DOSE: T+ 0:00			Lisdexamfetamine	(daily)
T+ 0:00			Duloxetine	(daily)
T+ 0:00			Coffee	(daily)
T+ 0:00	40 mg	oral	Cannabis	(edible / food)
T+ 12:00	40 mg	oral	Cannabis	(edible / food)

BODY WEIGHT:

160 lb

Perceptual Shift: Cannabis, Lesson in Noticing

Last week I had a surprising and delightful brush with the psychedelic effects of cannabis.

I have been finding that physical privation, especially sleep deprivation, accompanies some of my most integrative experiences. I’m not sure the extent to which my sleep schedule influenced my experience, so I’ll include that detail for posterity.

My pharmacological baseline is—in addition to vitamins and some adaptogenic herbs—a small dose of Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine) and Cymbalta (duloxetine) each morning, and a coffee. I was a daily smoker of cannabis (sativa) and tobacco for several years, but have been for all practical purposes a non-smoker for about six months. I use oral cannabis from time to time and have experience with a couple different psychedelics. It may also be relevant to mention that I have a history of trauma, and my most recent PTSD recovery project has been letting go of hypervigilance vis-à-vis the outside world.

On Thursday night I ate four squares of a shatter chocolate bar. Each had 10mg THC from a sativa strain. It was a chill evening, nothing noteworthy except that I happened to be breaking a fast that evening and we enjoyed a nice meal. I slept deeply, having slept only 30 min the previous evening. (The sleep deprivation and the fasting had both been unintentional, but I try to roll with the punches.)

The next morning, having slept for a long time, and still feeling some pleasant effects from the initial 40mg, I decided to forego the day’s dose of Vyvanse and instead eat another 10mg shatter square. My partner and I left the notably warm house and ventured out into the day. I’d set the day aside to catch up on rest; I felt relaxed. It was very sunny and very cold. While out and about, I was feeling the weed enough to feel altered, but I had my wits about me and (somewhat uncharacteristically for me) I didn’t feel anxious. After about an hour, we’d finished our errands and arrived back at the house.

In order to explain what I perceived it’s necessary to cover a bit of physics, so here’s a primer on temperature and light transmission. When air is at a constant temperature, light travels in a straight line (notwithstanding gravity, but that influence is very much subperceptual, so we’ll leave it alone) and we see things “as they really are.” But, when there’s a temperature gradient, the light rays “bend” (more properly, refract) each time they enter a new medium, such as a sliver of air that’s at a different temperature. These changes in the how photons travel impact how we perceive objects in the external world. Think of the way the air looks wavy when you fix your vision on the area above a hot roof. This phenomenon is also responsible for the mirages you see on the road on a hot day.

So here I am, standing suddenly in a warm environment, bending down to untie my boots—when I notice that my visual field itself is undulating. In addition to the rest of my body’s changes, like my skin hastening to absorb the heat of its new environment, I can actually perceive the way my optical apparatus is adjusting between cold and warm. I didn’t feel at all disoriented, and my vision didn’t suffer.

I live in a major city in Canada and travel mostly on foot; I am often rushing around between spaces of different temperatures, and I sauna (alternating with chilly showers) on a somewhat regular basis. Refraction isn’t news to me, either. But I’d never experienced that before! Instead of only seeing the outside world, I was perceiving my visual machinery itself. For a moment, I was perceiving a part of my inner world with my own eyes.

On psilocybin I’ve experienced some lovely visuals, and while these did seem “natural” enough—insofar as they were a product of my body’s interaction with the outside world—I recognized them as mild hallucinations. But I understand what I experienced on Friday morning to be a veridical distortion. It was a very brief moment, but it made my day, and I’m confident that the cannabis opened the door to that experience.

Exp Year: 2020	ExpID: 113998
Gender: Not Specified
Age at time of experience: 24
Published: Jan 28, 2020	Views: 834
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