drinking it slow was the way to go, to avoid puking.

as for the general experience itself: Its The One. DMT is the one. You realize when you are on it that this is something that has been there the whole time and you never fully grasped it until now. It takes you to the core of your dna, your very being, your humanity, and then it takes you further away from it. You may experience disembodied conciousness, near death experience, a sense of being in a different world(and being able to look around and see details of it), and MANY say, being contact. The beings include clowns, gnomes, reptiles, insectisoid aliens, gods, devils, ect. Others report bardo states and other mystical shit(for lack of better terms). Oh, and a feeling of ecstasy that no synthetic chemical will ever come close to touching.

I was far too uninformed at the time of my own experience(or my monkey's I should say) to accurately identify what was really going on. All I know is that I, like many, came into it with a hope and expectation. I then found that a DMT trip is not what you want, but what you need. Its not going to be fun, but it's going to be extremely profound. It is very personal, and you may find yourself shutting off your music and entertainment just to listen to IT.

Looking back, I had a funny sequence of visions throughout. At the beginning I was picturing myself tossing the ayahuasca out on the side of the highway, or giving it away to a friend and telling them DO NOT do this shit. I was freaking the fuck out because it felt like I uncovered the meaning of life before I was supposed to, and I was sinning. I thought the DEA was coming for me, I thought I O'Ded....it was scary. Body disequilibrium is no good.
Then....after "the purge", which can come by way of puking, shitting, crying, or in my case, telling a close sibling that you love them for the first time ever, things began to change for the better. for the much better. I then began seeing visions of myself preparing ayahuasca teas to my family and friends, and telling bosses and coworkers to get over the meaningless bullshit at work and to just embrace the true things in life, which in my eyes was love and memories shared. I guess for me it awakened me on the now and the near because I have a tendancy to be absent minded and future oriented. I love my family and I value every second I have with them. I cant miss out on things I may feel regret about later. Have to make the best out of this dream we are living.

I guess you can say I was experiencing a bout of megalomania because I kind of believed that I could talk to people about the message I learned and they would instantly understand, as if i were Jesus or something. I kept constantly reminding myself that there was no possible way I was going to forget the details of the experience....BUT The next day I woke up and felt back to normal again, as if the doorway had fully closed and I was back into this reality

Even after everything learned and felt, DMT still remains one of the biggest mysteries I can think of. That is one reason why I am so drawn to it. If DMT and Psychedelic research was a legal field for practice, I would be there. Not just to get high, but to learn more about the mind and the inner world.

 

[Panopticon]

Dimensional Transition, do you know why you would have panic attacks/paranoia when you smoked cannabis? I used to experience it back when I was kid, mostly because I knew I was breaking the law, disobeying and disappointing parents, possibly harming health, among other things. Once I got over those things I found it to be much more relaxed. However, I can only speak for me. I know cannabis is really not for some people.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

Dimensional Transition, do you know why you would have panic attacks/paranoia when you smoked cannabis? I used to experience it back when I was kid, mostly because I knew I was breaking the law, disobeying and disappointing parents, possibly harming health, among other things. Once I got over those things I found it to be much more relaxed. However, I can only speak for me. I know cannabis is really not for some people.

I'm really, really eager to try it again. The reports, the idea of it, it all sounds so interesting. I guess it's pretty close to an obsession. My dad had panic attacks as well, but he said he loved the cannabis high. So it must be possible for me to enjoy it as well. Maybe I just took a too high dose. The things you reported having gotten from psychedelics are things I have somewhat achieved because of the high dose cannabis experience really. So I don't entirely regret it or something, I'm just nervous to try it again.

I think you are pretty much spot-on with the reasons for the panic attack. I felt as if I was fucking up my life, I felt like some sort of filthy druggie. Me and a pretty dopey friend smoked it in a park, and I saw lots of neighbors and shit walking/biking by, which got me quite paranoid to start with. It was after a long day of school, too. And I had been waiting so long to try it, so in the end it was more of a 'just get it over-with' thing. I wasn't thinking about what had fascinated me so much about cannabis, I wasn't thinking much at all. I didn't have any expectations, besides for a subtle sub-conscious voice telling me not to do it because it could turn out bad as I was already feeling a little paranoid. So as soon as I started feeling it, light-headed, heavy, watching my vision as if I was in a game, or as if it was a dream(depersonalization), slow-motion, skipping back and forth in time, dry mouth, my limbs morphing, audial hallucinations, white lights, etc, I freaked out.

So now I'm really careful and I want to pretty much precisely find out what the strain I'm going to try is build out of(indica/sativa) and how high the THC percentage is, etc etc. I'm also unsure whether to try it alone this time or with someone else. Someone else is probably better but it'd have to be at some comfortable home-setting then.

And thank you for your response (:

 

[Yet]

Marihuana is legal in my country.
You have places where you can smoke or drink or both. But usually different bars/pubs.
It is kind of used like alcohol ... and with both I act the same way: recreational and not too much or you drink/smoke yourself right to idiot-state. Mix is usually not very oké.
Don't like to mess with my brain too much.

In my roaring twenties I've tried amphetamines once (or twice, definate not more)... made me bloody ill next day cause I couldn't feel when to stop drinking alcohol. Sex was great though.
But after being that ill next day I decided amphetamines (speed it was called) are not allowed on my to-do-list.
Never tried any other drugs & most likely never will

 

[Dimensional Transition]

Marihuana is legal in my country.
You have places where you can smoke or drink or both. But usually different bars/pubs.
It is kind of used like alcohol ... and with both I act the same way: recreational and not too much or you drink/smoke yourself right to idiot-state. Mix is usually not very oké.
Don't like to mess with my brain too much.

In my roaring twenties I've tried amphetamines once (or twice, definate not more)... made me bloody ill next day cause I couldn't feel when to stop drinking alcohol. Sex was great though.
But after being that ill next day I decided amphetamines (speed it was called) are not allowed on my to-do-list.
Never tried any other drugs & most likely never will

I'm Dutch as well!

 

[Yet]

yep I noticed

 

[Chasm]

Sure, I've tried a plenty of drugs for recreational purposes. My favourites are psychedelics (especially DPT and LSD, and probably DMT if I got to try it again properly) and cannabinoids, and also ketamine which is kind of a psychedelic dissociative I guess... I was into stimulants for a while but it got less and less fun as time passed so I sort of vowed not to touch too strong stimulants again (I suppose it's ok to vote on amphetamines although I've never really tried amphetamine itself but various drugs that have the same kind of effects?)

I can see why psychedelics are interesting to an INTP, since they (along with certain dissociatives and cannabinoids to a lesser extent) bring something new into the equation (your consciousness and all that) rather than just strengthening some aspects and diminishing others.

Some people also say psychedelic experiences can be life-changing, but I can't really say that's been the case for me, except some widening of perspective - LSD got me more interested in game theory than I had previously been, I'm still not quite sure why...

There is evidence of alcohol production all over the world dating back many thousands of years. Alcohol is almost universal.
Use of all other drugs up until the last couple of centuries has been geographically limited.

That's only because it's so easy to manufacture, though. It certainly doesn't make it a better drug (nor did you imply that, but I still had to point this out ). In fact alcohol is pretty boring, and I would probably never consume it weren't it for its status in the society. All the effects people seek from alcohol consumption could be achieved more safely (and arguably more enjoyably) by consuming other drugs. Except of course if someone is looking for a drug to help you get into fights, I don't think anything tops alcohol in that respect.

The easiest route towards legalisation is waiting for the older generations to die and raising the new generation without bias

I agree, and based on my observations among peers (note, I live in a country where cannabis is tolerated worse than largely elsewhere in the Western world) the political climate around this issue might have changed enough for legalization to happen as soon as a few decades... Or maybe I'm just being too hopeful

After lsd became scarce my interest grew. I eventually purchased a 4 dollar bag of Morning Glory seeds. 500 seeds. I chewed and swallowed the entire fuckin bag somehow. I experienced horrible nausea but never threw up. It was the LSA dose compared to about 4-5 lsd hits. Not nearly as visual but still very fun.

Haha yeah those seeds taste absolutely horrible that's the main reason I only tried that once.

 

[Lobstrich]

How are hallucinogens junkie-like?

How are it not? How is coffee or 'regular' smokes not junkie like? Or is the only "junkie-like" thing heroin? That's rather ignorant.

 

[snafupants]

How are it not? How is coffee or 'regular' smokes not junkie like? Or is the only "junkie-like" thing heroin? That's rather ignorant.

Because they're not physiologically addictive like coffee, cigarettes, or heroin?

 

[Chasm]

And besides, you can't really be a hallucinogen junkie, or rather a psychedelic junkie since you're forced to keep breaks between trips, if not for integration of the experience and all that, at least for the tolerance to go down properly, which takes a few to several days depending on the substance. Then again, it all boils down to what the definition of a junkie even is, but I imagine a junkie to be an addict who's life more or less revolves around the constant use of a substance or substances.

I mean, most people get a feeling that "this was enough for a while" after tripping - the inverse of an urge to redose some get with certain other drugs.

 

[kantor1003]

Hallucinogen junkie? Yeah, that's a good joke.

 

[Lobstrich]

Because they're not physiologically addictive like coffee, cigarettes, or heroin?

True. But are there not people who believe that they need x drug?

 

[Chasm]

True. But are there not people who believe that they need x drug?

Sure there are, and other people who just like to take that x or y drug every day for fun or a ton of other reasons, and people who like to waste their money on slot machines, and people who like to stuff themselves full of greasy fast food or surf the internet all day and all night.. and so on.

 

[Moocow]

It's a shame that these threads tend to shift towards trying to decide the best way to categorize, judge, and stereotype people.

 

[Lobstrich]

It's a shame that these threads tend to shift towards trying to decide the best way to categorize, judge, and stereotype people.

Lol.

 

[Lobstrich]

Sure there are, and other people who just like to take that x or y drug every day for fun or a ton of other reasons, and people who like to waste their money on slot machines, and people who like to stuff themselves full of greasy fast food or surf the internet all day and all night.. and so on.

Exactly. That was kind of my point.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

It's a shame that these threads tend to shift towards trying to decide the best way to categorize, judge, and stereotype people.

It's a shame these threads never shift towards trying to decide the best way to get a-hold of people who can supply.

(nvm I think that's illegal)

 

[Meer]

My ex-girlfriend (INFJ) once told my mom that I wouldn't ever do drugs because I'd have to talk to people to buy them. Sadly, it's true.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

These statistics are interesting.

 

[Dr. Manhattan]

My ex-girlfriend (INFJ) once told my mom that I wouldn't ever do drugs because I'd have to talk to people to buy them. Sadly, it's true.

That's funny. There were times in college where I'd be stoned, and was supposed to pick up what-have-you from someone at a house full of people, I would inexorably pussy out.

I do however notice marijuana makes me have much more social anxiety.

I also cannot help but notice that cannibus got more votes than tobacco which is very surprising overall, considering it is much more illegal in most places.

 

[Meer]

More illegal, but it's effects are likely more desirable and is less stigmatized, sometimes, maybe.

I figure marijuana just makes my social anxiety more apparent, to me, anyways.

 

[Melllvar]

I agree about the social anxiety thing. Marijuana's definitely my drug of choice, but it's counterproductive for me to be stoned around other people unless I'm really comfortable around them AND have been smoking enough recently to be well 'adjusted' to the sensation. Otherwise it just drives my already fairly bad social anxiety through the roof.

I wonder if this is an introvert thing, or maybe just a mild social anxiety disorder thing. Most of the people I know offline are extraverts (I think), and I don't think any of them get this from weed.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

I thnk it's an introvert thing, yeah... But it could also be an anxiety disorder thing... HMMM. I know I have predisposition to generalized anxiety disorder, and I'm pretty sure I have it in a mild-average form.

I'm still waiting for a reply from Panopticon on the information I have given :'c

 

[Moocow]

Maybe it's escalating your anxieties so that you have a deliberate chance to cope with them in a proper, controlled way.