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Why is smoking in moderation so damn hard

Discussion in 'Seasoned Marijuana Users' started by tam575, May 23, 2015.

  1. This.
     
    OP- it doesn't take much to smoke in moderation. If you can motivate yourself to do other things, smoking weed on a moderate basis should not be difficult at all. I have my script and a QP right readily accessable, but yet I take T breaks all the time (dank builds tolerance fast)

     
  2. I am getting ready to pick up this week as I am getting ready to run out but the last time I picked up was New Year's Day and that was just a half. If you are high like me you will understand what I just wrote if you are not oh well fuck you.


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  3. Its official, im embarking on a week long t break. Hope it goes well. Probably cave by tonight :D but ill try to stay resolute
     
  4. I don't think you should fear the habits of smoking every day. Tbh. I smoke all the time, sometimes I smoke so much my eyelids literally are shaking to stay open... Lol I will crash anywhere even at work. But I don't let people's opinions about stoners effect the way I want to feel and live my life.
    I have anxiety and I also love to enjoy life. People say it's artificial I just think it's life through 3D glasses. You appreciated the little things!
    Stoners drive safer, they're charitable and sharing. They stop for ducks crossing the street. They give good pizza tips Kuz they know you gotta make tips to support the stash.

    You can choose to smoke as much as makes you feel like you are enjoying life. I have a vape and it's much cleaner and healthier than most of the air we breath and I bake off that thing constantly and it makes me feel good. I perform well at my job in sales and I love life! Do what you think gets you the most you need from life <3
     
  5. I used to smoke everyday but now I am unable to do this due to being broke/ exams. But now that I think about it, smoking less often is actually better and more enjoyable. Even getting high every other day would be a better experience imo. However, after exams i'll be picking up a Q and smoke regularly again - cant wait.
     
  6. You need to redefine moderation to fit you. For me moderation is a quarter a week.

    How about getting some hobbies that don't involve weed, hang out with people who don't smoke. You'll be fine I have faith
     
  7. I used to buy a quad and smoke it in 2 days. but then i moved back home... when i first moved back i brought about 35g's back and made it last 13 months. 
     
  8. I would have a couple of ounces on me at a time and would smoke about a half in three days which isn't that much but i have turned to starting my own grow due to my "moderation" being different than most because sometimes that half would be less than three days. Supply yourself mane even if it's a small grow area. I can't wait to see my plants from start to finish im gonna have that proud father feeling
     
  9. An eight for 2 months? u trippin bro, that shit will last me for 3 days.
    Anyway, is there any reason for you to not smoke, besides money? If not, what's the problem in your smoking habit? I smoke whenever the fuck i want and i'm proud of it.
     
  10. Well for me personally, my general usual laziness multiplies by a thousand when I'm smoking the herb excessively, and I'm kinda at a point on my life where i gotta be a little more driven and motivated y'feels?

    Like i said, there are tons out there who could smoke and get their shit done. But I'm not one of them. At least not yet


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  11. Take some B-complex vitamins, it'll revitalize and boost your energy.
     
  12. I'll look into that, thanks for the tip


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  13. I only smoke twice a week.  Used to be weekends, but now I'm trying to space out the times by a few days.  The reason is I get much higher on much less and enjoy smoking  more.  On vacation this week I smoked a joint every night and one day had an edible.  By the fourth day I could get high, but not very high.  I have good cannabis and enough to smoke more often if I wanted, but my tolerance builds up so fast.  I've read that women build up a tolerance quicker than men. I like to get real high so that's whey I don't smoke more often. I've been noticing this tolerance thing since I started smoking in the late 60's.  We would take a few days off every now and then to enjoy a spectacular stone.  Good luck, mate, lots of opinions on here.
     
  14. #34 PatrickXy6dC, Jun 7, 2015
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2015
    Long article from High Times many years ago.  Interesting. Addresses causes and one remedy for tolerance- smoke less. Especially good ganja.
    Code:
    MARIJUANA & THE BRAIN, PART II:THE TOLERANCE FACTORedited for length- If you can tell, it's very long- just skim and hit the high spots.The architects of marijuana prohibition have long maintained that toleranceto cannabis means the same thing as tolerance to addictive drugs likecocaine and heroin - that users need more and more to get high, driving themto crime and desperation. Now, the federal government's own researchindicates that precisely the opposite is true. Science has finally caught onto what tokers have known all along: With marijuana tolerance, you have tosmoke less to get high! 'High Times' correspondent Jon Gettman explains thelatest findings and how they discredit the government's drug policy.By Jon GettmanJuly 1995  'High Times'One of the safest qualities of THC, delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, theprimary psychoactive substance in marijuana, is the natural limit the bodyplaces on the drug's effects. It has long mystified scientists how most individuals can consume enormousquantities of marijuana with few or no obvious ill effects. But theexplanation will not surprise regular marijuana users. Early researchers were often alarmed by this, believing that this tolerancewas a warning sign of dependence or addiction. Tolerance generally describesthe condition of requiring larger doses of a drug to attain consistenteffects. While tolerance to marijuana has never exactly fit the classicdefinition, some form of tolerance to pot does develop. Regular users of marijuana frequently claim that this tolerance reducestroublesome side effects, such as loss of coordination. They also claim thattolerance to marijuana develops without risk of dependence. Cynics have argued that tolerance to marijuana is proof of dependence, andproof that the drug is too dangerous to be used safely and responsibly. Science has finally proven otherwise. The cynics have been wrong, thepot-smokers have been right. Tolerance to marijuana is not an indication ofdanger or dependence. This conclusion also adds credence to anecdotal accounts of marijuana'stherapeutic benefits by patients suffering from serious illnesses.YOUR BRAIN IS PROGRAMMED TO PROCESS POTThe recent discovery of a cannabinoid receptor system in the human brain hasrevolutionized research on marijuana and cannabinoids, and definitivelyproven that marijuana use does not have a dependence or addiction liability("Marijuana and the Human Brain," March 1995 'High Times'). Marijuana, itturns out, affects brain chemistry in a qualitatively different way thanaddictive drugs.Drugs of abuse such as heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, alcohol and nicotineaffect the production of dopamine, an important neurotransmitter whichchemically activates switches in the brain that produce extremelypleasurable feelings. Drugs that affect dopamine production produceaddiction because the human brain is genetically conditioned to adjustbehavior to maximize dopamine production. This chemical process occurs inthe middle-brain, in an area called the striatum, which also controlsvarious aspects of motor control and coordination.Dr. Miles Herkenham of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) andhis research teams have made the fundamental discoveries behind thesefindings, and finally contradicted well-known marijuana cynic Gabriel Nahasof Columbia University. Supported in the 1980s by the antidrug group ParentsResearch Institute for Drug Education (PRIDE), Nahas has long argued thatmarijuana affects the middle-brain, justifying its prohibition.Now Herkenham and his associates have proven that marijuana has no directeffect on dopamine production in the striatum, and that most of the drug'seffects occur in the relatively "new" (in evolutionary terms) region of thebrain - the frontal cerebral cortex. There is now biological evidence thatfar from being the "gateway" to abusive drugs, marijuana is instead theother way to get high - the safe way.THC: DOSE AND EFFECTThe effects of marijuana share certain properties with all the otherpsychoactive drugs - stimulants, sedatives, tranquilizers and hallucinogens.Scientists are just now figuring out how marijuana users manipulate dosageand tolerance to manage those effects.Small doses of THC provide stimulation, followed by sedation. Large doses ofTHC produce a mild hallucinogenic effect, followed by sedation and/or sleep.The effects of mild "hypnogogic" states produced by THC are oftenundetected, contributing to mood variations from gregariousness tointrospection.The effects of marijuana can be sorted into four categories. First, thereare modest physical effects, such as a slight change in heart rate or bloodpressure and changes in body temperature. Tolerance develops to theseeffects with familiarity and/or regular use.Tolerance next develops to the depressant effects of marijuana, particularlyto its effects on motor coordination. However, tolerance to these effectsdepends on the quality of the marijuana consumed as well as the frequency ofuse. THC is one of several cannabinoids in marijuana. While it is the onlycannabinoid to produce the psychoactive or stimulative effects, anothercannabinoid, named cannabinol (CBN), produces only the depressant effects.CBN is generally present in low-potency marijuana, or very old marijuana inwhich the THC has decayed; it accounts for the generally undesirable effectsof bad pot. While cannabinol gets someone "stoned," THC gets them "high."After a while, tolerance develops to even the stimulative effects ofmarijuana. Experienced users learn that there is an outer limit to how highthey can get. Paradoxically, this limit can only be exceeded by lowerconsumption.Patients who require marijuana for medical purposes generally discover whatdose provides steady maintenance of therapeutic benefits and tolerance tothe side effects, both depressant and stimulative. MARIJUANA TOLERANCE: EQUILIBRIUM, NOT ADDICTIONResearch into drug tolerance is in its infancy. There are actually threeforms of tolerance. Dispositional tolerance is produced by changes in theway the body absorbs a drug. Dynamic tolerance is produced by changes in thebrain caused by an adaptive response to the drug's continued presence,specifically in the receptor sites affected by the drug. Behavioraltolerance is produced by familiarity with the environment in which the drugis administered. "Familiarity" and "environment" are two alternative termsfor what Timothy Leary called "set" and "setting" - the subjectiveemotional/mental factors that the user brings to the drug experience and theobjective external factors imposed by their surroundings. Tolerance to anydrug can be produced by a combination of these and other mechanisms.Brain receptor sites act as switches in the brain. The brain'sneurotransmitters, or drugs which mimic them, throw the switches. The basictheory of tolerance is that repeated use of a drug wears out the receptors,and makes it difficult for them to function in the drug's absence. Worn-outreceptors were supposed to explain the connection of tolerance to addiction.This phenomenon has been associated with chronic use of benzodiazepines(Valium, Prozac, etc.), for example, but not with cannabinoids.An alternative hypothesis about how dynamic tolerance to marijuana operatesinvolves receptor "down-regulation," in which the body adjusts to chronicexposure to a drug by reducing the number of receptor sites available forbinding. A 1993 paper published in Brain Research by Angelica Oviedo, JohnGlowa and Herkenham indicates that tolerance to cannabinoids results fromreceptor down-regulation. This, as we shall see, is good news. It means thatmarijuana tolerance is actually the brain's mechanism to maintain equilibrium.HOW TO STAY HIGH: LESS IS MOREThe NIMH tolerance study confirms what most marijuana smokers have alreadydiscovered for themselves: The more often you smoke, the less high you get.The dose of THC used in the study was 10 mg per kilogram of body weight, adose frequently used in clinical research. What is the equivalent of 10mg/kg of THC in terms of human consumption?While most users are familiar with varying potencies of marijuana, many areonly vaguely aware of differences in the efficiency of various ways to smokeit. Clinical studies indicate that only 10 to 20% of the available THC istransferred from a joint cigarette to the body. A pipe is better, allowingfor 45% of the available THC to be consumed. A bong is a very efficientdelivery system for marijuana; in ideal conditions the only THC lost is inthe exhaled smoke.The minimum dose of THC required to get a person high is 10 micrograms perkilogram of body weight. For a 165-pound person, this would be 750micrograms of THC, about what is delivered by one bong hit.The THC doses used on the NIMH rats were proportionately ten times greaterthan what a heavy human marijuana user would consume in a day. Assuming useof good-quality, 7.5% THC sinsemilla, it would take something like 670 bonghits or 100 joints to give a 165-pound person a 10 mg-per-kg dose of THC.Obviously, the doses used are excessive. But the study indicates that thebody itself imposes an unbeatable equilibrium on cannabis use, a ceiling toevery high.According to Herkenham's team: "The result [of the study] has implicationsfor the consequences of chronic high levels of drug use in humans,suggesting diminishing effects with greater levels of consumption."Tolerance and the quality of the marijuana both affect the balance betweenthe two tiers of effects: the coordination problems, short-term memory lossand disorientation associated with the term "stoned" and the pleasurablesensations and cognitive stimulation associated with the word "high."The distinction between the two states is nothing unique. Alcohol, nicotineand heroin can all produce nausea when first used; this symptom alsodisappears as tolerance to the drug develops. To conclude that marijuanausers consume the drug to get "stoned" would be as accurate as assertingthat alcohol drinkers drink in order to vomit.Most marijuana users regulate their use to achieve specific effects. Themain technique for regulating the effects of marijuana is manipulatingtolerance. Some people who like to get "stoned" on pot, which (unlike theinitial side effects of other drugs) can be enjoyable. These people smokeonly occasionally.People who like to get "high" tend to smoke more often, and maintain modesttolerance to the depressant effects. But this is not an indefinitecontinuum. Just as joggers encounter limits, regular users of marijuanaeventually confront the wall of receptor down-regulation. Smoking more potdoesn't increase the effects of the drug; it diminishes them.The ideal state is right between the two tiers of effects. One of the greatironies of prohibition is that most marijuana users are left to figure thisout for themselves. Most do, and strive for the middle ground. Some justdon't figure it out, and this explains two behaviors which are identified asmarijuana abuse.First is binge smoking, often but not exclusively exhibited by young orinexperienced users who mistakenly believe that they can compensate fortolerance with excessive consumption. The second behavior these new findingson tolerance explain is the stereotype of the stoned, confused hippie.According to this NIMH study, tolerance develops faster with high-potencycannabinoids. People who have irregular access to marijuana, and tolow-quality marijuana at that, do not have the opportunity to developsufficient tolerance to overcome the acute effects of the drug.Another popular misconception this study contradicts is that higher-potencymarijuana is more dangerous. In fact, the use of higher-potency marijuanaallows for the rapid development of tolerance. Earlier research by Herkenhamestablished why large doses of THC are not life-threatening. Marijuana'sminimal effects on heart rate are still mysterious, but there are nocannabinoid receptors in the areas of the brain which control heart functionand breathing. This research further establishes that the brain can safelyhandle large, potent doses of THC.Like responsible alcohol drinkers, most marijuana users adjust the amount ofmarijuana they consume - they "titrate" it - according to its potency. Inthe course of a single day, for example, the equilibrium is between theamount consumed and the potency of the herb. Tolerance achieves the sameequilibrium; over time the body compensates for prolonged exposure to THC byreducing the number of receptors available for binding. The body itselftitrates the THC dose.TOLERANCE, DEPENDENCE AND DENIALHerkenham's earlier research mapping the locations of the cannabinoidbrain-receptor system helped establish scientific evidence that marijuana isnonaddictive. This new tolerance study builds on that foundation byexplaining how cannabinoid tolerance supports rather than contradicts thatfinding."It is ironic that the magnitude of both tolerance (complete disappearanceof the inhibitory motor effects) and receptor down-regulation (78% loss withhigh-dose CP-55,940) is so large, whereas cannabinoid dependence andwithdrawal phenomena are minimal. This supports the claim that tolerance anddependence are independently mediated in the brain."In other words, tolerance to marijuana is not an indication that the drug isaddictive.Denial is a characteristic of drug abuse, and it is largely cultivated bythe effects of various drugs on the brain reward system. Herkenham'sresearch provides a clinical basis for claims that denial is not acharacteristic of marijuana use.The outer limits of being high are reached when natural systems decide thatthe needs of the body supersede the wants of the mind. The third tierrepresents the most noble effects of marijuana: comfort, care and treatmentfor people with genuine needs.The discovery of the cannabinoid receptor system was a revolutionary eventof profound significance. These new findings on tolerance may presagefurther revolutionary developments from the laboratories of NIMH in the nextfew years - such as the natural role of the cannabinoid receptor system andthe brain chemical which activates it. \t\t\t[End]Reprinted without permission from High Times (though we did send them amessage about it). For subscription or other information e-mailhteditor@hightimes.com.***Marijuana, Science, and Public Policy -an extensive collection of material prepared over the years by Jon Gettmanabout his rescheduling petition:http://www.hightimes.com/ht/new/petition/JonGettman/AA/aamspp.htm***This URL: http://www.pdxnorml.org/brain2.txt
     
  15. Moderation is for monks. ;)
     
  16. Interesting read, thanks for posting
     
  17. #37 Mot1ve, Jun 10, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 10, 2015
    Weed is naturally addicting. Even if you had a long tolerance break, you want to smoke again and then want to smoke immediately the next day and next day after.

    It's only worse if you got an addicting personality.. 

    Out of all the smokers in America, less than 15% can moderate their smoking.. the rest are "potheads" and thats not ag ood thing. IN MY OWN personal opinion, that's like the equivalant to being a drunk/alcoholic.. Marijuana is a beautiful plant we've b een given and it shouldn't be abused.. If you think otherwise, you don't respect nature.
     
  18. #38 tam575, Jun 10, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 10, 2015
    If you dont mind me asking, where did you hear/read that only 15% of people can moderate their weed smoking? Seems a little odd seeing as i myself know plenty of responsible users.
     
  19. #39 Mot1ve, Jun 10, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 10, 2015
    Was in a newspaper article I read but it also reflects analysis based on the number of people I know and met who smoke in a few diff cities. and seeing how many of them were people who did not smoke every single day . 

    It might be hard to believe, but it's quite true. even if those numbers are off overall, in big cities, that number is spot on! 
     
    and the newspaper article I raed it on, it wasn't just based upon smoking everyday.. it was people who smoked more than 5 times a week i believe
     
  20. I personally rarely ever do anything in moderation. I tend to be extreme in everything that I do. Weed is ALWAYS something that I think about, regardless if I have it or not, regardless if I'm high or not.
    I get stoned every day--weekdays, weekends. Same consumption. Wouldn't have it any other way.
     

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