Hi Nexians!

I've been thinking about this for some time lately, so I thought I'd talk about it, and perhaps get your thoughts on it.

My story with cannabis is pretty typical. The first few times I smoked, I didn't feel anything.( Bad technique, you guys know the story.:grin

When I eventually did get high, boy was it intense. I remember one time, I had just taken a few hits off a joint, I was chilling in the cafeteria of my university, and all the noises around me were amplified to an insane degree. I was getting serious audio distortions. I thought I was going crazy lol!

Another time, I was smoking with some friends, we were having a good time, this one friend was cracking jokes, now, this friend is not the funniest guy in the world, although he does try very hard lol. This time though, I was laughing so hard my cheeks started hurting. I remember thinking in the moment:"I must be high if this guy's jokes are funny."

Another thing I noticed early on in my use of cannabis is how it would enhance the enjoyment of music to a mind-blowing degree. Whenever I would listen to music high, I felt like I could pick out the individual features of the song a lot better. It felt like I could connect with the music a lot better.

All of these phenomena only happened in my early experiences with this plant. Later on, and this became even more apparent in these past few months, the only effects I would get from cannabis would be tiredness, mental spaciness and a feeling of being self-conscious. No euphoria, no auditory distortions, no music enhancement(this really bummed me out lol) just an overall feeling of dullness. This would happen irrespective of tolerance or dose.

I think that this phenomenon, this "loss of magic" is caused by me being in a bad space mentally and emotionally and spiritually. I've been having some real issues, still having them actually, with ego and resistance and not doing the things I know deep down I should be doing and I feel the herb was bringing that out for me. During those last few months, I just could not enjoy my experiences with cannabis.

I've stopped now, haven't smoked in moar than two months, I don't plan on smoking again for quite a while. I feel like I need to get my life in order before I can indulge in the herb again.

TBH, I'm not too concerned about this. Like I said, I don't even smoke weed anymoar, so it's pretty much moot at this point anyway. And I feel like I know what the cause of this phenomenon is. Cannabis is just not the right thing for me right now.

The kind of weed I smoke might have something to do with it too. The kind of weed me and my friends smoke is pretty much just really low quality weed, what you guys would call "schwag" in America. Really stemmy, full of seeds, not very potent, that type of thing. Although I've been smoking the same weed since I started, so I don't know.

Anyway, that's my story, what do you guys think? Have you experienced something similar, or not? Please feel free to share your thoughts!

Seems a very common phenomenon.
My theory is that it's either a learned thing- An instance of being stressed or in a negative mindset when getting high, resulting in a bad experience and negative associations which are then repeated.
Or, it's some shift in body/brain chemistry/neurological/cognitive development that seems to happen in one's early twenties that effects some people but presumably not others vis a vis their relationship with weed.
It's possibly even a shift brought about by cannabis consumption?? Seems more common amongst formerly heavy users.

My experience;
Through my teens and early twenties I simply could not get too high.
As high as I may have been, there would never be any problem getting even higher.
More more more.
Then, after a weird week-long bender involving bhang, I was made to endure a calamitous evening where I clearly had taken it too far.
Instead of riding the weed, the weed was riding me. Perhaps a classic tale of abuse.
Anyway, I went for many years without touching the stuff.
These days I can smoke it without bugging out, but I generally don't enjoy the basic experience.

You seem to have had a rather different trajectory.
I would advise caution, though. I know some people (friends of mine) who have muscled through because they were so attached to weed from the good times it gave them, and even though those times are gone, they continue, and it has clearly not done them any good.

Cannabis has become so acceptable and culturally mainstream, people forget that it is not necessarily 100% benign.

This also happened to me, even though I wasn't enjoying my weed highs, I still toked up, mainly because it was my routine and because my friends were doing it. Like I said in the OP, I've stopped.

sounds familiar,
i just recently turned it down from almost daily to once a week.
also using a vaporizer when i do smoke weed is a way more pleasant

Taking long breaks from Cannabis can be very helpful. I was a chronic smoker for many years and when I finally took a long break and went back to it I developed a much healthier relationship with the plant. I was a bit older and more mature when I went back to it but what really changed was the amount I would actually smoke. I started taking it orally in the morning and I wouldn't feel the urge to smoke all day long. Smoking became a night time pleasure.


Also this. I made the switch to vaping not long ago and it made a huge difference. It's much more efficient than smoking once you get the hang of it, so you do actually get higher than you would from smoking, as you can inhale a lot more vapour than smoke generally. Just all around more pleasant

But if/when you do choose to get reacquainted with Cannabis do try experimenting with some Cannabutter or infused coconut oil. Edibles are by far more psychedelic and typically induce all the things you miss about smoking it, at least at the right dosage

I'm in the same boat as the OP. I used to get ganja highs that could rival those of other psychs like shrooms, LSD or even DMT at a certain point.

Now, it's just an anxiolytic. The moment i come home from work, i hit the billy. I might smoke 4 cones between getting home and bed. It doesn't make it stronger, it just keeps it going.

I'm due for a tolerance break. The only reason i smoke ganja is because i have ganja. If i didn't have it, i wouldn't smoke it.

When I was young, when I would smoke cannabis, I would feel like Fitz hugh ludlow in "the hasheesh eater", it was an actual psychedelic intoxication comparable to the classic psychedelics...

Then as I grew older, I was unable to attain such experiences. People would say "it's tolerance", so I would quit for months, but then when I would smoke again, I would get "higher than usual" but it still could not compare to my early days of cannabis consumption...

Then, I decide to sample some 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methyl-phenethylamine, which is an amazing compound in its own right, however when combined with cannabis It was like the first time I had ever used cannabis, it was amazing!

So, 3 days later, I take 50mgs of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methyl-phenethylamine, and after waiting about an hour, I smoke cannabis, and the results are the same!



Shulgin is right, because I really did not feel the 2C-D much at all, but I felt the cannabis as if it were the first time I had ever gotten really intoxicated on it...after years of never being able to break a ++ (shulgin scale) here was an intense +++ experience.

I know that 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methyl-phenethylamine is quite uncommon, however, if you ever get the opportunity, this compound can put all the "magic" right back into the cannabis experience, and it does so with out adding much or any of its own influence!

In "smart pills" by Darrell Lemaire one of his research group members comments on cannabis use with 2C-D, remarking that it was "strongly synergistic" and allowed this individual to preform visualization work...

---

Terence McKenna reads Ludlow's "the hasheesh eater"


-eg

Kindly check if loss of magick was real:
Find a big, ripe, quality cherimoya fruit. Put it in the fridge for 3 hrs.
Smoalk some quality cannabis (outdoor is fine) product.
Go to the fridge and get the cherimoya.
Cut the cherimoya in wedges.....wait (...not yet)

Now watch This Lady eat jambu, or dates or dragon fruit in her garden. Try to eat the cherimoya together with that.

If that doesn't give you mouth-mind-eye-ear-eden-garden-gasm....then maybe you should stop smoalking.
(intezam smoalks thursdays only - anyways - we just had a 7 years break - magick is back)

Strain has everything to do with it! I don't know how many times I've been through this same loop for the past 2 years. But I tell you. The loop is thinking it's the cannabis that's lost its magic when it's actually you that's lost the magic. It takes two for magic to happen. It takes the shaman and the plant. One without the other is always insufficient to produce the magic we're looking for.
I don't know how many times I've "given up" cannabis only to return to it a month later and curse myself for being so stupid for having "given up" my most wonderful ally in the world. If you're smoking low-grade, not-fresh, oxidized, old stuff that might even have mycotoxins in it then of course the magic will be corrupted. I don't live in a place where I have access to fresh high-grade cannabis so when it does appear I get as much of it as I can. Sometimes I have to go months between the really great experiences I can achieve with cannabis because the quality of the cannabis I'm smoking in the interim is so poor. I vaporize. Vaporizing bad cannabis is counterproductive actually to the business of getting stoned and going out of your mind (meditation), because as you said it seems to space you out and a fog takes over, amotivating you to do anything, even the stuff you're naturally curious in.
I tell people this all the time. Wait for the good stuff. If it's not good, don't bother. Don't use up the neurological wiring for nothing. If you're going to go, go the whole way!

My recommendation in a nutshell in the case of someone losing contact with the magic of cannabis.
Wait a month. Acquire fresh high-grade strains of cannabis. Know what your taking, strain and everything. Document it for later retroactive comparative analysis with other strains you will try. Stop smoking the stuff. Start vaporizing the stuff. I personally use a magic flight box. Works great. Look into taking other nootropics on a daily basis that will have the effect of long-term benefit and health for the brain. If you want to enjoy cannabis your entire life as I desire to do, you must take care of your brain - that means right exercise, right sleep, right diet, and right perspective. I believe that the only reason I have gone as far as out as I have on mushrooms and the reason I can handle it (hold the tension of it) is because I have a healthy brain. Psychic health is brain health.

Anyway, that's that!

Very salient points there Anamnesia! I'm definitely going to take those to heart.

I think that I'm not going to be smoking any weed until I am in a position to grow it myself. Being in control of the whole process and knowing exactly what I'm smoking appeals to me.

Good idea. I've really been considering doing the same. I'm about to get my own studio so I wonder if I can manage the project of going a plant or two. I'm going to name one Terence and the other one Alan. And they will be by friends. And it will be good. Because I say so.

Shouldn't they have female names?

Now that you mention it you're right!
Instead I'll name them after the beautiful elves of Lord of the Rings.

I 100% disagree.

I rotate strains on a weekly basis from a medical cannabis facility, I grow cannabis, I produce extract, and also purchase an outside extract on a weekly basis.

"Strain" is a marketing scam more than anything in my oppinion, I mean it's important for growers, as some strains require slightly different conditions and grow times, and it's important for breeders who are seeking novel genetics to create novel "strains", however, the majority of the difference between these strains is taste and smell (caused by differing levels in terpenes and flavonoids) as well as the plants physical features (some are whispy, some have dense buds, some are tall, some are short, etc...) there are also differing levels in cannabinoids such as CBD,CBN,CBG,etc...though the effect this has on the psychoactive experience is still quite subtle...
( CBD is not a CB1 or CB2 receptor agonist (it very weakly targets these receptors...), but acts as an (indirect) antagonist of their agonists, and while CBD May alter the psychoactivity of THC in a subtle manner, it's main benefits are physical...
...CBN is an active at the CB1 receptor (the "psychoactive" cannabinoid receptor) but very weakly, and has higher agonism at CB2 (the "physical" cannabinoid receptor) CBN is a degradation product of THC...in short, the differences in psychoactivity are fairly subtle... )


Look, you could go to one store and by sour-D, then go to then next store and by sour-D, then go to the next one and by it again, and I can promise that aside from the fact that they all might taste and smell similar, that it would look like you had 3 different strains...

Cultivation and proper care is probably more important than plant genetics, you can have a good strain, good genetics, but if you don't grow it properly you will still end up with a terrible final product

When I go to the store, I don't even look at "strain names", I examine the individual products, I look for:
·Physical condition, healthy buds, grown with care
·male flowers, signs of hermaphodation, pollination, or seeding
·Evidence of spider mites, molds, fungi, or other pests
·Evidence of Light and nutrient deficiencies
·Evedence of chemical burn from fertilizers or pesticides
·Trichome color, I prefer gold with about 1/3 still cloudy translucent.
·Then I check smell, moisture, stickiness, density, etc...

...I never even look at the strain names.

Cannabis is cannabis. Even when it comes to crystalline THCA, butane or propane extract, live resin, cold water extract, kief, etc...the differences in the intoxication are incredibly subtle, some will make you unmotivated and sleepy, some will produce a more clear or energetic intoxication, some are higher in CB2 receptor agonists and thus have a more intense physical aspect, and some will have different levels of terpenes, terpenoids, flavavinoids, etc...which will affect taste and smell, but the core of the intoxication is always the same.

I think it's a fallacy to think that there is some special strain out there that will provide access to a +++ (shulgin scale) experience for those who can not get cannabis to produce anything more than a ++

...rotating strains or taking breaks to loose tolerance may help you obtain a richer more intense experience, though these methods still, at least in my case, wont allow cannabis to affect me the way it did when I was younger and had just begun to experiment with the substance...

-eg

What you said is very true eg, which is why I want to grow my own cannabis. Like I said earlier, being in control of every variable from seed to harvest really appeals to me. I'm sure dispensary weed is great, but even with that, you can't be 100% sure of what you're getting.

Like every psychedelic, the less often the more powerful the experience