The Straight Toke - THE Marijuana Blog

New Media Superstar Dave Warden reviews the super-chronic strain Master P. in a chocolate chip blunt!!! HELLZ YEAH!! (more...)

Hey there,

Frequent reader of the blog. I just had a quick question for you, as
I'm having a hard time finding a straight answer on this. Is smoking
the resin (scraped from your pipe or bong) extremely unhealthy? Is it
worse for your health than smoking buds?

I'm 25 and I used to smoke when I was younger (16-18) but I developed anxiety/panic disorder and had to stop. Not sure if this was induced by my drinking/drugging or genetics or a little of both but I had to stop smoking because it makes me have panic attacks. Now that's I'm a successful adult I don't want to go back to being a pothead or anything but it would be cool to toke ever now and then without thinking I'm going to have a heart attack. Any suggestions? Or am I doomed to continue leading a substance-free life (8 years strong)?

When I wrote my primer on how to smoke weed for first time smokers, I got an e-mail from a fellow webmaster (he runs the Amsterdam Logue, a comprehensive Amsterdam travel guide) with the suggestion that I cover the common belief that "you don't get high the first time you smoke." So I shall.

Simply put: it's a myth. There is no reason that one's brain will not react to the cannabinoids present in marijuana the first time one smokes. Unlike some other substances (Kanna comes to mind), there is no 'sensitization' period necessary to 'prime' the appropriate receptors. Your brain will have more or less the same response to THC whether you're a lifelong pothead or a first time smoker.

New Media Superstar Dave Warden reviews Liquid THC and super-fruity Razzle Berry kind bud!!!

Recently, I've noticed that a lot of visitors come to this blog from Google with search terms like "how to smoke pot" or "learn to smoke weed" -- so I figured that I'd write a quick primer on the subject.

First, know that you don't have to smoke cannabis in order for it to be effective. There are a number of alternate ingestion methods that do not require the inhalation of smoke. I've gone over these alternative ways to use pot in another post, but if you're short on time, here's a quick recap:

• Use a vaporizer

Relax, it hasn't happened yet.

Oh sure, there have been deaths where marijuana was blamed -- but in all of medical history, nobody has died from a marijuana overdose. Read that once more: in all of medical history, nobody has died from a marijuana overdose. It can't happen. Your body has a nice little self-limiting trick it uses: when you smoke too much, you pass out. Nothing dangerous, no risk of any problems -- you just won't wake up until your body's had a chance to clear some of that good old THC out of your system. (In the mean time, you'll likely have some rather intense dreams.)