Will weed ever be the same?
March 25, 2012 1:47 PM Subscribe
Will weed ever be the same?
Its not something I'm at all proud of, but about a month ago I got offered meth while very drunk and I tried some. It was a very large dose, and I was completely removed from reality for what felt like an infinite amount of time but was probably around half an hour. For the next hour after that, everything that existed scared the ever living shit out of me. It was one of the worst experiences of my life and I will punch someone right in the face if they ever mention meth to me again. I took it easy for a long time after it happened, and have just recently started smoking weed a couple times again. When I do smoke now, even off of one hit, I get a very uncomfortable metallic feeling in my head and the way that I perceive everything feels like I'm peaking on a psychedelic, but in a bad way. Does anyone know why this is happening, how long it will keep happening, or anything else about it? Do I have to just stop smoking weed altogether?
Its not something I'm at all proud of, but about a month ago I got offered meth while very drunk and I tried some. It was a very large dose, and I was completely removed from reality for what felt like an infinite amount of time but was probably around half an hour. For the next hour after that, everything that existed scared the ever living shit out of me. It was one of the worst experiences of my life and I will punch someone right in the face if they ever mention meth to me again. I took it easy for a long time after it happened, and have just recently started smoking weed a couple times again. When I do smoke now, even off of one hit, I get a very uncomfortable metallic feeling in my head and the way that I perceive everything feels like I'm peaking on a psychedelic, but in a bad way. Does anyone know why this is happening, how long it will keep happening, or anything else about it? Do I have to just stop smoking weed altogether?
Also anecdotally: my sister was given meth when she expected cocaine once, in about 1980, and still can't smoke pot without risking a freakout.
posted by Now I'm Prune Tracy! at 2:19 PM on March 25, 2012
posted by Now I'm Prune Tracy! at 2:19 PM on March 25, 2012
I took it easy for a long time after it happened
Let me, with all respect and kindness and caring, suggest to you that a month is not "a long time." Six months might be a reasonable time to let your neurochemistry return to its happy place, maybe? Of course everybody's brain is different, but it sounds like you did the experiment and your brain isn't happy to enjoy smoking up right now, so maybe give yourself a longer break before trying again.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:44 PM on March 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Let me, with all respect and kindness and caring, suggest to you that a month is not "a long time." Six months might be a reasonable time to let your neurochemistry return to its happy place, maybe? Of course everybody's brain is different, but it sounds like you did the experiment and your brain isn't happy to enjoy smoking up right now, so maybe give yourself a longer break before trying again.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:44 PM on March 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
This is also a great question to ask on the erowid.org forums.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:44 PM on March 25, 2012 [6 favorites]
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:44 PM on March 25, 2012 [6 favorites]
sometimes when you have a bad experience with a drug, and then you smoke weed, it'll bring you back to that bad place. You'll be ok. maybe it's time for you to stop smoking weed. You are having a normal reaction and you're not alone.
posted by katypickle at 2:47 PM on March 25, 2012
posted by katypickle at 2:47 PM on March 25, 2012
Seconding erowid and nthing giving yourself more time. After you have a bad trip kind of experience, other types of trips and highs can get associated with that in your mind. I don't know if this will wear off, but I do think a month is not a long time.
posted by J. Wilson at 3:05 PM on March 25, 2012
posted by J. Wilson at 3:05 PM on March 25, 2012
Are you absolutely sure it was methamphetamine? Because that sounds a lot more like some kind of dissociative or meth cut with a psychedelic or something to me. Or Angel Dust or whatever. In any case it is indeed possible that your experiences with weed will not be the same for some time. It happens. It's also possible that won't happen. It's impossible to say but, yes, it could go either way.
Oh, even if it turns out you were offered something besides meth that doesn't mean you should try meth after all.
posted by Justinian at 3:49 PM on March 25, 2012
Oh, even if it turns out you were offered something besides meth that doesn't mean you should try meth after all.
posted by Justinian at 3:49 PM on March 25, 2012
If drugs make you feel bad, then stop doing them.
I've tried both of the ones you mentioned, and was not a fan of either of them, but I never noticed a particularly bad interaction between them.
Pot, especially strong pot, is a psychedelic and can make you feel weird and off in all kinds of unpredictable ways. If you don't like the feeling, you really shouldn't be smoking it.
Just take it easy, and relax. You are not permenantly broken. Just maybe find a new hobby/ friends for a while, and maybe get some treatment for anxiety, because I think that's probably the root of the problem here.
posted by empath at 3:54 PM on March 25, 2012
I've tried both of the ones you mentioned, and was not a fan of either of them, but I never noticed a particularly bad interaction between them.
Pot, especially strong pot, is a psychedelic and can make you feel weird and off in all kinds of unpredictable ways. If you don't like the feeling, you really shouldn't be smoking it.
Just take it easy, and relax. You are not permenantly broken. Just maybe find a new hobby/ friends for a while, and maybe get some treatment for anxiety, because I think that's probably the root of the problem here.
posted by empath at 3:54 PM on March 25, 2012
Also, take it from someone who was completely out of control for a few years-- making bad drug taking decisions while drunk is a huge red flag that you are not handling your shit. Be very careful, and make sure you aren't going down a bad path. Maybe find some family or older friends to spend time with sober for a while.
posted by empath at 3:59 PM on March 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by empath at 3:59 PM on March 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
I had a similar experience once.
I was a pretty regular smoker as a teenager.
Unknowingly smoked some meth laced Marijuana while drunk (I had some pretty dickish friends as a teenager.) , and had a bad, paranoid, disconnected time.
For a few months afterwards smoking would bring back a lot of those feelings. I think it was about 6 months before I enjoyed it again, and I did resume smoking for a few more years, but never as frequently, and always with a little more paranoia then before, and eventually gave it up almost completely.
posted by St. Sorryass at 4:26 PM on March 25, 2012
I was a pretty regular smoker as a teenager.
Unknowingly smoked some meth laced Marijuana while drunk (I had some pretty dickish friends as a teenager.) , and had a bad, paranoid, disconnected time.
For a few months afterwards smoking would bring back a lot of those feelings. I think it was about 6 months before I enjoyed it again, and I did resume smoking for a few more years, but never as frequently, and always with a little more paranoia then before, and eventually gave it up almost completely.
posted by St. Sorryass at 4:26 PM on March 25, 2012
You probably know this but there are lots of different strains of pot, and they can feel very different from each other. So, that could be part of your puzzle as well.
posted by Glinn at 5:16 PM on March 25, 2012
posted by Glinn at 5:16 PM on March 25, 2012
Another anecdote - someone I know well was fine with pot until she had acid. Form then on, it made her paranoid, and she's never smoked since.
posted by wilful at 7:40 PM on March 25, 2012
posted by wilful at 7:40 PM on March 25, 2012
Quitting seems like the only course of action. Remove the cause, remove the problem.
posted by oceanjesse at 8:45 PM on March 25, 2012
posted by oceanjesse at 8:45 PM on March 25, 2012
I also doubt you had meth. Highs from meth last many hours (see here). That's part of the reason it's popular.
Even if it was, it's unlikely any can answer your question. For me, marijuana is most enjoyable when I have the right mindset. If I started to expect paranoid highs, I'm sure I'd start having them.
posted by chairface at 9:20 PM on March 25, 2012
Even if it was, it's unlikely any can answer your question. For me, marijuana is most enjoyable when I have the right mindset. If I started to expect paranoid highs, I'm sure I'd start having them.
posted by chairface at 9:20 PM on March 25, 2012
Do I have to just stop smoking weed altogether?
You don't have to do any such thing. Recreational drugs are recreational. But if you're not enjoying it when you do it, why would you keep doing it?
What I definitely would be doing if I were in your shoes is looking for other ways to spend my time than hanging out with people who think it's cool to offer powerful new drugs to very drunk people. Combining high doses of alcohol with previously unexperienced drugs is a fairly notorious way to get dead.
posted by flabdablet at 11:19 PM on March 25, 2012 [2 favorites]
You don't have to do any such thing. Recreational drugs are recreational. But if you're not enjoying it when you do it, why would you keep doing it?
What I definitely would be doing if I were in your shoes is looking for other ways to spend my time than hanging out with people who think it's cool to offer powerful new drugs to very drunk people. Combining high doses of alcohol with previously unexperienced drugs is a fairly notorious way to get dead.
posted by flabdablet at 11:19 PM on March 25, 2012 [2 favorites]
Everyones body chemistry is different. It does sound weird the time frame of action from smoking meth. Ive never had/never plan on smoking meth, but i do enjoy pharmaceutical amphetamines from time to time. In those recreational events, i only experienced enjoyment, excitement and a small desire to do more. These were only small theraputic doses and they generally 1. Drained me the next day and 2. Took a small toll on my attitude the next couple of days
Your body may just need to be left alone for a bit. Let it clean itself out and establish a clear baseline. I am a daily smoker, but if i am not feeling it, i dont do it. Give yourself a break and revisit mary jane later, no sense in doing it if you are not getting the perceived benefits you seek. On the plus side, everything works out and the next time you partake will be intense in the old school sense.
posted by handbanana at 7:49 AM on March 26, 2012
Your body may just need to be left alone for a bit. Let it clean itself out and establish a clear baseline. I am a daily smoker, but if i am not feeling it, i dont do it. Give yourself a break and revisit mary jane later, no sense in doing it if you are not getting the perceived benefits you seek. On the plus side, everything works out and the next time you partake will be intense in the old school sense.
posted by handbanana at 7:49 AM on March 26, 2012
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I don't know if anyone can tell you whether it will ever be the same.
I do think laying off, at least for a good sound while, is the best thing you could do for yourself.
I have only anecdata, and my anecdatal guess is that your chemistry is whacked by your experience alchohol/meth experience and may be nursed back to a better setpoint through conscious living and abstaining (and I mean the alcohol too; your liver doesn't need that stress!)
Please understand that mj is psychedelic, just the slowest of the lot.
I did a little googling on 'meth intoxication' and found this: "Methamphetamine acts specifically on the sympathetic nervous system causing increased release of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine and allowing norepinephrine to remain active by decreasing its uptake" from this article. So this is my two-second IANYD etc. guess on the actual chemical profile of your experiences.
Fear is fearful for a reason. Do not disregard your fear! All the best to you.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 2:01 PM on March 25, 2012 [2 favorites]