Big Lesson Learned

I think it was the summer of 2003 I was taking a stroll through the crowded Haight Street Fair near Haight and Ashbury streets in San Francisco. It was the last day of our trip and my wife, and I were going to meet up with our traveling companions and head to the airport later that afternoon. Walking through the congested street fair I spotted a young woman walking along with a small sign pinned to her satchel that read: “pot cookies”. Obviously homemade and unlabeled, this was way before recreational dispensaries was a thing, yet in the place and setting it seemed perfectly normal to encounter a hippie offering magic cookies on the street. She said to maybe eat half of one and wait a bit to see how it felt, there were two chocolate chip cookies with bits of green showing in the dough, they were wrapped in saran wrap. I told her thank you and we went our separate ways. I walked feeling triumphant. Not only did I just have a quintessentially San Francisco moment approximately a block and a half from where The Grateful Dead used to live but I was planning to have a sedated and pleasant flight home in a few hours. Success!

Mmmm, edibles

Later at the airport after checking in and waiting at the gate I decided to try a cookie. I ate half of one. IT WAS DELICOUS. Wrapping the uneaten cookie and a half back in the plastic wrap they came in, I put them in my carry-on and continued to wait. A few minutes passed and anxiety started to set in. What if I get caught with uneaten pot cookies at security? Is what I ate even working? What if it doesn’t work? Maybe I should eat more? Those cookies are delicious, after all. Maybe I’ll just have a little more…

Idiot

And so it began. I nibbled a little more of cookie and before I knew it, the whole cookie was gone. There was another cookie that I would try to leave alone until I fully understood what I was in for. I tried to feel some effects, just by thinking about it. Nothing. It had been about 30 minutes since I first started nibbling and I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t even a little high yet? This was my first encounter with edibles, I think. I knew nothing. The person that gave me the cookies knew what she was talking about when she told me to eat half of one and wait a while before deciding to eat more. I ignored her. She didn’t know me. She didn’t know that me and THC had already become pretty well acquainted over the years – “how could her advice apply to me?”, I thought. Boy was I wrong. I mean really wrong.

Thank you for flying the friendly skies

I think I ate the whole second cookie just as we boarded. (what was I thinking??) I got the window seat and put on my headphones with a perfect playlist cued up on my iPod I gazed out as the first waves of tingly goodness started to pulse. The captain made an announcement about the weather and when we were expected to land and smiling, I thought I was in for a pleasant flight.

Uh Oh…

This is when everything started to go sideways. The full force of the THC hit me in a wave, and I struggled to maintain my composure. I was able to explain that I wasn’t feeling well and that I needed water but that’s about the extent of my communication skills at that point. Nausea overwhelmed me as I imagined being removed from the plane on a stretcher (in handcuffs) as the only solution to my predicament. I was also certain I was about to soil myself and/or throw up at any moment. I was dizzy, cotton mouthed, and I had tunnel vision as well as tunnel hearing. My skin was clammy, I was pale with dilated pupils, unable to communicate beyond intelligible grunts and slight moaning – I think I was moments away from passing out …during the entire 60-minute flight.

Are We There Yet?

We touched down and it was the worst landing experience I’ve ever had. Deep breathing helped as my wife assisted me as we got off the plane we got out of that clausterphobic tupe of stale air and I stumbled my way into the concourse dreading what was to come next. We found a seat and we made plans for the next leg of our trip. It was to have included another short flight in a small plane, but I was NOT having that. Instead, we found a bus to take us the rest of the way. What was initially to have been about a 3-hour trip turned into 6 hours and I was never more miserable than while riding that bus. If I had only listened to that hippie’s advice about her magic cookies.

O.D.

If I had to guess, I’d say there was something like 25 mg THC per cookie and I feel like I probably ate 50 mg. At the time I was certain it was a near-death experience even though I now know there is no lethal dose, I didn’t know that at the time, and I sure could have used a cannabis coach to help me through that whole bad trip. And maybe I should have had some lunch that day too.

A-ha!

Flash forward to now. My understanding of my metabolism, the dosing, the timing – what I’ve come to understand as a reliable, repeatable experience with my own edibles has developed into a rock-solid routine (for the most part). Rarely to I overdose anymore. This is because I’ve figured out that starting with a small dose amount, waiting as much as 90 minutes before realizing any effects and only at that point do I potentially eat a small, additional dose if I feel I need it. This I now know – you can always add to the experience, but you cannot subtract THC once it’s been ingested. (And watch out for 11-hydroxy-THC because it can be sneaky and pack a wallop under the correct circumstances).

Recreational Use = Self Medication, sometimes

20 years ago, I was just messing around. For me it was recreational use – but little did I know. I was trying to cope with flight anxiety by self-medicating. I was treating myself with an ancient remedy that can alleviate stress and anxiety – if done properly. 

“That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” -Fredrich Nietzche

I was not doing it properly. I had so much to learn. Looking back I can see that the wisdom of an experienced user was ignored and it caused me great discomfort and fear, more stress and anxiety and for a normal person – it should have turned them off of THC forever. I have a thick head, I guess, because I returned to my old friend THC and persevered at trying to figure out how to properly use it as medicine as well as a party favor. I stuck with it despite my horrible experience, and I will now draw upon that experience to prevent other people from making the same mistakes. Going forward I can emphatically recommend a new user start with a low dose of 2.5 – 5 mg and slowly work up to increasing the dosage and stay within the goldilocks zone that works for you. Start low and go slow …and track your experiences so it’s easier to find that Goldilocks zone again in the future.