The Straight Toke - THE Marijuana Blog

Julius does not endorse the use of any substance. The rules below are not an endorsement of drug use, but rather guidelines shared with the intent of helping those who choose to use do so safely.

Yesterday a friend of mine had a pretty poor trip on some mushrooms. He looked at them before (and afterwards) and they weren't spiked -- they were just a bit stronger than he expected. While everyone's fine and nothing bad came out of it, the experience has prompted me to share the rules of safe drug use:

1. Know the drug. Before trying any drug for the first time, get to know it. Know what effects it's likely to have, know what a good starting dose is, known how long you'll take to peak, know how how long it lasts, know the dangers of overdosing, know the risks of allergic reactions, etc. Make sure you've got a solid "book knowledge" of any compound before (not after) ingesting it. It may seem boring to spend an hour or two researching a compound when all you wanna do is "get high" -- but just diving in is dangerous. Taking any drug (even the legal ones) without first knowing all of the details of its use (and what could go wrong) is just dumb. Good resources for research include Erowid and Wikipedia. Be sure to check for possible conflicts between substances before even thinking about taking anything.
2. Know your body. If you're taking any prescribed medications, be sure to make sure that your recreational drug use won't conflict with them. Make sure you know your tolerance for whatever drug you're gonna take. If it's the first time you've taken a given substance, DON'T assume you know how you'll handle it -- take the smallest active dose possible whenever trying a new substance for the first time. Remember: bravado might well be fatal. Don't take more than you can safely handle.
3. Know your source. In general, it's not a good idea to buy from an unknown source. Take precautions and listen to the advice of past users when selecting a source for your drugs. If you ever have doubts about the purity of a substance or if you think your purchase has been cut with something, don't take it. It's better to lose your money than lose your health/life. It's pretty uncommon for marijuana to be cut with something (although this varies from area to area), but there's always a risk that a dealer will cut your purchase with an unknown chemical. Proceed with caution. (Note: this does not apply if you grow your own weed. Proceed to get as high as you'd like. ;) )
4. Know when to get help. Whenever you're taking a substance for the first time, you should have a (sober) friend on hand to act as your trip-sitter. If you start to freak out, talk to him/her. If you think there's something really wrong (visual distortions after a single hit of weed for example), let them know. If there actually is something wrong, then at some point you and your friend will have to make the decision to get medical attention and deal with the consequences. For weed, there's no danger of overdose (unless it's been cut with something) -- but for other drugs, there is that possibility. If someone's taken too much E, for example, it's better to go to the hospital and deal with the consequences of getting caught than to avoid the authorities and deal with serotonin syndrome (which is often fatal.) Sobriety is, of course, of the utmost importance when making this decision -- so a trip-sitter's pretty much a necessity when dealing with anything that carries the risk of death (and is probably a good idea the rest of the time as well.)
5. Know your schedule. I'm serious -- know how much time you have to devote to your pastime. Don't drop acid 2 hours before you have to get sober -- it's not gonna happen. Plan out your trip, and allow extra time for you to come down (in case you take a stronger dose than usual, it's better stuff than you're used to, etc.) Be smart about this. A good rule of thumb is to allow for a 40% longer experience than you expected. That way, if you get dank when you're expecting schwag for example, you won't be late for anything.

Above all, remember to use common sense. Know the risks each substance carries, know the dangers of overdose, and know when to get help. Be safe, trip smart, and have fun.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 4:22 pm and is filed under Experiences, Health/Medicine, Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.