Though I know this will likely draw flak, here we go.
I feel that I abused the green lady. I used her as a medicine for days and days and days, and after a month break still didn't feel satisfied when I returned to her.

My question now is, and this certainly varies a lot from person to person so all answers are appreciated, how long does it take for YOU to wait before you can get that mind blowing, completely locked to the ground/couch/bed/whatever, watching the movies in your eyelids, first-time cannabis feeling again?

I came off a +/-year long break when I started smoking again and had THE best time with the stuff, better than I remembered it being. I suppose that for me, I have to wait such an amount of time that I actually forget what it's like in order to feel fully satisfied.

hmm 6 months, a bit less seemed to work for me.

however, i feel that maybe smoking once every 1 or 2 weeks would have the best all around effects, since tolerance would probably not develop, as well as a severe abuse potential

I think a couple months would be best. It really depends on how heavily you smoked though.

Ive been off for two months and feel geeat, i dont even remember what it feels like. I know if i try it again it will feel good but i really want to stay off. I like being without it.

as great as cannabis is, it can definitely be abused and for some even addicting... so i doubt you'll get much 'flak' here for saying that :]

I'm not sure exactly how to answer your question of how long, since its complicated. No matter how deep i go with it those first mind blowing experiences will still stand out in my mind as unique in some ways. They were my first time i'd really gotten out of my normal everyday state of consciousness and came face to face with the abyss. It was like waking up from my dream of a life for the first time, in utter horror and awe...not to mention after the experience, upon really falling asleep, i was stuck in hyperspace in dreamland for an eternity.. Cannabis is really intense for me and it was more like a high dose of another psychedelic than the typical high.

But its still mind blowing at high doses, especially with little tolerance of course. However i should say that even with tolerance, i've found that i can get similar effects to smoking with no tolerance by simply smoking ridiculous amounts fairly quickly. But that was mostly back in high school.

I don't think you'll ever relive that first experience. Don't try to chase it, that's how you end up abusing it.

For me it was at least three full months off before my tolerance dropped to where I would get profound effects from it again. But I've abused it so badly over the years that I may be different from a more casual user. I was heavily addicted and didn't go more than a few hours without toking.

When I first started I was very sensitive to it. The first time I got high I hallucinated and went home and had an OBE. It was so amazing that I began abusing it right from the start. I just wanted to recreate that first experience, which I never did. Not with Cannabis alone anyway.

If you want really profound effects take six months or a year off and then eat a large dose. It'll be very psychedelic

Definitely trying to stay off as much as possible from here on.. Not necessarily scared of addiction potential, I was never addicted as I stopped when I thought it showed me all I had to see, it's more so in the name of keeping it something special.
I feel that's how everyone should treat it(recreationally), same as any other teacher-tool, but what do I know lol.
The problem is, and I'm very sure most of you can relate... It's hard to keep those same friends when you cut back.

Tolerance is a bitch. As a more pragmatic approach one could just increase the dosage.

Make BHO, make edibles. This will completely lock you to the ground/couch/bed/whatever for sure.

That's probably the next step, enhancing those green bowls a bit with a sprinkling of oil or hashish.
Never had either! Only been the regular old high quality greenery.

Ever tried edibles?

I second this.

Adjust your dosage carefully though, as one can get really, really high from eating it.

Just out of interest...

What is your understanding of canabis abuse? Where do you make the difference between use and abuse?

I would say that abuse starts when your cannabis reality becomes your normal, everyday reality and your previous sober reality stops to be attractive at all. It often happens when one can't cope with his day-to-day life, so he/she runs away to cannabis reality.

I have smoked cannabis for about 10 years before quitting. In that period I have quit a few times, for 6 months, 3 months etc. After those periods it was always great to smoke again as it felt like the first time, but I was immediately hooked again.
As shadow said the cannabis reality became my normal to the point I got some anxiety issues and forms of paranoia.

After a year of quitting I have tried it last year again and I didn't even like it anymore, I wasn't comfortable and simply did not enjoy the experience. The paranoia and insecurity came back immediately. Therefor I know that for me cannabis is no ally anymore. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if the abuse has been too big I doubt you'll ever feel like the first time ever again.

Hahaha...

According to Shadow's definition of abuse, I probably spent 20+ of the last 35 years abusing ganja. I suppose that I could do that, and not have ruined my life or my health, shows what a kind mistress MJ is... relatively speaking.

I think that in response to the "chasing that original high" theme, one must have the willpower to use it so infrequently that tolerance never builds. This is rather difficult in that weed's actives are stored in your fat cells.

Having gone from ridiculous consumption of the best weeds, hashes, oils, waxes, tinctures, edibles and more... to lengthy pauses and intermittent quitting, I found that it takes me 3 days to quit weed, even if I was consuming a quarter ounce a day. It takes me about 3 months to get it out of my system, and after 6 months, smoking is basically like the first time again. (plays little clip of "Feels Like The First Time" ;-)

As a youngster, I loved weed almost above anything else. I had no desire to quit and found it to be a lifesaver in a stressful time. It was probably good for me to abuse ganja back then, as it kept me out of trouble. Most of the kids I knew who didn't burn, wound up getting involved in gangs or serious crime... and wound up dead or in jail. It is quite possible the mellowing of herb saved my life.

(Though it didn't do my motivation any favors)

As a young adult, it was still mostly positive, and I was quite an activist for the plant that could save the world. I am still a huge believer in the need for Industrial Hemp. But, it was in this time I started to see how ganj was holding me back. It was becoming a security blanket and I felt rather shitty if I didn't have it around. I tended to make big decisions in my life (like where to live) based on the quality of the weed scene there. Naturally, this lead me to live for a long time in the Netherlands. I tended not to even go places which were Zero Tolerance or only had shitty grass.

As my 20s roared to an end, I realized that weed was bringing me down. It became obvious that my natural high was actually higher than what I got from weed. That I was literally smoking to tamp down my raging natural high from a lifetime of Yoga, meditation and Chi Kung. I spoke with some Kung Fu masters and Yogis about weed... my Sifu had always warned me that weed was putting holes in my aura and exposing me, but he was not anti-drug or weed. We talked often about psychedelics, Don Juan and McKenna, and he never asked me to stop using any of the drugs I used. The sadhus and yogis I spoke to had even more to say on the subject.

In essence, the message I got from the Sadhus (big time hash smokers as everyone knows) is that Ganja is a blessed gift from Shiva, but it is primarily for beginners on the path. Charas is better for adepts and acolytes... but even that becomes limiting. To become a master, one must either ramp up to stronger entheogens or back off and go sober.

This is basically what I found. If I could have stuck with this back then, I would have saved myself a lot of wasted time. Alas, I spent my 30's going back and forth between quitting and being a stoner. There would occasionally be a middle ground, but the amount of time I was using weed in responsible and infrequent manner was small. My first time quitting lasted a few months. The second was like 5 or 6. The third 7 months. Eventually I managed to do 1 year... and even 2. But somehow I always got sucked back in, and often rather enjoyed the escape that weed provided.

By the time I was 40, I was pretty clear that my weed days were over. Aside from a binge (relapse) earlier this year, and a similar few months of hash eating or vaporizing, I suppose I have been 90% weed free.

I don't see weed as a bad thing, and I think if I had been moderate with it, I may have been able to maintain it as an occasional treat and joy for my entire life... but I have consumed more weed than any 4 or 5 people should consume in a lifetime, so I am relatively certain I will never be a stoner again.

At this point, I no longer even miss it. My dreaming surely doesn't. This is a time where I am being called out to face the most repressed and deepest things in my subconscious... to shine light on all my hidden denials. Surprisingly, this is not difficult, but a relief. Turning to face the things you avoid is liberating and empowering... like turning to face the monster you have been running from in a nightmare. The nightmare ends... one way or another.

Sorry for the verbal dump. If you are still with me after this wall of text, I thank you. I suppose I could probably write a book on cannabis abuse and recovery.

HF

What did your Sifu meant with "putting holes in my aura and exposing me"?

He said that my energetic field had holes in it. Like Swiss Cheese.

He mentioned that for him this was the most obvious sign that someone was high... even more accurate than red eyes or behavior, as we all know that a true stoner may not show any outward signs of being stoned.

I used to come to class high like 40% of the time... and nearly always got stoned afterward. What can I say, it is a lot of fun doing Chi Kung and Tai Chi when blitzed.

He didn't feel it damaged me especially per se, but that it was unwise in general for a true internal kung fu practitioner to have these "blind spots" as they could be used to attack you... by spirits, entities, sorcerers, enemies etc.

I know it sounds like a bunch of woo... but that is the belief system of many internal kung fu practitioners, and I have found that these things are true for me as well.

Interesting. I'm not questioning your Sifu's perception. I'm interested in the meaning behind it. So weed put holes in your aura and makes you vulnerable for attacks. Have you guys discussed caapi vines and DMT? Has your Sifu seen you under the influence of those two?

This basically describes my relationship with weed. The most consistently I ever smoked it was every weekend as a teenager, all my friends were chronics, I'd join in with them on weekends between school weeks. Weed has always been pretty mind bending and psychedelic for me, it also turns me into a social illiterate unless I really take care with how much I intake and it unmotivates me pretty heavily for the next day or two.

I am a pretty absent minded, spaced out individual when sober so my monthly smoke out these days suits me just fine, I know it would impact me negatively to smoke too regularly. I'll use it to listen to a new composition I composed for a fresh minded, altered perspective and just to enjoy some good tunes and deep, philosophical thoughts about my life. 95% of the time I do it alone, I am a loner stoner at heart

Some of my closest friends are daily stoners, they're very motivated, driven people and it seems to work in well with their lives too. When i hang with them when they smoke I kind of tap into their stoned mind frame anyway and connect because the pathways have been set in my brain long ago since my first time indulging, so no harm, no foul.

Anyway, sorry for the slight derail. It's all about if it enhances your life (particularly if used as medicine). If it's holding you back from living your full potential then maybe cutting back or outright quitting is the best option. Different courses for different horses and all that jazz.

The Shipibo curanderos told me the same thing. Smoking weed pokes holes in your aura. AS far as i know, this and the fact that it may blur and fog the Ayahuasca experiences are the reasons why they don't recommend and use it.
And they told me that Maryjane is a female spirit who is very jealeous and likes to hook up men and don't let them go.
Afterwards in one of the sessions (when i had both Mary and Aya in my blood) i saw 2 female spirits floating over me, and they where kind of fiercely arguing/ fighting over me.
I was like: Yeah! CATFIGHT!!!

Seriously, i spent a lot of my lifetime stoned, and i feel i can't continue this, but i don't feel she has nothing to teach me anymore. Quite the contrary, its one of the most important lessons to let go and change yourself.
Tolerance/Dosage is key. I know, when i take weed on a clear system it has an incredible strong psychoactive effect, only because i keep my tolerance high, can i keep this abusive recreational habit going.