DOSE:		oral	Cannabis	(edible / food)
		oral	Cannabis	(tincture)

BODY WEIGHT:

140 lb

Reflections on Several Experiences Eating THC

First of all this is a report based on several experiences which I had over a span of a few years. I find myself unable to give specific dosage information. My intent was to offer the 'gist' of how I recall and feel about my experiences and about eating extracted THC generally. I have some comments about the downside that are echoed, but not precisely stated by some of the other experience reports filed under 'oral cannabis'.

First of all like many others on this subject I have had hundreds of experiences of smoking cannabis and no particular history of or tendency towards anxious reactions, aside from occasional mild and usually situational paranoia. This has never been a big thing for me though. I have also ingested extracted THC probably at least a dozen times, mostly with pleasant results. The often-commented 'body high' aspect was always a favorite, as well as the length of time involved in the experiences, very conducive to long walks, a favorite pastime of mine to begin with.

I also want to talk about two really bad experiences that turned me off from it, maybe not permanently but pretty hardcore, in hopes that someone can benefit, if not by avoiding it but by being very cautious with dosage so as to avoid THC OD.

What?! Yes, that's right. I had never heard of this before but it is definitely possible to have too much THC in my system! Perhaps because I never had the benefit of the wisdom of experienced weed eaters, and it is virtually impossible to smoke enough to get the effects I am talking about here. The first experience I had that convinced me that it was true what I'd heard, that THC was essentially a psychedelic rather than a depressant and that other compounds in the plant, especially indicas, may be responsible for the sedative effects, was based on a classic stoner mistake.

I was making my own brownies for the first time with my girlfriend. We were both completely stoned already, as we were most of the time in those days, and consequently when the brownies were ready we ate way too much. Actually, I think we probably put way too much in to begin with, and I'm sorry I can't quantify that, but I guess the rule of thumb is that you don't really want to eat more than you can smoke. Don't put a whole eighth or quarter ounce worth into a pan of brownies, and then eat half the pan, unless you are sincerely certain that you can handle that much at once. It was our first attempt to extract THC via sauteeing, and that is pretty much what we did.

This was years ago; but I'm pretty sure we both fell asleep really soon before waking up to experience the adverse effects. Specifically I woke up to the sound of her puking extensively in the bathroom. I got up to go help her and found that I could not walk in a straight line and could not even stand up without leaning heavily on walls, furniture, etc. My body, in other words, was behaving as though I were completely drunk; my speech was slurred and I was extremely dizzy, although I didn't feel nauseous or vomit. I don't remember what talking with her was like although she was clearly in a bad way as well, I just remember that I barely got there (about 10 feet from where I'd been sleeping) without faceplanting into a wall or the floor.

At the same time I was having mental effects very similar to an excessive dose of psilocybin mushrooms or LCD: I didn't feel drunk mentally, but was extremely confused about who and where I was and what was happening. I probably didn't say anything intelligent to my lady friend, or have any clear thoughts or feelings beyond a general sense of dismay. I don't think I could have remembered either of our names at that moment. I was just really bummed that for some reason were both in a crappy house and we both were really messed up on drugs of some kind.

Well, we both fell back asleep eventually, woke up and were ok, lived to tell about it. Fast forward a couple years, the same woman, who is now my ex, provided me with a vial of weed tincture. Once again I'm sorry to say I can't give any numbers except to say that she advised me to take about half a dropperful which I did, and this was way too much. I did not have any of the disconcerting physiological effects of the other experience, but I had severe anxiety and negative emotional effects.

You know how they tell you not to take psychedelics if you've experienced any emotional turbulence recently that you have any unresolved issues from, or it could bubble up and be overwhelming and derail your whole trip? That is exactly what happened. I was extremely upset and began vividly reliving a traumatic experience from some months earlier which had affected me deeply but which I generally kept out of my daily consciousness. All of a sudden there I was experiencing the same terror, pain and humiliation all over again, while there I was also in the present day alone in my room! I heard noises outside and in my demented state wondered if the adversary from my memories was about to attack again and finish the job. In the end I was only able to get through it by forcing myself to read *constantly*; I was so messed up though that I could barely make sense of what I was reading. I read sentences and whole pages over and over, barely understanding any of it, just forming the words in my head to to occupy my mind or otherwise I was barraged with visions of that horrible incident, as though it had never stopped happening, I was still there and the intervening months had been a dream! Finally I fell asleep.

I don't think ingesting is inherently a bad idea (just not for me anymore!), there is the question of how to avoid THC-OD. I have to say I enjoyed some of the 'body high' type sensations very much, and obviously it's better for your lungs than smoking. I have had other experiences besides the two above though that verged on the unpleasant, if only through just getting 'way too stoned' in a way that made me extremely sluggish and temporarily idiotic, if not actually having a psychedelic-style 'bad trip'. It can be hard to get the doses right because there are a bunch of factors - not just the potency of the weed but how it was prepared, ie how much THC actually wound up in the medium, for instance, can be difficult to assess, as well as how it will sit with one's current tolerance - and because of the time delay the inclination is to make sure one eats 'enough' the first time; and then there is always that temptation to use the leftovers, if there are any, for munchies (NO! NO! BAD STONER!). Just smoking it, I'll pretty much know instantly when it's time to say when. If I eat it then I won't necessarily know that and there will be no turning back, and then I will be really bummed about wasting all that weed!

Exp Year: 2010	ExpID: 90786
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 26
Published: Jun 17, 2020	Views: 4,831
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Cannabis (1) : Retrospective / Summary (11), Difficult Experiences (5), Overdose (29), Preparation / Recipes (30), Various (28)