Quitting weed

[CosmicRiver]

Just a side note about adding tobacco to weed: Most people use some weak tobacco or cigarettes for this. I experimented with adding Mapacho (N. rustica), and people usually dislike it because it becomes too strong and difficult to inhale. Cigarettes are created to be weak and addictive, whereas natural tobacco is strong and very purgative. Inhaling Mapacho often leads to nausea and vomiting, akin to ayahuasca.

Tobacco has been kind of tamed. But during the period in which i tried to use Cannabis without Tobacco, i realized that Tobacco is added for a reason. It has kind of opposite "energy" to Cannabis and it balances it, making the high more grounded.

I had a friend who used to say he could quit anytime. He is most likely still smoking. It became a habit of his and a go-to drug of choice. He even created a whole outlook around it and how it is spiritually beneficial. I went along with his gaslighting for years until I stopped smoking myself and saw him years later.

Cannabis can lead to real stagnation in character development and can be an escape tool. I am not saying this is the case for everyone, but this possibility exists for some. In my friend's case, he used just enough to feel that spiritual vibe and used it as an excuse to do nothing. I see cannabis as one of the hardest plants to work with. One needs to be vigilant and have a very strong character and a sense of self. Tryptamines are much easier to deal with.

 

[northape]

Tobacco has been kind of tamed. But during the period in which i tried to use Cannabis without Tobacco, i realized that Tobacco is added for a reason. It has kind of opposite "energy" to Cannabis and it balances it, making the high more grounded.

I smoked cannabis with harmalas (infused in Mullein changa style), and it gave this grounded effect with fewer issues all around. Maybe that is why people like tobacco; it has some harmalas in it. CBD-rich strains were quite nice, without this addictive tendency.

 

[doubledog]

Ime there are two reasons for mixing tobacco into cannabis: the grounding effect and the taste. I personally do not like the taste of smoked cannabis, so if I smoke it ( which is rare) I do it with tobacco mixed in. I do not smoke or consume tobacco itself, I can only tolerate it as an admixture to cannabis in a joint.

Nowadays, I almost exclusively vape cannabis and do not mix it with tobacco.

 

[Jamie01]

It’s a terrible mix imo…totally ruins the wonderful energy of the cannabis. I’m not all that fond of tobacco though and I think weed is the ultimate entheogen so that’s to be expected.

 

[blig-blug]

In my life I've had cannabis about 10 times or so, all of them but one at quite high doses. I found it an interesting experience every time, but never wanted to repeat it soon. I find high doses quite psychedelic, but confusing.

 

[northape]

In my life I've had cannabis about 10 times or so, all of them but one at quite high doses. I found it an interesting experience every time, but never wanted to repeat it soon. I find high doses quite psychedelic, but confusing.

I only got a psychedelic effect once. The whole reality disappeared, and I found myself in a green-black world. There was some connection to conventional reality, but it was far away, like at the end of a hallway or something. I never could repeat that experience. Most of the time, all I got was confusion and a lot of anxiety. Some people do not resonate with cannabis. You need a very healthy psyche to work with it holistically. I heard a similar insight somewhere, that people from well-developed countries have a better time with cannabis. Maybe there is some truth to it. I've higher than normal levels of anxiety by default, coming from a more unstable country. We're complex beings.

 

[Transform]

Recently while catching up with some old friends I had the pleasure of sharing a pure weed reefer and chucked in some ground up rue seed for good measure. The entire situation was profoundly healing and even included a couple of glasses of wine. Breaking out of dogma was intrinsically liberating, especially since the whole occasion was a wonderfully siezed moment (as in carpe diem).

Having preceded such a situation with an act of service to another compounded the synergy - and speaking of which, rue + cannabis was a clear and bright combo. I'd love to know the weed strain since it wasn't the usual skunk and had a much more balanced profile (although come to think of it we all had 10mg oral CBD as well).

Anyhow, in light of all this I'll not be eschewing cannabis entirely anytime soon - but nor will I be taking it up as a regular habit (again).

 

[Icon]

I'd consider myself addicted, which I probably wouldn't have a year ago.

I didn't try it until after high school, when I was 18. I was straight-lace, didn't smoke nicotine or drink alcohol either. Since then I've smoked and drank socially but never got addicted to nicotine or alcohol. My first dozen or so highs were on a classmate's volcano. He was using it for medical purposes, to help with a stomach issue. I think the image of vaporizing it out of a 'medical device' for 'medical patients' helped me not see it as an addictive drug. I bought my own volcano eventually and hardly ever smoked it except out of friend's methods.

I was addicted to World of Warcraft from like, 15-22. So maybe there is something to cannabis synergizing with other addictions. The summer between high school and college I was eventually vaping with my medical friend almost daily and scheming to start a business. I was making a few hundred dollars per mo. selling WoW gold at the time, so we kind of leaned in that direction. I got deeply committed to gaming and vaping and quickly dropped out of college to move in with my WoW girlfriend across the country. I wasn't with my medical friend anymore so I was sober for about a year, but after that relationship didn't work out I moved back, got my own volcano, and been vaping ever since.

Once you have an expensive desktop vaporizer it's hard not to indulge. And it really marks the first step in a lifestyle path. For a decade I've been framing my life to make room for cannabis. I rented a house with 4 of my stoner friends, so it was constantly present and it was an awesome year of goofing off, getting stoned, gaming, dropping out of college again. I did my first DMT extractions and was just starting to get my feet wet in psychedelics. This was in 2012 and I was waking up to the status-quo, getting swept up into new-age spiritual practices, banking on Terrence's timewave zero prediction that the world was going to dramatically change by the end of the year.

I was isolating from my friends, on my computer a lot, my employment wasn't stable. Being high makes it easy to ignore things though. When I ran out I would pinch from my roommates bags while they were gone. I still feel guilty about it. Everyone split apart after that year lease, I moved back home and tensions were high with my family since I was just gaming, vaping and not working. Gaming was probably the bigger problem honestly. After I started to let that go it was easier to get a job and move in with some other stoner friends.

This is becoming a long autobiography lol, sorry. Long story short, in the past decade I've taken steps, sometimes intentionally sometimes subconsciously, to maintain a constant relationship with cannabis. I live alone so there's no conflict or secondary accountability. I grew the plant for several years and sold it for longer, I haven't been dry in years. The desktop vaporizer delivering unparalleled highs without lingering odors. Jobs that can be done while high.

It stunts my social skills though, I think more than average for some people. I get really quiet and don't express myself clearly or as often, probably related to the anxiety/paranoia and confusion/memory fog. It's great when I'm alone though, so I'm alone more and more frequently. But it's unnecessary to use it as often as I do, like right now I have an hour of downtime before I have to do some stuff. There's plenty of chores I could be doing, but that feels icky, I'd rather vape a bit and write a long ass post. I notice writing is another addiction for me, maybe because I've put myself in a situation where I crave interaction. Sometimes I write something, read it back and it's just like... why am I spending time on this just to get a like or two.

I think it would be best used like any other psychedelic, once per week at most, or for special occasions. But I've setup my life where it's so accessible, excusable that it's not easy to control my use. Dinner is an occasion, why not breakfast, or anything and everything. And it's the foundation of my interest in psychedelics which is a big part of my identity presently, so it's hard for me to admit its faults.

 

[universecannon]

Recently while catching up with some old friends I had the pleasure of sharing a pure weed reefer and chucked in some ground up rue seed for good measure. The entire situation was profoundly healing and even included a couple of glasses of wine. Breaking out of dogma was intrinsically liberating, especially since the whole occasion was a wonderfully siezed moment (as in carpe diem).

Having preceded such a situation with an act of service to another compounded the synergy - and speaking of which, rue + cannabis was a clear and bright combo. I'd love to know the weed strain since it wasn't the usual skunk and had a much more balanced profile (although come to think of it we all had 10mg oral CBD as well).

Anyhow, in light of all this I'll not be eschewing cannabis entirely anytime soon - but nor will I be taking it up as a regular habit (again).

I used to do the oral harmalas/smoked cannabis combo often and found it fascinating. The harmalas added their own psychedelic element and tranquilized my weed anxiety, allowing me to smoke more than normal and remain calm. Weed is very psychedelic for me, always has been, but it's a double edged sword as it also can induce a lot of anxiety if I don't ease into it in a certain way

 

[Transform]

I used to do the oral harmalas/smoked cannabis combo often and found it fascinating. The harmalas added their own psychedelic element and tranquilized my weed anxiety, allowing me to smoke more than normal and remain calm. Weed is very psychedelic for me, always has been, but it's a double edged sword as it also can induce a lot of anxiety if I don't ease into it in a certain way

I'm fairly convinced that a pre-dose of oral CBD helped the experience to be a lot less hectic than it would otherwise have been. That plus even the small amount of harmalas felt so much more centring than the usual frazzled, far-out nonsense that typically would spew forth from my mind when using straight weed (I really should dig up some of my stoned notes to include as evidence here ).

It's possibly worthy of note that I've also been using a combined reishi and fly agaric tincture lately, and that appears to have a profoundly balancing effect on my psyche as well.

The final crucial point was that the set and setting was close to optimal as I could have wished. Your assessment of cannabis as having a psychedelic action gets my solid agreement here, and applying a similar set of ground rules as those for other psychedelics made for a far more ~spiritually~ beneficial experience than for the vast majority of previous occasions - quite surprisingly so, in fact, to a degree that some stringent ground rules shall be applied prior to any future engagement with the substance.

I've still very much quit the previous kind of relationship I'd had with the herb.

 

[Pumpy]

btw for any one who started smoking weed regularly before they were around 25 ---- >… in rat prefrontal cortex kynurenic acid levels are involved in the enduring cognitive dysfunctions induced by tetrahydrocannabinol exposure during the adolescence S Beggiato, A Ieraci, M Zuccarini, P Di Iorio… - Frontiers in …, 2022 - frontiersin.org

A systemically-available kynurenine aminotransferase II (KAT II) inhibitor restores nicotine-evoked glutamatergic activity in the cortex of rats [neuropharm 2014] KAT-II inhibition in adulthood can reverse long-lasting KYNA-driven impairments in prefrontal glutamatergic signaling caused by earlier cannabinoid exposure.

Kynurenic Acid (KYNA)

Identification of Two Flavonoids as New and Safe Inhibitors of Kynurenine Aminotransferase II via Computational and In Vitro Study Redouane Rebai 1 2 , Luc Jasmin 3 , Abdennacer Boudah 2 [2025 Jan 10 !!]

I was tipped off to this line of reasoning last year and applied it and it works frighteningly well

 

[universecannon]

C

btw for any one who started smoking weed regularly before they were around 25 ---- >… in rat prefrontal cortex kynurenic acid levels are involved in the enduring cognitive dysfunctions induced by tetrahydrocannabinol exposure during the adolescence S Beggiato, A Ieraci, M Zuccarini, P Di Iorio… - Frontiers in …, 2022 - frontiersin.org

A systemically-available kynurenine aminotransferase II (KAT II) inhibitor restores nicotine-evoked glutamatergic activity in the cortex of rats [neuropharm 2014] KAT-II inhibition in adulthood can reverse long-lasting KYNA-driven impairments in prefrontal glutamatergic signaling caused by earlier cannabinoid exposure.

Kynurenic Acid (KYNA)

Identification of Two Flavonoids as New and Safe Inhibitors of Kynurenine Aminotransferase II via Computational and In Vitro Study Redouane Rebai 1 2 , Luc Jasmin 3 , Abdennacer Boudah 2 [2025 Jan 10 !!]

I was tipped off to this line of reasoning last year and applied it and it works frighteningly well

Interesting. Can you elaborate a bit on your experience?

 

[Pumpy]

C

Interesting. Can you elaborate a bit on your experience?

I'd love to ! After I found this information i ordered some
epicatechin extract from Nootropics Depot
and started taking it once a day. I was running a pop up restaurant
(at a dance club~!) by myself at the time on weekends and holidays. I found my stoner brain
was just barely up to the task; i could pull it off but found it pretty taxing. After 3 - 4 weeks
of taking this stuff (and a steady diet of harmala also) this difficulty started fading away.
I found chatting up all the randos at my counter and general social stuff much easier and more
enjoyable because of the added confidence

After I had taken this extract for a few weeks my memory became very solid and reliable in a way i forgot was possible;
at this point it is as good as it was long ago before i smoked daily or very close. I did take 2x the dose at first because i am sure i needed it
i suspect that executive function's improving too

I've begun pulling together threads in my life that have lain dormant for years and followed through with some big plans; am genuinely surprised at the magnitude of the effect i've experienced so far . I've made no changes to my "diet" in the last two years other than taking this and harmala.
As far as side effects go I didn't detect any. Btw i'm confident most people here could make this extract themselves for very low cost, i plan to eventually

 

[fink]

I don't know Pumpy, I think my optimum state for anything in the real world is sober, a little bit hungry, but well hydrated.

I don't think humans need any alterations to experience life in it's most exquisite form. Surely when we alter our mental state, even beneficially, it is to escape the real world.

My optimum state for making music is definitely lightly stoned.

I think the only way to equalise the relationship with the green lady is to possess her without smoking her.

 

[Pumpy]

I think the only way to equalise the relationship with the green lady is to possess her without smoking her.

I agree! And with the other part My enthusiasm for this kat-II inhibitor subject is due in part to it helping me
bridge the gap from daily smoker to that. It was hard tho she's so familiar and comfortable. the new temptation
is taking tryptamines every day / other day but that will limit itself one way or another

<adding Also simply pumped that a nootropic / herbal concoction is effective / well researched and available,
there is much disinfo and many questionable sellers in that market>

 

[fink]

For sure man, my wake up routine of caffeine and nicotine puts me in an altered state every day. Life is one big chemical theme park.

But I do think that optimal state we can achieve by being a little.bit hungry, no intentional molecules added sober and well hydrated is our perfect state.

We used to be like that to survive more often. Super powered monkeys.

A week of simple food and no intentional molecules extra and we could start to experience the most raw form of life in an un-altered state.

Caffeine and nicotine already controls most of the world's leading altered state, I'm never clean of both at the same time.

But if there is need to find motivation to quit any addiction it could be to push closer to that purest of un-altered states.

I stand no chance most of the time. I think what I'm saying is sometimes we forget that we can fix ourselves by taking away habitual chemistry from our bodies just as well as adding more chemistry.

 

[CataractSurgeon]

Of course i stopped reading right there, this is just ridiculous.

After going through Ibogaine after trying taper and cold turkey from various opioid like stuff - I agree - I quit pot without a thought a few years back - my real monkey would not get off until Ibogaine strangled it for good -