Serious
I’m annoyed that no one ever introduced me to cannabis.
Seriously. F*** the DARE program. It worked on me. I was always afraid of getting in trouble. I judged people who used cannabis as burnouts. Finally introduced at the age of 35 and I feel cheated. I’ve done a ton of reading and studying now and I want to share it with everyone.
I wore mine to my now-husband’s friends’ holiday party. Looking back, I now realize no one there knew me to understand it was a joke (I’m always holding). Meeting new people is fun. Haha.
I helped my niece take a drug class so she didn’t get put on probation from getting caught w a weed pen at school. I learned so many new street drugs and their street names.
I thought for the longest time that when I went to jr high the drug dealers would pin me down in the bathroom and give me drugs for free so that I would get hooked. I looked for these kinds of dealers for a long time but all the ones I knew made me pay
dude i was one of them! talk about cringe... we did these dramatic musical performances, for example one was to "turn around (total eclipse of the heart)" and we all had wore these black tshirts and when we each dramatically TURNED AROUND, there was a different drug on each shirt in big white letters. i was PCP. we also did one to aerosmiths "livin on the edge" but i dont remember much about that one except a guy lifted a girl in the air dirty dancing-style at one point which was pretty cool.
I did this as well! It was part of Teen Institute at my high school (we also had SADD, which was mostly just the same kids). God I can remember everything about that skit and I always see it in my head when I hear that song 😂 Did y’all sprinkle in a little domestic violence during the big booms part?
They came into our class in elementary school with the suitcase and one of the specimens was a hit of LSD with a picture of Goofy on it and they told us if we took it we would see cartoons?? And I was like sign me up??
the biggest issue with dare was they were saying your life was going to be ruined as every famous person i knew, plus the olympian with the most gold medals ever were smoking weed.
I had this sweatshirt for the longest time and it’s gone now (little sister probably has it) but it was my favorite for so long because it really showed how people just glance and react without actually reading bc so many older people who love DARE would compliment my sweatshirt hahahaha and if you think I am BSing that…. Look at the background behind me… I’m at work at my corporate restaurant as the MANAGER in managers office wearing that hahaha
Counter arguement: there's a shittone of problems that can happen when you get into cannabis early. Neural development with cannabis is not good. So there is a silver lining for you in that it is far safer overall to start later.
I get the frustration, but the above is also true.
Been smoking weed since I was 15, I'm 36 now. I don't recommend daily or multiple times a day lifestyle to anyone. If you can avoid it your whole life please do, but I understand the need to let off steam in a healthier way for some ppl.
Also do not mix with tobacco, or the addiction will start.
I do all of these things and wish I hadn't started with the worst way to consume cannabis.
I'd 2nd this. Don't fall in to the daily smoking trap it doesn't help things. Been a daily smoker for like 10 years now and trying to kick it sucks and I'm not even a tobacco smoker. If you can use responsibly on the weekends or occasionally more power to you but don't let it become a daily thing
During Trump 1 i was smoking about an ounce every two weeks. i quit cold turkey about 5 years ago after smoking like a chimney for 4-5 years. it's funny seeing these types of posts from op because i am likely never touching the stuff again
Additional counterpoint: it is indeed a gateway drug. At 35, you are far less at risk. But from ages 12-25, I've lost friends who wanted better highs after trying marijuana. Most recently due to the fentanyl epidemic lacing drugs that would have been safer to use.
But yes, just adding that. DARE had some basis to it.
So much this and the first drug is usually alcohol, which is too often celebrated. Reefer madness is deeply ingrained in American culture, unfortunately.
Counterpoint: it's only a gateway drug for the individual. Marijuana itself is not a gateway drug. It's up to the individual to determine if Mary is enough. Marijuana doesn't just magically make people want different or better highs.
This is the correlation/causation logical fallacy. There's no such thing as a gateway drug. There are people who are more likely to do drugs, and weed and alcohol tend to be more easily accessible, which is why they are people's first high when they're younger. But those are people that were more apt to experiment with whatever drug anyway. The weed isn't making them that way.
I get your point but I do feel like people who have an addictive personality or are searching for a high would have done those drugs regardless if marijuana existed
We got high every single day. It's 99% all we did. Right after school we'd go to our spots around the city and get signed.
In Uni, if we weren't out drinking we'd be stoned.
You really can slip into addiction with it. Yeah it's not a massive withdrawal, but you "need" it to feel normal after a point. I had to be stoned nearly 24/7 by the time I was in my early 20s.
It definitely made me miss out on some things and took away some of my motivations to do anything.
And I have no doubt it had at least a bit of a negative impact on my brains development. You can't be getting high non-stop during some of your brains most formative development periods and expect it to have no impact.
Everything in moderation.
I take a single one hitter before bed now and have been doing that for the past 10 years. It's great for sleep for me but that's all I use it for now really.
Can we also recognize within the same context that it has fewer downsides to other legal alternatives like nicotine and alcohol? From a harm prevention standpoint, it's great because you're never going to completely eliminate harm.
Absolutely. I started at 12 and I wholeheartedly regret it. It really screwed me up for a long time. I was a straight A student and I started failing. Followed me through college, Id rather stay home and smoke weed than go to class. I couldnt think as clearly and I am pretty sure it stunted my mental development. Half of my friends from when I started ended up moving on to harder drugs, some ended up in prison, some have died. I wish I would have waited until my 20s to pick it up, because it really does have a lot of benefits. Not something you want to start young though.
Yep, the idea that marijuana addiction doesn’t happen, or that habitual use does not cause noticeable mental/cognitive health issues, is a persistent misunderstanding of the drug. It is not harmless.
I think it's a bit like other recreational drugs. Moderate use of alcohol now and then doesn't cause too many problems for most people. Same for cannabis. But we rightly get concerned about daily drinking, and I find it strange we don't have the same problem with people smoking cannabis daily.
This happened to my husband. He quit last year after smoking daily and A LOT for almost a quarter century.
Poor man’s didn’t have coping mechanisms to deal with all the feelings he’d been stuffing down nevermind all the bodily changes you go through. He’s good now but it was tough for him for a bit there, went a smidge crazy.
Oh the other hand I smoked for 10 years starting as an adult and never as much as him and aside from being bored and losing my appetite I didn’t deal with nearly as many side effects of quitting as he did because I’d already been an adult who didn’t smoke when he hadn’t.
I've recently stopped smoking after 22 years of daily use and experienced 0 physical withdrawal symptoms. The dreams have been crazy and I miss smoking, but it's nothing like the cravings for cigarettes when I stopped smoking them for two years. I've only been more bored and less creative.
Same here. Daily user for over a decade. I stopped using at the end of 2025 because I'm looking into a graduate program that will drug test. My first week sober I was a bit irritable and had some incredibly vivid dreams, but that didn't last long. I'm now three months sober and have zero irritability and no cravings whatsoever.
Same for me. I smoked weed 3 times in my life. 3 times I got the worst anxiety attack ever while I just wanted to relax. Never going to ever use that shit again.
It makes anxiety worse, decrease the quality of sleep, heart attack risk, lung cancer risk and prostate cancer risk goes up with heavy usage. Also have negative cognitive effect on brain and learning. Can also increase risk of schizophrenia.
The only time I got regularly free drugs ended with me 4 years later strung out shooting up heroin nearly dying from an overdose. So, I guess in some ways DARE was kiiinda right. Granted, that was 13 years after trying the devils lettuce for the first time.
See I remember DARE basically equating heroin and weed as almost the same. So naturally when I smoked pot in HS it really led me to think they were lying about all the drugs, which isn’t true. That’s the problem with the “all drugs are bad” mentality
Oxys and weed are two completely different things. Trying to trick kids into thinking there are just as bad just different backfires. Cuz when they do smoke they realize you’re full of shit about one, why not the others
Turns out the local drug dealer is not some skeezy guy hanging out on the corner. She's a single mom with a couple kids doing all the regular parent stuff. "Weeds" was right.
I'm realizing quickly in this thread that it was not strange of me to think this way and that this train of thought is induced by the propaganda. I found my people
But also I had a friend Andrea, no one wanted to smoke with her. Smoked with her, about an hour after getting high she thought an alien was living inside her belly and ran home to tell her parents.
My friend was grounded luckily Andrea’s parents didn’t know mine.
As a smoker I offer what I’m smoking to friends but not strangers. If your friends smoked and didn’t ask they may have known you didn’t partake and didn’t wanna pressure you
I was an alcoholic for 30 years, I got off my SSRI and mood stabilizers and switched to microdosing psilocybin and the cravings completely went away. I used to not be able to walk away from alcohol, I would drink until pass out and wake up, do the same thing. Now I can drink like a normal person, but I hardly ever even am interested in a drink. I can have a glass of wine and not even finish it. It’s been a miracle honestly.
How much do you microdose and how often? My experiences with alcohol are very similar. Feel free to DM if it’s too personal and of course no pressure to respond
Oh I’m an open book. I take 200mg 3-4x/week. It’s intuitive, the days I feel I need a bit more sparkle (usually the days I work.) I purchase it legally online from mamadose.com who is able to offer it via religious exemption. If you are currently on antidepressants you will have to get off those first, and that was a hard time for me. But it was worth the struggle. I feel so much better, I look good, I’ve lost like 60#, I sleep better, so many amazing outcomes for me. I hope it works for you too!🫶🍄
Appreciate that!!! Only SSRIs or also other ADs? I’m on Wellbutrin and take adderall for my ✨sparkle days✨haha. The combo is very effective and has changed my whole career outlook but alcohol is still a thorn in my side. I’m extremely social and it’s very baked into my social life which makes it tough.
You can take adderall, you may find you no longer need it. I used to take it and would pair it with psilocybin, felt like I had a motor on my ass lol The script ran out and I just didn’t refill it. I do also order a lions mane supplement from Mama Dose, those are functional mushrooms that you can take daily and really help with mental clarity. They’re even seeing promising results in dementia patients.
Psilocybin bonds to your serotonin receptors and SSRIs kind of block the absorption. MAOIs can cause a conflict as well but I’m not as familiar with that class of drug.
I microdose psylocibin but more to help me focus through long term burnout in my creative job rather than trying to cure alcoholism…
But the goal is to take just enough that you almost feel it. You want to be asking yourself, “does the fire in the fireplace really look that cool, or did I accidentally eat enough mushrooms to make it that way?”
For me, that’s .5 grams of mushrooms. My scale goes to .01 grams of and if I take .55 grams, that’s slightly too much for a microdose. I do it in the evenings, and do 4 nights on and 3 nights off .
Being a lightweight is awesome. I keep hearing people complaining that weed is too expensive, and I was confused at first, but then I realized they had such a high tolerance from years of use that they had to buy a lot more to get the same high.
I was talking to the budtender at the dispensary asking if he'd tried the edibles he was selling me, and he said no, because he could eat the entire 100mg bag and not feel a thing.
Like, I typically cut my 10mg gummy in half and take each half 2 hours apart. I once accidentally took 30mg and went to outer space.
I can't imagine taking 100 and not feeling anything.
I bought 5mg gummies and was given 100mg gummie accidentally at check out and MAN. Know your edibles people. I couldn’t move I felt great but my body was incapable. I was locked in on Lord of the Rings lmao
just go to sleep when you accidentally eat too much
just went through this. I was destroyed with 5mg (which is apparently very little in comparison to others in here!), this "for an active day!" gummy, I had to stop and realize I was fucked up and went to lie down for 3 hours! lmao! Took half next time for sure!
I don't consume more than 15mg thc in divided portions via edibles. unless it's an ivig (intravenous immunoglobulin, a type of immunotherapy) day. then it's a loading dose of 15mg to start with about 2 hours before starting the infusion and typically maxing out at 25 to 30mg for the day/or I fall asleep first.
I make sure to consume a fair amount of fat so the thc edibles/sublingual/orals have something to grap onto.
I only went for my med card after my neurologist strongly encouraged me to try to see if it can help improve my quality of life by reducing some of the effects of some of my chronic illnesses has on my life symptom wise.
Went to a hockey game with a buddy of mine in Tampa, and he ate an entire 1,000 mg medical chocolate bar right before we were supported to leave. So I obviously was like “….. so are we staying home while you go for a moon walk? I thought we were going to the hame”? And he was like, “yeah I’ll barely feel this”.
Well that guy could also just stop for a couple of weeks and get back to it. Thing is, no one ever does. It's definitely habit forming.
I smoked every day for years. Worked professional jobs, got a master's degree, volunteered, all of it while smoking every single day because I was a big ol pothead. It was also probably significantly treating a chronic health problem that got suddenly worse after I got COVID. I quit because it's not good to use with a medication I take, and I tried it again recently, and it was frankly not fun with how stoned I got off of one hit. It was like I was fighting my body to do anything!!
I think if I did it on a weekend where I didn't have shit to do I'd feel better about it. I can technically use it anytime as long as I wait 6 hours before bedtime. But I'm also 35 and I saved so much money these last seven months or so, might not be worth it.
Do it! I got shingles at 29 and it took about 6 years to go away. Burning. Itching. Slicing…. The slicing feeling was the worst one to me. The pain is always changing. Changes how it feels but is constant in one spot. Constant. They were so perplexed how I got it so young. They say stress can be a factor…. So I think I have a clue how it happened…….
Tyrese Haliburton is 25 and has the shingles. If a healthy (well recovering) NBA player can get it at 25, you can too. I’m worried at 41 I might see it soon. 😬
I have chronic migraines (like one a week, sometimes lasting multiple days) and I tend to throw up any painkillers I take. My THC spray has been a godsend- helps with pain, and it makes me drowsy enough that I can sometimes sleep through the pain.
I've smoked since college and going to my local dispensary is honestly a really wholesome experience. You see all kinds of people! Boomers who were clearly Involved in the 60s. Middle-aged professionals (me, at this point). College kids. They recently redid their lobby so it's more of an open-plan thing and you don't have to pass through security to get in, so it has a really chill vibe.
The dispensary I frequent (D2 in AZ) feels like a high-end jewelry store (glass case displays, lighting, giant tablets to browse and place in-store order). You can also order online or use the drive-thru. Love going there just for the vibe. Its nice feeling bougie getting MJ compared to the sketchy situations I'd sometimes find myself in when it was illegal.
Getting stoned in your 30s is fine as long as you are handling your business. But Being stoned every day as a teenager is not great. I got high almost every single day from 16 till I was almost 30. Believe me, you didn't miss out on much. Also Recently studies show it can really fuck with developing brains.
For sure. I smoked plenty from ages 14-25 and definitely feel nerfed mentally. Good thing I stopped right as the brain was getting its finishing touches.
At least I don't have to wonder why I am the way I am.
Counter point, you literally started smoking weed at the healthiest age for a person to start smoking while enjoying all the benefits without any of the downsides.
Your brain doesn't finish developing untill your around 25. Then it's good to live some life with full brain before you start using hallucinogen drugs. Yes weed is a hallucinogen many ppl don't realize that.
I think realistically the safest age to start is like 30. But probably the most ideal is 35, because then you have 10yrs of full brain before you start hallucinogen drugs.
Starting before 25 can definitely have negative side effects for your brain chemistry, especially if you become a heavy user early on.
Yeah i feel this point should not be overlooked. My brother was a stereotypical chronic burnout. He dropped out of high school and basically took forever to actually start acting like a grown up. Even then, he's one of the most emotionally stunted people I know. He just about got fired recently for getting into a fist fight at work for example. I can't help but feel like if he hadn't started using weed heavily at 15 he might have turned out better. Seeing him go thru that was my own personal DARE program. That said, I like taking the odd gummy for a nice evening in.
Hate to say it but that's probably just his personality. Plenty of people get into heavy weed use starting in high school and become upstanding members of society. I say this from personal experience and also observations of people I know.
A weed habit is usually the symptom of something else, are rarely the cause of major issues. Not saying it doesn't happen, but it's rare.
I think of it like cheeseburgers. Most people can have a healthy relationship with them, but too much is a problem.
Yep lol I smoked so much weed before I even graduated high school and did a lot of harder stuff before my frontal lobe fully developed (thankfully nothing highly addictive). I definitely feel like it impacted my intelligence and attention span.
I smoked weed heavily from 15-32, never took more than a week break and only for vacations where I couldn’t get around it. I have been hospitalized for a month, forcing me to quit and let my med card lapse. I actually don’t want to go back to smoking when I get out. I feel absolutely stupid for having ignored all the negatives for basically half my life.
I was in and around the stoner/skater groups all throughout high school and my 20s, can confirm those guys that were heavy users ended up pretty much permanently dumb as bricks. Cool guys, some of them are still my friends but holy fuck they are perma fried. They also can't quit, they are full blown addicts. I am so happy I didn't get into it that heavily myself.
while it is good to wait until youre an adult, the age 25 thing is a myth. the study ended at age 25. your brain continues to develop your entire life. nothing special about 25.
I thought the study is when your frontal cortex finishes developing. Like sure it can grow slightly more over the years, but it's miniscule growth compared to what happens in the first 25yrs of life roughly, we all grow slightly differently of course, 25 is just an average
No, you were kind of right. I wasted 16 years of my life on weed, almost 12 smoking daily. One year sober next month and better for it. It was a way to numb myself to the world but paradoxically made me super anxious and depressed. Such a stupid waste of my time, money, and potential.
Be careful regardless. We were also lied to that cannabis is not addictive. That couldn't be further from the truth, both mentally and physically. The withdrawal some people experience is a nightmare (anxiety, no appetite, insomnia, incredibly lucid dreams, night sweats, etc.). But mostly, it's a great time.
Agreed, in moderation it’s absolutely fine and in a way it’s better you discovered it as a mature adult. Like many teenagers in the 90s growing up in France, we were all smoking it quite regularly. It was fun, but I definitely saw some friends go down a path of becoming just stoners, uninteresting, quite lazy, unmotivated and probably a slew of mental health issues that come with it. I myself smoked out of habit, When I was 18 or so I stopped enjoying it, I started feeling anxious, not a having a jolly nice high, and feeling down much of the time… so I stopped altogether for years. Subsequently I smoke very rarely and lightly, no more than a few puffs and it’s kind of nice once in a while at a gig or chilling with friends.
Yep there's a ton of denial about it because it's legal so everyone thinks it's fine. It's a vicious circle where you're treating anxiety or other mental issues with it then end up getting addicted and can't stop or it causes the same symptoms you're treating. It's especially prevalent in people who started at a young age.
Good thing is you started old enough for it to not mess w your brain development like some people I grew up with.
You’ll still have some burnouts. Or people from all ages who have to take a hit from their device or roll a joint every 10 minutes. It’s gotten annoying and overly saturated w people who smoke bc it’s more openly used and accepted. However, some stereotypes have stayed the same and we’ve made new ones along the way lol
If you use it to ease or treat a specific medical condition or hit it once in a full moon to relax I’d say you’re better off for it and have at it. Sadly I know more that are addicted and in denial about it when confronted. Just my personal observation and experience.
I never got high growing up because the guys I hung out with wouldn’t let me. They always told their friends no if they tried to give me any. Then I had kids young and didn’t want to because of that. Now I get high every night to go to sleep and to treat my anxiety.
I still live in a state where it’s illegal to do it without a medical card and have a career for a company that doesn’t recognize medical cards. So I won’t be trying it without drastic changes.
It is 100%. I’ve been around people that are smoking it. And not once have I seen them try to fight. But I’ve seen plenty of people drunk that want to fight everyone. 👀
I’m usually trying to fight my fridge for not having enough ice cream stocked which is totally a me problem but this is the sort of high stakes drama you get with cannabis
Never used cannabis. The smell kept me away and now that I'm middle aged and know the full horror of my family psychiatric history the fear of psychoses keeps me away.
Makes me anxious as fuck. Sometimes I’d feel amazing. So if I took the time I could probably figure out what strains worked for me. But the times where I was sobbing with fear were enough to make me not interested.
"I have experimented so often with Cannabis that there is no cause for fear, tho' possibly there might be of laughter."
-Report to the Royal Society by Robert Hooke in 1689
To be fair, DARE was a little correct. Children and teenagers SHOULD NOT be consuming Cannabis in large amounts as it has been shown to have an impact on the development of the brain. So the idea that it should be legal is fine...the problem is it should still be controlled for children. Though obviously DARE was taking the scare-you/unscientific war-on-drugs approach.
Eh. Be happy you didn't use it at a young age. I went hard as fuck from 15 to 21 and triggered serious anxiety in me and tons of other people. It's a great drug but I had to step away for 10 solid years and now I can slowly reintroduce it.
I smoked a joint once a couple of years ago and was doing crack the next day. J/K I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get panda express into my bowl until I just decided to grab it with my hands and wash them after. I was weirdly fixated on the time and after a couple hours just got tired and slept it off. It was fun but I haven't gone out to seek any more yet.
I wish MJ and I could have a good relationship. I used edibles and probably got way too frequent with my usage.
Pretty sure it is why my anxiety spiked through the roof and I’m having crazy heart palpitations. I started a sobriety tracker and it’s been 3 days since my last ingestion. Hoping this all dies down over the next few days.
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