The Placebo Effect

a shitload seeing as how i thought eating fruit made me happy for about a whole week.

 

the answer is simple. Though you can generate differnt outcomes each time you smoke i would have to say the effect takes as much of a hold that you want it to.
in laymens terms metaphoricly speaking if you really wanna get high and the eighth you just bought is a supposed "dank" sack then your mind might just trick you into relaxing after a long day*

Honestly and Truthfully

Tr3-0​

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i have been smoking for quite a while so i guess i fall into this catergory... i would assume most of the effects are placebo, since everyone experiences the high differently, plus the placebo effect benefits the politicians and the pigs greatly, think about it, if you never know what to expect and dont find the euphoria calming and exillirating (sp?) and generally enjoyable you are less likely and non inclined to continue smoking. so since the early smokers may have not enjoyed smoking and spread bad word about it then many people dubbed it bad and smokers who thought badly of it had bad highs, but neutral parties who werent and didnt and dont object to it had great relaxing highs

 

i think it plays a large role. especially when people hotbox.

 

One time I was drunk sitting on the couch with someone els at a party. We thought we were getting super baked until we realized the vape wasn't even plugged in.... haha

 

Most likely less evident when toking alone.

 

Sam_Spade,

The placebo effect does play a role if the subject isn't at the desired level of inebriation. I find other outside factors tend to come into play. The environment in which the smoking is taking place plays a large role as well. Experienced smokers may be able to (subconsciously, even) put their mind in a relaxing, "high-friendly" state before a session.

Yours Truly,
5446

 

Placebo or routine? Let's say everytime you get high, you eat something shortly afterwards. I don't know about you guys, but i think the munchies thing is a little overrated. Anyway, if you keep eating after you smoke, your mind kinda tells you "You just smoked, so now you're hungry" I had a friend who got awful headaches when he smoked too. Everytime he hit a pipe, he'd say "God damnit, i'm gonna get a headache" and it happened every time.

 

It plays a huge role. Modern medicine is complicated to the point where the average person is clueless about their treatment. If a doctor says "this'll make you feel better" then a patient will probably subconsciously play along. Also, placebo effect in clinical studies is more likely to cause a "false positive" if the drug being studied is used to treat a mental ailment. (due to the myriad stimuli and unquantifiable emotions experienced by each individual)

I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble

 

I think our brains can do more on their own than we typically think they can.

As we all know, experience is subjective. I think its very possible that our brains can distort our experience of things depending on other influences.

Of course, it is heavily related to one's disposition, emotions, health physical and mental, and how actively present and engaged someone is with their senses.

But of course, people can always lie, and pretend things to try and fit in.

 

Also take into account the fact that when you are intoduced to a new environment or situation your body creates more endorphins intensifying your "high".

So smoking out of a new piece or with new or different people in different places will make you inherently higher

Of course this is a double edged sword because when smoking becomes more routine you rarely expierence this rush of enorphins.

 

I agree with most everything you said and don't mean to nitpick, but just because you are hitting a new peice doesn't mean you will get higher. There are technicalities to those kind of things (i.e., hitting a roor you've had for 2 years and then hitting a wooden pipe you've had for a day). Also, sometimes different people are a buzzkill.

I think it's safe to say these can add to the level of intoxication..not that they will.

 

I agree. Although, I do notice very intensely that since 75% of the time i'm smoking in my room, usually at my desk, this is the place that I feel the least high, because i'm so used to being high here.
If I take a walk to the park and smoke, then its like I get socked in the face, and start being paranoid of "looking too stoned". Smoking in unfamiliar environments get me higher than in my usual spot the majority of the time.
This effect is a good motivator to get out and do interesting things (with a joint lol).

-Also, important to note that the "smoking in unfamiliar places makes you get higher" effect does not fall under the placebo effect. Definite physical change in brain chemistry that decreases tolerance to effects imo.

 

I feel like your mindset going into smoking affects your high. If you go into it not wanting to be high, you probably won't be as high. Some say that when they have to act sober, they lose their high, it's evident that your mindset affects your high. I suppose that'd make some sort of placebo effect.

I try to be self-aware of it though, and let the only thing that is affecting me be the actual high.

 

I don't think anyone will ever know exactly. You take a substance that's supposed to make you feel different, with a lot of variation in the kinds of bud you can get. How could you know with any degree of certainty which feelings are from the bud and which are placebo? Unless you're taking something which doesn't get you high, but you think it does (in which case it becomes whether or not you feel different, because you shouldn't if the substance isn't psychoactive), the placebo effect is kinda elusive.

As someone said situational differences aren't the same as a placebo.

Personally i think that there is a placebo effect because if i think about the high while i'm smoking, the onset and peak are earlier.

 

Wouldn't it be sweet if you could placebo yourself stoned when sober.......sure would save me a lot of money.

 

There's a reason that well-done clinical studies test against the placebo effect as a method of control. And there's a reason why there is always a certain degree of success with the placebo group, albeit less so. I doubt we'll ever know anything beyond the existence of the placebo effect, though you never know.