Marijuana appreciation/education/information thread

[The_Piper]

We have a local shop now. Local in my case being 9 miles away. 2 driveways down from my house a lumber yard opened up though. Made in part from trees almost abutting my own property. Fine, more squirrels for me.

[The_Metatron]

As we know well, people are going to use this stuff, legal or no.

I like the legalization path very much.

Quality and safety are now real, measured things. That’s some of what the tax on it pays for. Sounds good to me.

Tends to make the criminal element less meaningful, too.

Everyone’s a winner.

[The_Piper]

Everyone's a winner.
I keep having "stressmares" where I'm out of weed and can't find any more. It's always good to wake up from those into this new cannabis reality. With the recreational sale shops, "droughts" are no more. As long as you have money, of course. I was surprised that the prices at the local shop are pretty good. $175 for an ounce of a named strain, presumably good. I haven't been in there yet, but I stopped near it one day and it smelled great outside the store.
I forget the price of edibles. I usually make my own anyway.

[Spearthrower]

It's all so hip - they had giant magnifying glasses to view the bud (I was like... ok, it looks like weed) and huge information panels by each strain. I don't know any of this stuff, and don't really care. I just decided to buy the cheapest and work my way up, so got 3g of a THC 14% hybrid strain - it's ok, gentle buzz, but doesn't have that peppery taste I love.

[Spearthrower]

[BWE]

I love just walking into the store and buying weed. Will probably never stop making me happy

[Spearthrower]

Rocky road ahead here as pressure groups are trying to force the government to recriminalise ganja.

[The_Piper]

Probably led by old fuddy-duddies.

[The_Metatron]

I use cannabis regularly, and have for some time now. I’ve been increasingly curious if I now require it.

I’ve used none in the last 24 hours now, and while I am not perfectly at peace, I’m not in any real distress, either. I think I will proceed, and see how I am affected by stopping using it.

[Spearthrower]

I'm sadly going to have to put a pause on too. Since decriminalization here, weed shops have proliferated to incredible numbers. But I fear that with essentially no regulation, they're using the cheapest and nastiest fertilizer and insecticides to keep costs low and meet demand, and I am worried what they might do to me physically considering my consumption rate. Looks like it's back to sourcing some wild Thai weed.

[The_Metatron]

I do appreciate the controls in place on legal cannabis here. Far better than the old way, in which supposed Thai stick probably came from a ditch in Indiana or some shit like that.

Last night was night two without cannabis. I seemed unable to keep warm, which woke me a few times. I’ve experienced the occasional cold chill when using it, which is really strange. A shivering fit from nowhere.

Aside from that, no particular cravings or distress this morning, 36 hours since last use. The internets suggest 24-72 hours of withdrawal symptoms of varying severity, none life threatening.

It’ll be hard to measure, but I am curious if my general motivation levels will change.

[The_Metatron]

I haven’t felt those withdrawal symptoms beyond irritability the first 24 hours. But, I’m an irritable asshole anyway, so I can’t easily nail that down to cannabis withdrawal.

I predict some weight loss over time, though. When I use cannabis, I will find some snack or other to solve the munchies its use causes. The last couple of evenings, the idea didn’t even occur to me.

This evening will be that 72 hour mark. This morning, I feel no imperative to get some “M”. Nothing like the old Reefer Madness movie at all.

[The_Metatron]

Speaking of that imperative, I certainly can compare this to the experience of quitting using tobacco.

Without a question, stopping smoking was far, far more difficult than dropping cannabis use. Boy, oh boy, that nicotine sets up an actual physiological need to get more of it. Most of the time, people will fill that need with more tobacco. What I remember from preparing to quit smoking was learning that nicotine causes an artificial increase in blood sugar (that’s the feel good part), to which your body will react by releasing insulin to metabolize the extra blood sugar. Insulin has a longer half life than nicotine. When the nicotine wears off, the extra insulin is still there, and now causes a blood sugar low, which feels really, really bad. It’s a feeling you are compelled to solve, and the solution is more nicotine. That cycle is no easy thing to break.

I’ve heard it’s common to mix cannabis and tobacco and smoke it. Wow, that would lock in that habit. I wasn’t smoking my cannabis anyway, I vaporize the ground flower instead.

What’s to be learned?

I’ve used cannabis daily for the last five years or so. And, I functioned in life well wile doing it. There were no life tasks that I could not do well. On reflection, I wasn’t really tasked to do that much in that time. No new job, no school to attend, not much that needed the full power of my wits. Based on that, I sure wouldn’t recommend using it like I did if you have to do learning intensive activities.

[The_Piper]

I use it every day. I never run out anymore but before legal weed we used to have a "drought" in the summer in Boston. The only withdrawal-ish thing I felt was feeling a sense of loss, like my girlfriend dumped me. The same when I quit tobacco, and yes, tobacco is much harder to quit.

[Spearthrower]

I'll be honest: I had no withdrawal symptoms at all a couple of years back when all supply dried up and I couldn't get any. And that's the worst way of ceasing - wanting but not being able to get it!

Giving up smoking tobacco was hell, but weed wasn't even noticeable.

I’ve heard it’s common to mix cannabis and tobacco and smoke it. Wow, that would lock in that habit. I wasn’t smoking my cannabis anyway, I vaporize the ground flower instead.

As someone guilty of this habit (not with green), I think it arises from places where hashish is more common. You can't easily build a pure hashish joint (it's possible, but it's extremely wasteful) and I think it's just extends from there. One good thing about tobacco in a spliff is that it burns evenly.... everything else is the bad thing.

[Spearthrower]

On reflection, I wasn’t really tasked to do that much in that time. No new job, no school to attend, not much that needed the full power of my wits. Based on that, I sure wouldn’t recommend using it like I did if you have to do learning intensive activities.

My two main jobs have weed-appropriate parts, and weed-entirely-inappropriate tasks.

When I am doing creative pre-production on a movie or series project, the pure creative stuff, the digging for treasure, linking emotions, motivations, themes etc. - there's no more powerful reagent than a couple of tokes on a joint.

But when I am doing a final write-up and precision and clarity are the order of the day, then weed's not going to help at all, just make me wander off somewhere that's probably fun but about as comprehensible as Paul (no, that's not true... I expect I'd need to take a damn sight more than weed to achieve that).

The same goes on the teaching side. While I am developing and preparing my courses, weed gives me those connections that help draw all the elements of the course together, gives me insight into what needs to be delved into and explained and how to present that, and causes me to spend an extra hour or so preparing finding pretty pictures to aid the visual stimulation to keep people's attention.

But when it comes to presenting the class in front of students, I am definitely not going to be high then as I will inevitably just yammer off into endless side-tracks and probably cause more confusion than clarity. Even having smoked the night before a morning class can cause that, so I normally avoid it.

Overall, I smoke about 1.5 grams a day of 20%+ THC - I can't say if I function 'normally' because this is normal for me, and aside from that dry spell a couple of years back, it's how I've always been!

[The_Metatron]

The names growers give to their cannabis are fun. Today, I went to my local to pick up an ounce of indica. I had a few to choose from at the same price, and of course I bought the ounce labeled “Mother Fucker”.

You just don’t see truth in labeling like that on other products.

[Spearthrower]

Sorry to say, but I hope that strain is disappointing so that next time you go into the shop, you can say that it was one bad mother fucker.

[The_Metatron]

It was a good motherfucker!

However, I’ve given up the cannabis entirely for a while. My family is relocating this summer, and there is a lot to do to prepare. Cannabis use affects my motivation too deeply to be useful to me right now. I’ll probably use it when the dust clears.

[Spearthrower]

Drugs always seem to affect me the wrong way. Stoned, I get really motivated to fix up all the little things that normally get overlooked, and to do a really meticulously good job of them!