I’m not here today to write about the addictive or non-addictive nature of cannabis…and I’m not here to tell you how much/little to smoke or how often. I am here to have a conversation that I feel deserves to be an open discussion about using cannabis fittingly, on a person-by-person basis.
Weed vs Medicine and Alcohol
I don’t particularly like to compare cannabis to alcohol or medicine because it is its own category, but those are, in some cases, interesting parallels that come up. What makes this particular conversation interesting is that cannabis can be used for both medical and recreational purposes, where that is not the case for the other two. Alcohol, for example, is not ever considered medicine and it is deemed a misuse or abuse of drugs when people take prescription pills for fun.
Medicinal drugs typically come with very specific dosages as to not hurt or drastically alter the user’s state of mind. Similarly, CBD or micro-doses provide appropriate ratios as to not get the user high. By the standards of medicine, the amount of cannabis that typically gets smoked for recreational purposes is an extreme dose.
Alcohol doesn’t have dosing requirements or recommendations because it is not a drug. There are defined social contracts that we accept people who drink a glass of wine a night or excessively drink at bars with friends on weekends, but we mostly do not accept folks who drink a fifth of vodka before work. The lines for cannabis use as both recreational and medicinal becomes more blurred.
I believe this is where these particular conversations go sideways. We are making these comparisons, in many ways, to justify our use of cannabis to others because we are still receiving judgment rather than the acceptance received by substances. Making justifications and comparisons doesn’t serve us, though, as it puts cannabis usage practices in boxes they don’t necessarily belong in. Instead, we should be learning how to best use cannabis.
Using Cannabis Thoughtfully
Cannabis should be decriminalized and destigmatized, but that does not mean it should be underestimated. We can argue that it is not a drug, but it obviously alters our state of mind and when not used properly it can lock people up, give them anxiety, or knock them off their center.
Be in Touch with Yourself Sober
In the movie Under the Yum Yum Tree, Jack Lemmon famously says, “I always feel sorry for people who don’t drink, because when they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re gonna feel all day.” People who say things like that probably end up suffering from cirrhosis of the liver, but he brings up a good point…one state of mind is boring. It’s not only boring, but it’s also limiting and uninteresting. We just have to recognize, this knife cuts both ways. If being high becomes your baseline and prevents you from getting in touch with or enjoying your sober self, you are missing out there as well.
I had a friend in high school who was clearly brilliant, but also fidgety and nervous and occasionally hard to be around. When he smoked, he was totally normal. Unfortunately, this created a conundrum because he needed to be sober to tap into his genius but needed to smoke in order to socialize properly. Eventually, he found the right balance.
Some people alter their state of mind because their baseline is not serving them, others do the opposite. All of these are good, the point is we shouldn’t allow ourselves only one state of mind. If you’re only high, maybe do a reality check and try to rediscover your center.
Words by David Sacco