Weed Patterns #1 - Prelude | An Experiential(ist's) Guide to Cannabis Use

I have been wanting to write my own "guide on the use of cannabis" for years now and I feel I am finally ready to share what I have learnt from my long time interaction with the herb after many highs and lows with THC in my life.

This guide happens now because I think I have finally managed to establish a healthy relationship with lady MJ after I started to utilize it in a specific manner and sticking with that - like any physical tool designed for a specific application - rather than abusing it as a multipurpose tool that often would not fit the task at hand, nor the intention I had originally aimed to use it for.

I want to emphasize that this series reflects my own experiences and is not necessarily representative for everyone who chooses to smoke cannabis. I have many friends who have different effects showing up, though I see a general pattern here that I want to lay open - if only to sort my own thoughts about what the plant means to me, what it can give me, what it has taught me, and where I need to be careful when it comes to blatant overuse against my better judgment.

Legality at hand

Now granted, legality of cannabis was never a factor for my use. The notion that any so-called "authority" can grant or deny me experiences with my own consciousness and body is absurd to me, and has been so since I was a kid.

I was just never interested in my youth to try it, maybe because my friends-circle back then wasn't into it either. you know how that goes^^

But as for legality: Everybody basically knows that running across a busy highway is dangerous and thus will decline to do so, even without any legal prohibitions in place. Furthermore, the often purported "danger to society" will not deter ill-intentioned people from engaging in the prohibited activity, while good-intentioned people often believe the authority's reasoning to be just and sensible and thereby decline a potentially life changing experience or beneficial action due to their naive trust in some widely popular narrative that is anything but factual.

As Plato said:

If this topic about the war on consciousness and the political silencing of the use of consciousness-expanding substances interests you, I can wholeheartedly recommend Graham Hancock's lecture "The War on Consciousness" that - to me - seems to be some of the most essential knowledge we could ever share with adults and adolescents alike, in the spirit of harm reduction (both in terms of actual substance use, as well as the gravely needed education about government atrocities against a free and healthy society through so-called "legislation").

In his talk Hancock also touches upon some of the same negative side effects and occurences I have experienced from years of heavy use, and which I will dive further into in this series.

Regardless of the sensibility of the "legal frameworks" surrounding cannabis, we are entering a time when the plant and it's recreational use is slowly being endorsed by authoritative groups (likely for their own reasons). Nevertheless, I feel with a wider population-base getting in contact with the plant this experiential guide of mine wants to be written now, rather than later. It may also help other cannabis users to get more out of their experience and to look at their habits and addictive patterns in a new light, by learning that their cannabis-hangups may not be unique at all but in fact: common.

Trippy mixture?

I also want to state that as a dude from Europe, the major portion of my cannabis experiences stem from smoking it mixed with tobacco. I am aware that most Americans smoke the herb in pure form and often describe the effects as "clearer" or "way different". And while I believe that to be so to a certain extent from what I have seen in others, my own weed patterns have emerged from smoking pure cannabis just the same - across many varieties, as well as trying other forms like purified hash products or edibles.

Since some of my dear friends claim that cannabis is way better for them since they started smoking pure I just want to get this out before we get into any specifics - the effects seem to be dependent on the individual again. By the same token, I have met many people who claim to have no problems smoking the weed-tobacco mixture on a regular basis and who don't seem to handle pure weed consumption so well.

So take this only as information from one dude who is interested in the topic and has taken a lot of mental notes over the last decade in how he experiences his use and how he sees and hears others describe theirs.

A word to the cannabis lovers

If you are a cannabis connoisseur and find little reason to criticize any aspect of the plant's effects, this guide may still be interesting to read, if only to better relate to other people in your circle who may not be able to handle the plant as well as you do.

We are all unique individuals and learning about where our loved ones struggle can greatly pave the way for a healthier and open societal dialogue as cannabis will heavily enter into the public realm after ages of propaganda lies, deterrent-narratives and the blatant disregard for cannabis' spiritual, medical, physiological and mental potential. Among many other uses within the human realm.

So before we get into it in the coming days I am curious: Have you found any downsides to cannabis use in your life? Has the plant forced you to find moderation or to stop its use altogether? Do you have people in your life who struggle with the plant and who could use some hints as how to deal with a psychological cannabis addiction?

I feel really excited to do this, and will do my best to sort these aspects as best I can in the following days and weeks. If you feel inclined, I have written a love letter to Mary before I started this series, check it out here:

A Love Letter To Cannabis | An Ally, No Longer My Succubus

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