I smoked about twice a week while in college, in the late 1970’s, then cut way down, only smoking once in a long while. Recently I had the opportunity once again after about four years. I found it didn’t really do much for me
other than to relax me. Otherwise I found the “high” kind of unpleasant.
I’m just curious, have any of you tried it after a long
time of abstaining, in early middle age, and how did you find it?
Well, after I’ve been a way from pot awhile, the high isn’t as pleasant until you get used to it again.
Back in college in the early 80’s, my friends and I could have starred in a Cheech and Chong movie. A few years after graduation I stopped.
Since then I’ve tried it a handful of times and didn’t enjoy it at all. Don’t know if it’s because I’m a “grown-up” now or not, but found the whole experience of being stoned again unpleasant.
Likewise in my college years I almost made Cheech & Chong look like they exhibited restraint.
After stopping for years (no real reason…the habit just faded away) I tried it again for ‘old times sake’ and didn’t enjoy it much at all. I became blockheaded and found the paranoia disconcerting enough to ruin any enjoyment I might have had. I didn’t freak or anything and knew everything that was happening for what it was but it was still just a shade on the unpleasant side.
Nowadays I just stick to beer…
Ooh, this is a good thread. Potential Threadspotting material. I’ll move it to IMHO where it will get a better response.
Hmmm… I tried it for the first time at 34 a couple of months ago, and I thought it was great! haha! I have to abstain now, because it does mess with my memory and I’m in school. But I had a nice experience.
A girl
Yep, most of the above is my experience, as well. I used to smoke a lot as a youngster, then slowly stopped. Nowadays, like once every three years, I have the opportunity to try a bit, and it always makes me feel paranoid and a little sick. Maybe as we age, our bodies are unable to efficiently process chemicals like THC and alcohol?
Side note: if you feel paranoid while watching “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” it’s a definite signal that dope is no longer for you.
Ooohh, you guys are killing me.
I fiddled around with pot starting around age 12 and I really hit my stride in college. I ignored it for a few years, but from about age 24 to age 31 I smoked almost daily. I’ve lost more pot in my couch cushions than most people have even seen. I felt it was getting the better of me so I gave it all up three years ago.
But, oooohhhh, do I still get the urge. My wife has strong feelings about abstaining so I respect her opinion in the matter.
I’m sure if I was face to face with a bong right now I would still thoroughly enjoy it, but then I was a professional.
I work with ex felons, have for 20 + years. So, have watched, for 20+ years folks who go through enforced periods of abstinence then go out and smoke again. Of course, they are often using other stuff as well, but…
Seems to me, when comparing this group (ex-felons) to my old college chums who may have had a few (million) tokes while we were in college in the 70’s, the difference isn’t so much the age (we’ve all aged) the amount (some of my friends were pretty busy) but lifestyle changes.
For the folks who gave it up for whatever reason several years ago and have changed their lifestyle to the extent that getting blizted and zoning out for a couple of days doesn’t seem to have the allure it once did, well, big surprise, dope doesn’t seem to be much fun any more either. for those who’s life styles still seem to be centered around getting high, it does.
by the way, centered around getting high to me means stuff like when asked what are you doing this weekend, the answer is “getting wasted”, vs. “hanging around the house, getting some projects done…”
As a retired, professional pot smoker, I can assure you that isn’t always the case. Lots of times it’s like “hanging around the house, getting some projects done, in between bong hits.” It’s functional stonerism.
Yeah, me and my friends spent weekends with our asses planted in the Barca-Loungers, but a lot of daily smokers use it like coffee. Being high is just another part of the day.
I hate when that happens! It’s such a joy to find it a few days later though. 
Anyway, I had to give up smoking for a while once. Yes, I had to. Which is why, when I went back to smoking again, the experience wasn’t at all unpleasant. Because I didn’t really want to quit in the first place. I did enjoy being able to get high so easily and using so little. That enjoyment was short lived. Oh well.
Yep. I’m an active pot smoker. Meaning, I’m active even when I’m high. Unless I don’t want to be. I don’t really like lazy pot smokers. Like, “No way, dude, I’m high. I don’t wanna do that.” And, as a side note, I think the term “professional pot smoker” is incredibly stupid. And “retired, professional pot smoker”? Give me a break.
…though I don’t believe it’s evil, and have not abstained for moral or religious reasons.
When I was younger, I was very concerned that I might have an addictive personality (make your own joke about addiction to the SDMB and my post count here). I actively avoided cigarettes (still have never tried them), alcohol (eventually tried it when I was 23 or so–drink very moderately, and only beer, wine and champagne. I’ve never been drunk), and sex.
[sub]OK, so I didn’t AVOID sex so much as I didn’t get the opportunity…[/sub]
Anyway, I also avoided marijuana. I admit that I’ve been kind of curious to try it–until a friend told me that her boyfriend “made” her try it, and she got incredibly paranoid (similar to what pugluvr alludes to). She was watching “Toy Story” and started hallucinating that the “Toy Story Monsters” were coming to get her.
THAT essentially ended my curiosity. :eek:
Well, I suppose if one were to have thought I was being serious and literal, one might find that term “incredibly stupid.” On the other hand, no ever said pot made you more intelligent, did they?
:rolleyes:
Indulged pretty regularly while in high school, and really hit my stride during 8 yrs of “higher” education. In the 15 years since, have gradually tapered down. Why? Mrs. D. strongly disproves. First, she insisted I not buy pot or have it in the house. Worried about forfeiture laws and professional implications. Tho I really like being stoned, and disagreed about the risk, I like being happily married much more, so I stopped buying. (Pissed me off, tho, when we moved houses and I found out she had tossed my 3’ Graphyx. Had been holding on to it for sentimental reasons. Bought it while in college for a Sat. a.m. cartoon party!)
Lately, I smoke a max of 5X a year. Mainly with two of my friends, usually when golfing.
Still love it.
Oh yeah, when smoking heavily, sure there were times we just sat around and wasted time. Mainly late at night. But being high is most fun if you are out and about, doing something. Hell, it can even improve housework!
Amen to that. Same story here as is for many folks who have piped up (ha! get it? pipe…uh…nevermind) already. Smoked a bunch until I was 24, then cut down slowly and now I smoke maybe once or twice a month. I still really enjoy it.
There are few things I hate more than house cleaning. But get me all blowdz and I’ll knock it out!
I smoked a lot of pot in high school, but by the time I got to college I couldn’t smoke dope or drop acid without totally flipping out and thinking I was going to die, so I turned to alcohol and coke instead. Mercifully, I managed to avoid an addiction and now am a moderate beer and wine drinker.
A couple of years ago I tried one toke off a joint and WHAM! Complete terror. It’s amazing to me that people’s reactions to drugs are so different. I have nothing against pot, I just can’t smoke it myself. More power to those who do.
Like several others who have commented, I suppose I have an addictive personality and probably drink too much. But dope was something I gave up, for all intents and purposes, during my sophomore year in college (16 years ago).
The reason was that I would get high at parties and simply fall asleep – be it on a couch, on a floor, in someone’s bed who I didn’t know – from which I could not be woken. Fortunately, I did not hang out with people who had a penchant for abusing such corpses (as I have heard can happen…).
So I quit smoking, but never gave up drinking. When the bone would come by during a party, I would simply pass it along. All my friends smoked and I loved hanging out with them, I even got quite good at rolling joints when they hadn’t the time or were a bit too fried. Eventually, I was given the nickname, “Dope free zone” (which I didn’t chose for my moniker in this forum for obvious reasons.)
Thereafter, I only got stoned four or five times and in very special circumstances. During a junior year in Europe I smoked hash in Amsterdam (who didn’t), and found it didn’t have quite the same affect on me.
To get on with the story, until this past Memorial Day, I had not smoked dope in probably 7 years. I took a hit from what even my most fervent dope-smoking friends considered very potent weed, during a college reunion. That was at around 6:30 and I had only had about three drinks. By 7:00 I was wondering how I had gotten so smashed so quickly. I didn’t figure it out until 8:30 or so when the paranoia set in (which was not an effect I recalled from earlier experiences). For four hours I sat on a pickup tailgate and watched people skinnydip in the swimming hole (which, if you know my friends, is not terribly tittilating). I didn’t even drink a beer in that time.
I did not feel that I had my legs back under me until 1:30 in the morning. I had a splitting headache. I fixed that with a beer and a swig of tequila, though. Needless to say, I guess my days of experimentation with marajuana are over.
Well what do you know?!? It seems my pal Sparky is inviting me to a Solstice party at the end of September! Hmmmm…