DOSE: T+ 0:00	2 mg	smoked	JWH-018	(powder / crystals)
T+ 0:15		oral	Alcohol - Beer/Wine
T+ 6:00		smoked	JWH-018	(powder / crystals)
T+ 6:30		smoked	JWH-018	(powder / crystals)

BODY WEIGHT:

95 kg

Me - Male (95kg, 29 y/o, moderate experience of cannabis)
K - Male (100kg, 25 y/o, little experience of cannabis)
S - Female (80kg, 25 y/o, little experience of cannabis)

I ordered 1g of JWH-018 from overseas: the package arrived within a couple of weeks in a nondescript envelope. I'd aquired a milligram scale the previous week for the specific purpose of measuring out JWH-018. The chemical came in a small, labelled plastic bag and appeared to be a slightly-off-white powder the consistency of flour with a tendency to 'clump' into balls

I've been a very-irregular (once every few months; mostly just socially) of cannabis for many years. I was joined by my friends K and S, both with less experience (introduced to it, and drugs in general, by me). We decided it was time to try the JWH-018.

As our 'lab rat', I started with a carefully-measured less-than-1mg dose: I measured 1mg, and then removed almost all of the material from the scale. I placed the chemical in the bowl of an electric vaporiser and heated it until the powder had disappeared. The vapor tasted of almost nothing, with a slight plasticky aftertaste. A timer was set at 00:00.

At 00:15 I felt mostly the same, and was just considering taking another dose when I begun to feel a slight marijuana-like contentment and mellowness. I cracked open my first beer and surfed the net for a while. At 01:05 the mellowness had faded, and I guessed that the drug had worn off.

At 06:00, after a couple of beers each, I persuaded K and S to join me in trying the substance again. I prepared 3mg in the vaporised, which we shared (note: this makes subsequent measurement of exactly who got how much of a dose difficult). We each sucked out a portion from the vaporiser. When we removed the glass bulb of the vaporiser, steam was still escaping from the bowl, so we may not have taken a complete dose.

We sat back and watched some cartoons. We became talkative, and simple concepts expressed in the cartoons became funny. A sense of warmth and contentment washed over me, similar to the mellowness I'd felt earlier, only stronger.

At 06:30 we decided to hit another bowl and a stronger dose. I measured out 9mg and vaped it. As soon as I took a hit of the steam I began to feel it, more so than before: almost as it the second hit activated the first, or the first just happened to kick in about that time. As we hungrily gulped down the vapor, I began to feel a genuine majiuana-like high.

We all rocketed up through the high, laughing most of the way, until we realised that our ascent was out of control. Things were getting more intense far more quickly that we had anticipated. We each felt a tightening of the chest, dizzyness, and fear. At 06:45 S began to panic: tears streamed down her face as she repeatedly asked for reassurance that the feelings that she was having would end soon. K clutched his head and rocked back and forwards, unable to speak. Having had a cannabis-induced freak-out before, myself, I realised that we'd overdosed, and focussed hard on trying to will the effects out of my system and to remain grounded enough to provide help to my friends.

Minutes passed like hours. S was convinced that she was going to die. Both K and I felt nauseous, and K went to the bathroom to throw up (which he continued to have to do for several hours). S reported, later, that she lost her colour vision and began to see what she described as 'dead pixels' in her eyes, that geometry became non-Euclidian and she was unable to differentiate the distances between the walls of the room. I started 'losing time', and even short-term memory: I would go to the kitchen to refill our water glasses and by the time I'd get there I'd forgotten where I was and how I got there, and it took a huge cognitive effort to remain focussed on simple tasks.

At about 07:10 the first wave of regaining control came to us, and we collectively decided that pacing around, drinking lots of water (we all had a strong 'dry throat' feeling; drier than I've ever experienced before), and getting some fresh air were all helping us feel better. We stomped around my house like maniacs, and then went outside and looked up at the stars. For a moment, the cold air made me feel completely normal again, and then the next wave hit us.

Suddenly; everything was hilarious. K and I simultaneously felt a pressure change in the room, and our ears 'popped'. I speculated that this could be pins-and-needles of the inner ear (that's what it felt like to me) tricking us into the idea that the pressure had changed. S lay on the couch, staring at the floor in fits of laughter, and tried to explain why it was so funny, but failed (which was, in itself, the funniest thing in the world).

At 07:20, I went to get more water, and when I came back, the mood had changed. K was once again curled up an a foetal position, and S was shivering and wimpering. For a moment, I wondered if I had entirely imagined the last half hour, and I was more 'far gone' than even I thought. We drank lots more water, and I became concerned that water intoxication might become a risk: began to try to count how many glasses of water each of us had drunk.

The terror was genuine. It took every bit of my reason to persuade myself that I wasn't going to die and that these feelings would pass - and to try to impart this feeling to my terrified friends.

At about 07:45 - over two hours since our second dose - things gradually began to feel more normal. With each 'step' towards normality, we each became profoundly aware of how 'not right' things had been before. It was almost as if we'd forgotten what normal was like, and were having to re-learn. A fear rose in me that perhaps we'd never be quite normal again, but I supressed it. I'd found that focussing on tasks that required some mental agility (even simple things like reading or doing aritmetic) helped ground me in what was real, so I put some music on, quietly, to give the others something to 'latch onto', too. The waves of panic became less common (but still scary).

At about 08:15, K stopped vomiting for the last time. He'd lost a lot of fluids, so I made a round of camomile tea for us all. K took one sip of his and then returned to his foetal position. S fell asleep (and we left her to it; she seemed far more content asleep than she did panicking in a cold sweat). I read a few pages of a history book to give me something to focus on: while I was reading, I was able to pretend that everything was completely normal. I still felt a little nauseous, but having seen K throwing up for several hours in a row, I didn't want to risk getting into that position, so I didn't so much as look at the toilet until I was sure that I wasn't going to hurl.

At 09:00 I offered my bed to K and S, and helped them up and into it. K was physically wrecked and emotionally drained: even his walk was like something from an old zombie movie - slow and deliberate, like each step was a monumental effort. S shivered uncontrollably and failed to hold a cup without support.

I made myself a bed on the couch and slept; fitfully at first, and then really deeply.
--

Lessons learned:

* Do not fuck about with this stuff. Seriously: check and double-check your measurements, and take it very slowly.
* This is not THC (nearly, but not quite). Whereas pure cannabis tends to leave me relaxed in my happiness, JWH-018 kept me alert and observant the entire time: an almost stimulant effect.
* Do not make judgements about 'how much more' you need once you're already under the influence.

All in all, it was a fascinating and intense experience. I have no intention to be that far-gone ever again, but I will try JWH-018 again, in _small_ doses. S seems interested in trying again, too, and I hope that K hasn't been too put-off, either.

All in all, a fascinating substance with a great deal of potential, but that requires that you treat it with an enormous deal of respect. I read reports before this and thought I'd understood how much respect it needed, but it turns out that despite the warnings, I'd still not fully heeded how potent this innocuous powder really is.

Exp Year: 2010	ExpID: 84817
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 29
Published: May 2, 2010	Views: 18,437
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JWH-018 (483) : Small Group (2-9) (17), Overdose (29), Bad Trips (6)