Recreational Usage of Cannabis
2009.04.08
Recreational consumption of cannabis is a tradition for people of India, Himalayas, Middle East, Africa and Central America. However, now such usage is spread all over the world. Recreational usage means using it for purposes other than medical, spiritual or work. It may seem similar to an expression “for fun”, but it is not true. Recreation is something that each of us needs and deserves.
Contrary to alcohol, cannabis based drugs are measured with difficulty. The doses can be wrong and the effects may be unpredictable. That's why novices experience actual overdosing instead of recreation. It is the reason why European nations who do not have a culture of psychoactive usage of cannabis have an opinion of it as of a dangerous drug. That results into various unnecessary restrictions that could have been substituted by classes of social education. If people knew, how to do it with the minimal health issues and no harm to society, the world would be much more stable.
A recreational dosage of cannabis is really individual. You cannot measure its actual quantity, you should be more concerned about what you feel. One big issue: if you smoke cannabis, effects come in 5-10 minutes, if you introduce it orally – in 40-60 minutes. A strong wish to have some more during this period is a signal of a proper effect on you. The most common mistake in recreational usage of marijuana is a wish to get the same body effects as from alcohol or opiate drugs. However, THC mostly effects brain and doesn't touch other parts of nerve system. That's why if you actually do experience some extra heat in your body and other specific feelings, that means that overdosing border has been passed and you should get ready for not that pleasant side effects including sleepiness, problems with thinking and so on. And introducing more of marijuana may lead to even less pleasant effects. However, death is not that common as a lethal dose of THC is relatively high – 40 000 of a common effective dose. But if you don't want to experience bad hallucinations – watch the dose carefully. The dose of cannabis introduced orally should be about 3-4 times bigger that the one smoked.
If we go back into the history of the East, we may find special places where people could come and smoke some marijuana or hash. There they could get a help from experienced staff, do not worry of the quality of the product. The visitors used such places to get some rest from daily worries, forget about problems and just spend time with their friends. Actually, such places were the same as pubs or bars nowadays. And everyone knows that alcohol effects on health are far more severe than the ones of cannabis. According to British scientific magazine called Lancet marijuana is 11th in the list of harmful psychoactive substances. Tobacco is the 9th and alcohol is the 5th. Don't you see anything controversial? I do, you do, thousands of people do. Why does nothing change?