Being stoned in the Real World

The risks of things happening when you get stoned fall into two types: How you behave when you get stoned and what taking the drugs cannabis contains does to you.

It goes without saying that the more you use, the greater the risks will be - again nothing unusual there.

In this section

Hard, sharp or fast things
Getting the Worries
Getting a whitey
Blood pressure
Asthma
Getting hooked and missing it
Short term memory, er...
Getting stoned when pregnant

Hard, sharp or fast things

Maybe it doesn't always feel like it, but the real world carries on as normal no matter how stoned you get. When you get stoned your perception of time is changed; you think of other things, you are not at your most alert. That isn't the best state of mind to be in when you're aiming a car or waving a chain saw around for example.

When you get stoned you're not really up to driving or working any kind of dangerous, fast or sharp machinery.

To be fair, you'll probably know this to be true without being told, so chances are you'll try to be careful if you do these things, but it's not a guarantee that you will be able to compensate for how stoned you are.

Some people argue that stoned drivers are safe because they are aware of how stoned they are. Indeed, this is supported to an extent by research - although cannabis does reduce reaction times and tracking ability, stoned driving isn't such a major danger as drunk driving.

BBC news report of Transport Research Laboratory research and the full TRL document (pdf)

But try telling that to the plod doing the impairment test when you get pulled over, or worse, after a crash...

Getting the worries

Otherwise known as "The Horrors" or "the frights" by stoners, or "attacks of paranoia" by shrinks, it's perhaps best described as a feeling of anxiety . If you get the horrors you can think that people are watching you and talking about you, it can be really scary.

This is why it's always important that everyone you're with knows you're getting stoned or at least doesn't mind. The last thing you want is to be nagged or worse, threatened.

Hard core stoners will tell you this is all a part of getting stoned and they'll spin you some story of how they coped when it happened to them, perhaps glossing over how they actually felt at the time, but they are basically right in most cases. Most of the time it doesn't last long and more often than not you realise you were in fact doing something to draw attention to yourself and what really happened was no more than a confused awareness that you were the centre of attention.

If things do get scary, go somewhere quiet if you can, or at least away from too many people, just keep remembering that you're stoned and that you'll come through it.

For the vast majority of people it's no more serious than that, but not everyone fits into the "majority of people" bracket.

How to get the horrors

Although it can happen for no apparent reason, perhaps the best way to get the horrors is to get very stoned very quickly in an unfamiliar place with people you don't know.

If it happens, stop toking and ride it out. Go find something "friendly" to do.

If you've eaten a strong hash cake there's no going back, this is the biggest problem with eating cannabis and it's why you should always have just one weak cake, take your time and wait for it to kick in before having a second. Not knowing the strength of the hash cake in advance doesn't help.

Can it be serious?

In rare extreme cases a paranoia attack can resemble a form of psychosis and this is one of the things that's lead some people think there is a connection between cannabis use and mental illness.

For some people the horrors are enough to make them decide never to touch cannabis again. If it gets like that then perhaps cannabis isn't for you, never ignore a warning sign.

The concern is that cannabis can trigger schizophrenia in vulnerable people particularly when they are young, "bringing on" an illness which may not otherwise have happened. Although evidence for this is unclear, it is a risk that should be taken seriously. Having paranoia attacks as a result of getting stoned - especially if it always happens and is very upsetting - may be a warning sign.

Paranoia can be part of a developing mental illness and the signs are that cannabis use can make things worse.

Using other drugs, in particular (but not only) speed and/or cocaine can certainly cause a similar psychotic condition which is serious. If you are using other drugs, cannabis may make their psychotic effect more severe.

Getting a Whitey

A whitey is nausea sometimes with a short loss of consciousness coupled with falling over. Someone experiencing a "whitey" will lose colour from their face - hence the name.

It usually happens if you smoke after drinking alcohol, but isn't unknown with pure cannabis especially very strong stuff taken quickly.

Not very enjoyable at best but it's easily avoided. Using cannabis like this isn't treating it with respect and a whitey is a definite warning sign that you aren't doing so.

Some people suggest eating something sweet after having a whitey, but whether this has any real beneficial effect is unknown. Usually the only way to cope is to sit on the toilet and promise yourself not to do it again.

Better advice is not to have a whitey in the first place, or if you do, make sure the floor you're about to hit is soft.

Blood pressure

People who've had strokes, or suffer from acute heart problems are best advised not to use cannabis as it can affect blood pressure.

According to the British Heart Foundation

"At low doses, cannabis inhalation results in an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. This may increase the risk of stroke or heart attack in patients with existing high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease. In high doses, it causes a slow heart rate and a low blood pressure".

Red eye

This is certainly a sign of (heavy) indulgence, but is it a risk?

Cannabis widens blood vessels (vasodilation). The eyes contain blood vessels which widen when you are stoned; hence the blood within the vessels is more visible against the white of the eye causing red-eye.

When the vasodilator is metabolized (when it wears off), the blood vessels return to normal and the red eye disappears.

Cannabis induced red eye is not the same as the red eye caused by inflammation, allergy or injury

The increase in the heart rate is linked to this widening of the blood vessels. The heart beats faster because the pressure is lowered. This is an effort to restore the pressure to normal, part of what's meant by homeostasis. Everything in the body is linked and balanced.

Asthma

There are many people who claim cannabis helps with their asthma, but there are also a lot of studies showing it makes it worse due to the way cannabis is normally used - by smoking.

Smoking anything is bad for asthma, especially if the smoke is hot. However cannabis contains THC which as stated above has the effect of dilating blood vessels, hence many people report that cannabis helps with their asthma.

The studies which show cannabis to be a problem for people with asthma seem to make a strong argument against smoking it.

This is another issue where there are clear signs that cannabis has a medicinal use which needs to be investigated.

Some studies about cannabis and Asthma

Effects of Smoked Marijuana in Experimentally Induced Asthma

and

Acute effects of smoked marijuana and oral d-9-thc on specific airway conductance in asthmatic subjects

Getting hooked and missing it

The "progression theory" is the most often stated reason for cannabis being illegal. The claim is if you smoke cannabis, you'll end up a heroin junky. This is, of course, rubbish

But if you want to get into the habit of wasting the day away, cannabis can be just the drug for you. Just slob out, skin up and watch the world go by - or watch the TV anyway. Cannabis won't make you lazy, it won't make you put things off if you don't want to put them off, but it can fit "a slob" lifestyle if you let it.

Getting hooked - as in addicted like a heroin junky - isn't going to happen with cannabis; it isn't physically addictive like heroin, crack or tobacco. You won't get in the situation of needing cannabis for your body to function normally, which is what happens with physically addictive drugs.

As always though, that is far too simple.

Some people spend all day getting wasted in front of the TV and their life just passes by. Of course, some people spend all day watching TV without getting wasted and that's no better, TV is well known for causing psychological dependence in its own right but that's another story. This can become hard to break - you feel you need the cannabis but actually you don't, not really.

Psychological addiction, or to give it a more general term, "dependency", can happen with almost anything and once again, cannabis is no exception. Using cannabis can become associated with doing pleasurable things, or worse, just passing the time. If that happens being stoned comes to be a big part of your life.

There are few withdrawal effects from cannabis, even after years of regular use. Perhaps the most noticeable withdrawal effect is intense dreams, which may lead to disrupted sleep for several days after stopping.

Cannabis is taken in larger amounts or over longer period than you intended.

You want to do other things, but need a toke first or worse give up doing things in order to get stoned.

You spend ages trying to buy some and make it the most important thing you do that day.

You feel it's not doing you any good, but carry on anyway.

If you don't have any cannabis, you feel angry, unsettled or agitated.

Tobacco

Of course, if you smoke cannabis mixed with tobacco you will become addicted to the tobacco and tobacco addiction is very real and very hard to break.

If you only smoke tobacco in joints, then you might find you're smoking cannabis to satisfy a tobacco addiction.

This can mean you end up smoking a lot more cannabis than you would otherwise have done. Best advice here is not to smoke cannabis mixed with tobacco. See the Tokepure section

See the know cannabis website run by the Liverpool based drugs advice agency HIT for more information and advice. Although this site is spoilt by carrying the governments prohibition message, there is some good advice there.

What this means is being stoned at school or when studying isn't going to make you student of the year.

It is true that being stoned can allow you to be very creative in some ways, especially allowing you to "think around" a problem and perhaps especially with music and the arts (like maths, physics and IT programming).

But those wonderful logical thoughts you had whilst stoned can be easily forgotten.

Getting stoned when pregnant

Cannabis has been used as a medicine to ease the pains associated with pregnancy.

However, it is important to remember that using any drug during pregnancy is likely to have some impact of the unborn child.

It's good advice not to use any drug when pregnant without medical advice.