# Why is the first marijuana experience no fun? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2000, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-marijuana-experience-no-fun/44610 "2000-12-08T12:54:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-marijuana-experience-no-fun/44610/41 "2000-12-11T00:00:49Z")
**Chronos** , as I said… if you feel it’s warranted, then go ahead and close/move the thread… As far as I can tell, the original Q was answered, and the answer was “Don’t nobody know!” ---
**Author:** ![adam420](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@adam420](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adam420)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-marijuana-experience-no-fun/44610/42 "2000-12-11T02:05:19Z")
Having to “build up a certain level in your body” or something like that doesn’t make any sense. If you smoke pot regularly for a while and then go a few months without smoking (long enough for all the metabolites to be flushed from your system) and then smoke again you usually get very, very stoned off a very, very small quantity of herb. That said, it does not appear that the reason it’s ineffective is that it has some method of action like a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (eg. prozac) where a certain level has to build up in the body before it can take effect. Another physiological reason might be that something “clicks” in your brain – THC alters something in your synapses that makes them more receptive to THC. While obviously I, let alone scientists have who have researched this, can speak definitively as to whether or not something in your brain is permanently altered after smoking pot once, I’d say that to me, this doesn’t jive. While it’s true that some studies find changes in the brains of pothead test animals, these changes generally aren’t very applicable to humans (often they use a small number of animals, exposed to doses hundreds or thousands of times higher than that of normal human doses, that experience only minor changes). Furthermore, many users report that they do experience effects their first times, which would seem to support the notion that there is not some specific physical change that takes place in the brains of someone who smokes thier first joint. So… what seems to me to be the only acceptable to conclusion is that people smoking pot for their first time don’t know how to inhale and hold it in. My dog got high his first time smoking, and he said that it wasn’t even good weed either. Strange, anyhow, here’s some further reading on the subject… [http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis\_health.shtml](http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_health.shtml) [http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis\_effects.shtml](http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_effects.shtml) And a few persons’ experience smoking for their first time [http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp\_Cannabis.shtml#First\_Times](http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Cannabis.shtml#First_Times) ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-marijuana-experience-no-fun/44610/43 "2000-12-11T11:52:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Astroboy14 \* > **wastelands _Reefer Madness_??? Why bring that piece of tripe/Hollywood moneymaking/anti-drug nonsense into the discussion?? To do so only brings up other issues that are not germane to the topic…** I think, if you reread the paragraph of his previous to the “Reefer Madness” comment, he’s trying to say that you are apprehensive as to the effects of THC, and after smoking a few times and realize that it’s NOT how “Reefer Madness” portrays it, then you really start to be affected. –Tim ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-marijuana-experience-no-fun/44610/44 "2000-12-11T12:05:09Z")
Um, what if the poster sharing personal experiences experienced it somewhere that it was not illegal? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-marijuana-experience-no-fun/44610/45 "2000-12-11T15:01:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > \*\*Um, what if the poster sharing personal experiences experienced it somewhere that it was not illegal? \*\* Then take it to another forum. “Sharing personal experiences” does not combat ignorance in this forum. There is still enough actual science in this thread to keep it here. No one needs to hear your lame “dude, I got so high” story. ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-marijuana-experience-no-fun/44610/46 "2000-12-11T16:37:09Z")
Dude! Where’s my car?! ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-marijuana-experience-no-fun/44610/47 "2000-12-11T17:56:47Z")
> [@](#): > > No one needs to hear your lame “dude, I got so high” story. Awwwwwww . . . you’re no fun. May as well weigh in: 1. Got perfectly high first time around. 2. Most plausible explanation seems to be that folks are nervous and just not doing it right / are unable to distinguish what few effects they do feel from their nervousness. 3. The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” makes **so** much more sense under the influence. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-marijuana-experience-no-fun/44610/48 "2000-12-11T19:33:32Z")
Unless somebody can come up with a cite to the contrary, I’m inclined to believe that the “THC stored in fat gets you high when you exercise” theory. Why? Well, THC isn’t stored in fat at all! It’s _metabolites_ of THC that are stored in fat and are tested for in urinalysis. Non-psychoactive metabolites. Perhaps some of the confusion may stem from the old U.S. Government propaganda that suggested that THC slowly “leaks out” of the fat, keeping users high for weeks. (I wish!) ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-marijuana-experience-no-fun/44610/49 "2000-12-11T19:35:33Z")
Whoops. What I mean to say was : I’m inclined to believe that the “THC stored in fat gets you high when you exercise” theory _is bunk_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-marijuana-experience-no-fun/44610.md?page=2)