The 'best' way of enjoying weed

[Rock.0]

I was introduced to weed at about the age of 15. I smoked it out of a 750ml Coke bottle with some garden hose and a tin foil cone. I then used it at house parties, then for stress relief while working a very hectic job, and more recently just to chill out on with mates while we watch stupid youtube videos.

Tonight I lit up a joint after not having smoked for I'd say a year, and with my growing knowledge and experience with psychedelics and the effort and rigour around tailoring a safe and fulfilling journey, it got me thinking, am I too casual about using weed? Am I taking it too much for granted? Should it be paid equal amounts of respect as other plant medicines?

I think because I grew up with the culture of weed being this thing you do that makes you say stupid shit and eat pizza before falling asleep in front of the TV, that's just all I've ever seen it for. But is there an ideal way of experiencing weed, in a similar way that we like to experience psychedelics? I have never experienced visualisations or anything like ego death, or other worlds or entities while using weed, I guess I'm fairly connected to normal waking consciousness, just a little more relaxed, jolly and dim witted. Is that all there is to it or am I missing something?

 

[Peverly]

Honestly, Great freaking question, especially in an age where I can go on Youtube and watch people doing 1 gram dabs in one pull..... why? So wasteful. Just like anything else our personal chemistry plays such a big part on how all of these substances effect us, how we were introduced to them and unfortunately the overall practice of westernizing things that we all have done at least once in our lives in America. More, Bigger, Stronger, Faster, Cheaper.

For me, I was introduced to weed by people who just wanted to get high. Smoke, sit around, do nothing and laugh about equally nothing. Not really appealing. That was when I was 15 I think. I remember smoking for the first time with them and thinking I was having a heart attack. I panicked and locked myself in my bathroom for what felt like days as I attempted to #2 while crossing my fingers my heart wouldn't explode and I'd be found like Elvis. TMI? but funny nonetheless when I came to, realized how utterly ridiculous it was that I thought I was dying.

That was the first and last time I smoked until I found my dads doob toob (A toilet paper roll steam roller) with a fat sack inside of it. I was 18. This time however was completely different, I did not think I was dying! In fact I played the most efficient couple hours of Castlevania I had ever played. Looking back I think I was speed-running before I had even known what that was.

I smoked happily with friends playing video games etc until the heart attack thing came back. Driving around with friends, I had to scream at them to take me seriously when I said I thought I was having a heart attack. They pulled the car over and I got out and started walking to the nearest hospital. Wasn't until I found myself at a church, hearing my friends distant voices calling out to me that I realized I was perfectly fine and broke down in laughter.

For a few years I couldn't really smoke because every time I would, boom, psuedo heart attack. So one day I got fed up, got really baked, started having my heart attack then promptly took myself to the hospital. Told them EXACTLY what the deal was. High as all hell they hooked me up to an EKG and I kid you not... the moment that machine started whirring and beeping the doc looks at me and says "Kid, you're perfectly fine, your heart is perfectly healthy, beating fine, nothing is wrong" I've literally never felt that pain since. So almost 9 years? something like that. That was my Weed ego death I suppose.

So that was when I realized that MJ really has some strong capabilities to... really... Manifest thought I guess you could say. Scary stuff.

Since then I've grown at least a dozen or so times (which I think when growing anything it really helps develop a relationship with whatever plant you're growing) over the past 8 years and have had an extremely productive and healthy relationship with the plant. She just needed to DESTROY me first I guess.

I am a huge advocate for the substance but I don't know where to draw the line. I'd like to say, no, if you smoke weed and become lazy and unproductive, it's because you are a lazy unproductive person when NOT high. That often leads to controversy and arguments :thumb_dow
and unfortunately as much as I love them, movies like any cheech and chong, half baked etc. did not help the image for the substance plus it normalized the "STONER" mentality of being lazy and getting the munchies.

Once upon a time and fact check me if you'd like but there used to be Moroccan pirates that we're essentially Hash bandits. They would smoke absurd amounts of hashish and drink extremely potent hash drinks then go out and rob, plunder, rape local villages. While I don't agree with that i think it sort of re-enforces that "Weed is what you make it"

I could go on and on here. I guess what I am saying is that YES the plant deserves way more respect than she is given. She is constantly prosecuted by the government, which is now trying to make CBD a scheduled drug (which is :thumb_dow ) Constantly abused by the masses, unwittingly being used to fuel the war on drugs (which is :thumb_dow)

To sum this up though and to end my own whats becoming a tirade, I would say yes maybe your are missing an aspect from the substance due to how you were introduced to it. I don't know what you're into personally but it sounds like you'd potentially like to change your relationship with MJ. To this I would recommend getting stoned normally, then doing something... Not normal.

If you seek the more psychoactive side of THC, Find some dabs (shatter) and rip a good fat one. I've had times where a dab gets me immediately to that "I'm about to start tripping" feeling. Where your gut sinks and your hands go all clammy.

There is also Edibles which I guarantee speaking from experience can convince you that you are having an acid tip come back from a few days prior.

Maybe try just the CBD aspect of things, the medicinal part, used for inflammation, anxiety and pain.

Go for a run, do yoga (<- this ones GREAT!), clean your house.

Use it as a reward system. If I do (X), then I will smoke.

Or alternatively, stop smoking entirely and don't smoke again until you've grown and harvested your own plant. Just some ideas. :thumb_up: checking out before I start writing another paragraph....

 

[dragonrider]

Don't do it too often. Once or twice a week max. I think twice a week is already too much, actually. And better not smoke it. It's best taken orally.
Under those circumstances, cannabis can be a psychedelic of great value.

Another way in wich it can be of great value, from a psychedelic point of view, is to 'microdose' it in combination with another psychedelic. This can also be done orally.
It improves the psychedelic experience for most of the classic hallucinogens.
In that case less realy is more. Too much cannabis can dull the effects of most psychedelics. Something like a 10th of a gram can already be enough to take away some of the side effects of the classic hallucinogens, like vaso-and-bronchoconstriction, and it will slightly enhance the psychedelic effects of them without sedating the mind.

 

[null24]

I find marijuana to be so useful because it is so versatile and forgiving. As a "plant spirit",it is one of if not the oldest, and it shows itself to me in myriad forms, from a lighthearted and fun little imp to an ancient of days compassionate but stem teacher.

I have smoked for over 35 years and my relationship with it continues to evolve. I feel that as a mind altering substance it is probably the most complex, least harmful and most useful ones out there.

With the growing knowledge of its botany and the thousands of developed and stable strains, it can be tailored to meet so many different ends. One can find strains with terp profiles that support creativity, or ease pain, or relieve depression, or help insomnia, or increase focus etc .

As far as the best way? I don't know, got any? Let's figure out the answer, I'll start rolling,you pack bowls...

 

[BeKindRewind]

My favorite use of cannabis is when I can use it to increase my appreciation for nature. Hiking, fishing, sitting at a campfire. I never saw the point of sitting around playing video games/watching TV while smoking cannabis, just makes me want to go outside the whole time, but to each their own. It is also a great aid for meditation and yoga.

 

[Nitegazer]

I wouldn't want to underrate the importance of letting go of the constraints of rationality and embracing my senses (i.e. getting stupid and having the munchies).

Where I am in my life, raising kids, working a career and supporting various causes, unhooking a few times a week is helping me keep balance. And it's not only marijuana that can give me my 'low-brow fix.'-- on the rare occasions I have the opportunity to drop acid, I find that a good portion of the trip is connecting with friends through riotous laughter and play.

Marijuana can be elevated to deeper spiritual exploration, but sometimes couch-lock can serve a higher purpose, too.

 

[Doc Buxin]

My favorite use of cannabis is when I can use it to increase my appreciation for nature. Hiking, fishing, sitting at a campfire. I never saw the point of sitting around playing video games/watching TV while smoking cannabis, just makes me want to go outside the whole time, but to each their own. It is also a great aid for meditation and yoga.

This^^^^^ is how I've seen it from pretty much the very beginning (I too was 15 when I smoked pot for the first time; it's been four decades since then).

With both Cannabis and classic psychedelics I found that I could not stand to be inside much, especially in front of a glowing screen. The undeniable urge to be in nature was way too much to ignore.

Between the use of LSD, Psilocybin mushrooms, a little peyote and a liberal dose of Cannabis flowers, all of that combined with a growing interest in meditation, yoga and traditional, herbal medicine led me at 20 years of age to living in a tent in the Alaskan woods in solitude. I would smoke pot and then go for long hikes or runs through the woods. Keenly observing lots of moose, bald eagles, loons floating on lakes, Amanita muscaria mushrooms growing from the forest floor, the trippy Birch and Willow groves, etc.

From there I began world travels to study old school, traditional medicine systems.

None of that would have happened if I hadn't spent so many hours high on Cannabis flowers, contemplating just how effed up the human race had become and how nasty big cities are, even the cleaner ones!

Most of my friends thought that I was nuts, but I felt that I had to follow my heart.

Nowadays, our youngest daughter, who is 20, abuses the hell out of pot and is a lazy slob going nowhere in life and it is absolutely killing her mother and I. Because of this, my views on Cannabis have changed a bit. No longer do I believe people when then say "pot isn't addictive", oh yeah? Go live with our daughter for a few days! I mean, I was a pretty big pot head back in the day, but she takes the cake as far as over-using and abusing what I used to consider a very sacred plant medicine.

So, you could say I have had the vantage points, over decades time, to be able to feel many different ways about Cannabis use.

These days, I typically will smoke a joint on a Friday or Saturday night (outside, in nature of course) approximately 6 times per year, give or take a little. Depending upon how tired at am at the time, I will either end up working in my tree nursery, working with my bonsai trees (and tripping out on the bonsai trees!), observing my medicinal herb gardens, sitting with our dogs (and being eternally grateful for them!), sitting with our goats (and simply tripping on how trippy goats are!) or just relaxing in our barn (which is open sided with massive vines covering most of it) listening to some music. My wife and I barely get out to canoe the river anymore, but when we do, we enjoy smoking a joint about a third of the way through the voyage.

 

[blue.magic]

For me, it's edibles, namely chocolate I made myself.

I take a rough equivalent of 15 mg THC (little less than 1/10 of a gram of weed).

I usually watch either old movies or very emotional/visual movies like "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets". I have very meaningful immersion into deep emotions, recalls of childhood memories.

Sometimes it gets very dark, like seeing people die in a movie is very touching and I realize my own mortality. It can be accompanied by a feeling if cold darkness and it's scary, yet I appreciate that.

 

[Psilosopher?]

I think because I grew up with the culture of weed being this thing you do that makes you say stupid shit and eat pizza before falling asleep in front of the TV, that's just all I've ever seen it for.

I think these guys have a bone to pick with that way of thinking.

I come from that culture, so when i see people doing huge dabs, or rolling massive joints then rolling it in crystal THC (or any sort of ridiculous way of ingesting cannabis), i can't help but feel like my culture is being shat on, and sold to the masses. This is the aspect of capitalism that i despise.



Also, people need to stop calling it marijuana. It's cannabis or ganja. Marijuana is the propaganda word used by the US government, in an effort to link this plant with Hispanic people, so they could shoot two birds with one stone.

 

[Rock.0]

Thank you everyone for jumping in on this discussion. I really didn't expect it to be unpacked so enthusiastically.

I'll definitely have to give the yoga a go. I did some meditation last night after smoking, first just sat and closed my eyes with some chill music in the background. That felt nice, I felt my inner world expand. Then I did a guided meditation track, and I honestly can't remember anything after pressing 'play'. I'd had an exceptionally difficult week, and had the intention of smoking to calm my mind down and get a decent sleep, so that's what I got. In fact, over the last few years this has been my main motivation for canna. I'd vape it while in bed, watch a quick episode of whatever and cruise off to sleep.

For a few years I couldn't really smoke because every time I would, boom, psuedo heart attack. So one day I got fed up, got really baked, started having my heart attack then promptly took myself to the hospital. Told them EXACTLY what the deal was. High as all hell they hooked me up to an EKG and I kid you not... the moment that machine started whirring and beeping the doc looks at me and says "Kid, you're perfectly fine, your heart is perfectly healthy, beating fine, nothing is wrong" I've literally never felt that pain since. So almost 9 years? something like that. That was my Weed ego death I suppose.

So that was when I realized that MJ really has some strong capabilities to... really... Manifest thought I guess you could say. Scary stuff.

Since then I've grown at least a dozen or so times (which I think when growing anything it really helps develop a relationship with whatever plant you're growing) over the past 8 years and have had an extremely productive and healthy relationship with the plant. She just needed to DESTROY me first I guess.

I am a huge advocate for the substance but I don't know where to draw the line. I'd like to say, no, if you smoke weed and become lazy and unproductive, it's because you are a lazy unproductive person when NOT high. That often leads to controversy and arguments :thumb_dow
and unfortunately as much as I love them, movies like any cheech and chong, half baked etc. did not help the image for the substance plus it normalized the "STONER" mentality of being lazy and getting the munchies.

...To sum this up though and to end my own whats becoming a tirade, I would say yes maybe your are missing an aspect from the substance due to how you were introduced to it. I don't know what you're into personally but it sounds like you'd potentially like to change your relationship with MJ. To this I would recommend getting stoned normally, then doing something... Not normal.

If you seek the more psychoactive side of THC, Find some dabs (shatter) and rip a good fat one. I've had times where a dab gets me immediately to that "I'm about to start tripping" feeling. Where your gut sinks and your hands go all clammy.

There is also Edibles which I guarantee speaking from experience can convince you that you are having an acid tip come back from a few days prior.

Maybe try just the CBD aspect of things, the medicinal part, used for inflammation, anxiety and pain.

Go for a run, do yoga (<- this ones GREAT!), clean your house.

Use it as a reward system. If I do (X), then I will smoke.

Or alternatively, stop smoking entirely and don't smoke again until you've grown and harvested your own plant. Just some ideas. :thumb_up: checking out before I start writing another paragraph....

Your experience is really intriguing, I really wonder what the heart attack stuff was about. I love the fact you purposely got baked and went to hospital :lol: I'm glad you got the answers you needed.

I may not have been clear in my OP, I rarely smoke weed these days. I've never been into doing it more than twice a week, even that I find too disruptive. I'm typically very sensitive to psychoactives, it usually takes just a pinch of herb in my vape to get me as high as I wish to be. It's just when I do have it, I was wondering if I could be getting more from it.

I've done edibles but it's been a very long time, but I should reconnect with that, and look into other ingestion methods that you've mentioned.

Another way in wich it can be of great value, from a psychedelic point of view, is to 'microdose' it in combination with another psychedelic. This can also be done orally.
It improves the psychedelic experience for most of the classic hallucinogens.
In that case less really is more. Too much cannabis can dull the effects of most psychedelics. Something like a 10th of a gram can already be enough to take away some of the side effects of the classic hallucinogens, like vaso-and-bronchoconstriction, and it will slightly enhance the psychedelic effects of them without sedating the mind.

Interesting. I have heard of people using canna to potentiate other substances :thumb_up: But as has already been mentioned in this thread, the tendency is that more is better...take a bigger hit, get more stoned etc. I like the less is more approach as it fits perfectly well with my metabolism of alkaloids.

My favorite use of cannabis is when I can use it to increase my appreciation for nature. Hiking, fishing, sitting at a campfire. I never saw the point of sitting around playing video games/watching TV while smoking cannabis, just makes me want to go outside the whole time, but to each their own. It is also a great aid for meditation and yoga.

Weed has always put me in a very sedated mindset, but maybe thats been heavily influenced by my expectations. Next time I'll keep more of an open mind to try being more active.

I wouldn't want to underrate the importance of letting go of the constraints of rationality and embracing my senses (i.e. getting stupid and having the munchies).

Where I am in my life, raising kids, working a career and supporting various causes, unhooking a few times a week is helping me keep balance. And it's not only marijuana that can give me my 'low-brow fix.'-- on the rare occasions I have the opportunity to drop acid, I find that a good portion of the trip is connecting with friends through riotous laughter and play.

Marijuana can be elevated to deeper spiritual exploration, but sometimes couch-lock can serve a higher purpose, too.

Agreed. I definitely don't think getting baked and chilling out is a bad thing, I'm merely challenging the idea that pop-culture has ingrained in us as the norm.

I come from that culture, so when i see people doing huge dabs, or rolling massive joints then rolling it in crystal THC (or any sort of ridiculous way of ingesting cannabis), i can't help but feel like my culture is being shat on, and sold to the masses. This is the aspect of capitalism that i despise.

Also, people need to stop calling it marijuana. It's cannabis or ganja. Marijuana is the propaganda word used by the US government, in an effort to link this plant with Hispanic people, so they could shoot two birds with one stone.

What culture is that? And what is their connection/purpose with ganja?
I do try to avoid the MJ word, but again, one of those things that is laced into our language, so it can be a difficult habit to break.

 

[Mitakuye Oyasin]

Rock.0 The spirit of Cannabis is a kind and forgiving one. She is a teacher and a revealer. My suggestion would be to approach her as the sacrament that she is. Respect her. Look at how beautiful and fragrant her physical form is. Ask her for guidance and revelations about yourself before you consume her. Allow her to guide and reveal to you what the best use of her is. It might change from time to time as your needs change. Work with her. She has many potential forms (flower, hash, full spectrum extract, infused butters and oils) and many potential ways to consume her both smoking/vaping and eating. If you approach her with respect she will show you incredible things. She has taught me libraries full of information over the decades I have worked with her. Blessings to you and your explorations.

 

[Psilosopher?]

What culture is that? And what is their connection/purpose with ganja?
I do try to avoid the MJ word, but again, one of those things that is laced into our language, so it can be a difficult habit to break.

Vedic culture. Their use of ganja stems from Lord Shiva, who supposedly spread the seeds into the rivers from his holy mountain. Sadhu's smoke ganja ritualistically. Achieving altered states of consciousness can allow one to see things from a different perspective, in this case, the inquiry into Brahman (aka Paramatman) and Atman.

 

[dragonrider]

My favorite use of cannabis is when I can use it to increase my appreciation for nature. Hiking, fishing, sitting at a campfire. I never saw the point of sitting around playing video games/watching TV while smoking cannabis, just makes me want to go outside the whole time, but to each their own. It is also a great aid for meditation and yoga.

City's can also be great on cannabis.
One of the best experiences i ever had with cannabis, was when i ate some space-cake on the high speed train from amsterdam to paris. It started to work, just when the train arrived in gare du nord.
Walking into that vibrant, strange city with all of those people and all of that energy around me, realy was a cool experience.

 

[Doc Buxin]

What culture is that? And what is their connection/purpose with ganja?
I do try to avoid the MJ word, but again, one of those things that is laced into our language, so it can be a difficult habit to break.

Vedic culture. Their use of ganja stems from Lord Shiva, who supposedly spread the seeds into the rivers from his holy mountain. Sadhu's smoke ganja ritualistically. Achieving altered states of consciousness can allow one to see things from a different perspective, in this case, the inquiry into Brahman (aka Paramatman) and Atman.

I can totally relate Psilosopher...

I spent quite a bit of my early twenties studying meditation, yoga, pranayama and sacred scriptures with some some folks who looked just like those who's pictures you posted a few posts back, and we smoked heavy doses of ganja pretty much the whole time the study and practice was going on. I also apprenticed under a group of Buddhist monks who happened to partake of copious amounts of ganja (along with other entheogens) while doing even more meditation, yoga, pranayama and scripture reading.

From these experiences I came to realize that Cannabis is a great meditation tool, if one chooses to utilize it as such. Granted, I never have been one for parties for the sake of partying. For me it has always been about getting into the right headspace in order to explore gnosis.

Since I was a small child I was always the one who would be questioning the status quo and asking, "isn't there something deeper to life that we're all missing here?" and actively seeking just that. I drove my parents, siblings and friends nuts that way!

Peace

 

[Mitakuye Oyasin]

dragonrider, yes cities can also be amazing to experience through the lens of cannabis. When I came back to the US from spending over a month in the jungles of Costa Rica I smoked some cannabis with a friend and walked around Los Angeles and it hit me like a ton of bricks, this city is much more of a "jungle" than the pristine natural setting where I just came from. The energy in cities like New York City, NY and Las Vegas are hard for me to be around and integrate. Cannabis helps with this energy overload integration for me and ultimately end up making the experience of visiting these high energy cities much more enjoyable instead of merely tolerable. Natural settings, however, are where mother nature begins to start unlocking her secrets. I love being near forests and water while experiencing Sativas. Central and Northern Coast of California all the way up through Oregon and Washington and BC all have forests right next to the ocean which are magical places to me.

 

[Wakinyan]

My personal preference is for the sativa type hybrids early in the day and the indica types later in the day. With that being said, I find she complements Trichocereus and mushrooms alike very comfortably so. My preferred method is to consume in edibles and or drinks as I feel my lungs have enough pollution from the smog and chemicals released in the air around me that I have no control over. Never mind me adding to them. While many may rightly argue that smoking or inhaling is a faster route... I don't need faster.

 

[universecannon]

Weed has always been quite psychedelic for me in high doses, especially with no tolerance. It shattered my universe the first few times I got really high in a similar intensity as lsd or mushrooms can. It's extremely underrated as a psychedelic. And for some people it can take a mild lsd or mushroom trip and turn it into a deep plunge once they smoke.

It also helps with aya/pharma comeups for me. The synergy is great and it's useful for the nausea or rut in the beginning. But I have to be careful mixing it with lsd or mushrooms on the comeup because it can be way too overwhelming. People with no tolerance prone to the anxiety/paranoia effects of weed can have disastrous results smoking it on the comeup of other psychedelics, I've noticed.

Being such a versatile plant, it effects everyone differently, even more so than other psychedelics imo, and even the same person can use it in various ways and have a changing relationship with it.

Getting high with friends can be both fun and insightful and sacred all at once, or not, or a mix. But if expanding your mind isn't often times fun and humorous, then something is off. To go deeper I like to eat or drink a nice dose of harmalas with melatonin, lay down with some headphones and smoke. The harmalas calm any weed anxiety I might get and the synergy is lovely. A good diet seems to really have helped smoothen out things with weed for me as well.

Smoking and then drifting in and out at the edge of sleep during meditation has also led to some really interesting experiences to put it lightly

"when you smoke the herb it reveals you to yourself"

 

[TGO]

Cannabis has been a wonderful plant teacher and companion for me and my significant other. We use it on a daily basis. Certain strains really help me with my social anxiety.

Cannabis, in combination with other psychedelics, also helped lead the way in conquering my addictions. At some point or another in my life, years ago, I had been addicted to alcohol, meth, cigarettes, and pretty much anything that made me feel "nice." After smacking face-first against rock bottom, it was time to change. I cut ties with everyone and went home to get sober and started my recovery.

Since then, I've found a deep sense of respect for these plant allies. Cannabis and mushrooms showed me that the life is much more beautiful when viewed as a gift, rather than a privilege to abuse. When I was too busy destroying my body, I couldn't see that, and I didn't care. But now, I am grateful for every day that I get to wake up next to my significant other and experience whatever this great mystery is that we call life together.

So for me, cannabis helped save my life. I don't know if that is the "best" way to experience it, but it surely has a permanent place in my heart and home. The potential for this plant is immense and I hope that someday, humanity will stop being silly and realize how backwards it is to ban nature. Ah, dreams!

 

[Lowtones]

I find marijuana to be so useful because it is so versatile and forgiving. As a "plant spirit",it is one of if not the oldest, and it shows itself to me in myriad forms, from a lighthearted and fun little imp to an ancient of days compassionate but stem teacher.

I agree. I think I was 17 when I first experienced cannabis, and there were times in college when I was using too much. But it can be so many different things. I know some people look down upon it, but my first experience with FB DMT was "sandwiching" between a little bit of decent herb. Having that familiar ally and teacher with me was one of the things that helped it be a positive experience.

As far as the best way? I don't know, got any? Let's figure out the answer, I'll start rolling,you pack bowls...

I like your style! I don't think we need to complicate things. If you want to go for finding the "best" method, go for it! But that's part of the beauty of cannabis in my opinion. No VG, torch lighter, etc. needed. Roll it up, pack it up, whatever. It's beautiful.

 

[woody]

Weed has always been quite psychedelic for me in high doses, especially with no tolerance. It shattered my universe the first few times I got really high in a similar intensity as lsd or mushrooms can. It's extremely underrated as a psychedelic. And for some people it can take a mild lsd or mushroom trip and turn it into a deep plunge once they smoke.

This is very true, the first time I had a joint during what I thought was the come down of a mushroom trip it brought me right back in and completely changed the experience, into as you say a deep plunge. This was a positive thing I should add. I also notice this effect on MDMA. It can also have a positive synergy with alcohol (moderate amounts) for me, giving me a mild MDMA like feeling, especially with music. However, timing is everything.

From base line my experience can be quite different. I sometimes find the initial stages a bit uncomfortable, bit paranoid, anxious etc. This often passes and I relax into it and get chatty and 'high'. But if I get hooked on negative thought it can spiral me downwards, although since my meditation practice has developed I have got better at letting the negativity go.

I used to smoke daily for years. Now it calls me and I know when the time, and company, is right, and I know how much I can handle. Like all these wonderful substances if you disrespect it it can give you a kicking! I have tried vaping it but you still can't beat a good joint imho. Adds to the communiality of it, shared experience and all that. When I meet up with my old friends the night always ends the same way.

So I suppose the best way to enjoy it would be moderately, in good company, with good music. Nice if you've grown it or know who has too.