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e:e's avatar

Absolutely I still love her, but weed is not the same as it used to be. Not to sound like a boomer or anything but since dispensaries became more wide spread, the weed hits REALLY hard. I’ve been chasing that ‘fun, giggly’ high for years now too, to really no avail. Once I smoke I’m analyzing everything and how I’ve lived my entire life WRONG. We gotta bring back chill weed. I just wanna laugh with my friends again, not have my brain go into hyperdrive sending me into (nightly) existential crises.

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Chrissy's avatar

no exactly... suddenly i am the worst person in the world and everything I've ever done is cringe and embarrassing

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Nickname's avatar

100% - everytime I go to the dispo all I really want to ask the fully-baked guy behind the counter is for his weakest weed possible, which is minimum 20% genetically modified THC designed to breed capitalist zombies

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Bill Canzoneri's avatar

If you’re still buying the corpo-weed you gotta get the THC / CBD split stuff

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Lotta's avatar

Exactly this, 20 years ago I was giggling away from a whole joint but now I am hit with dread and horrors of my life after 2 puffs.

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Holls's avatar

This is so true

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s.x. liao's avatar

It’s terrible that the most mindful options for weed these days are unfortunately the corporate dispo Women-OwnedTM brands.

not that the quality is a problem, but they are terribly out of reach and unaffordable.

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Dante Donofrio's avatar

That's why I always mix it, personally with mint or something similar herbs it also help cut the smell

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analog leather ⛓️‍💥's avatar

I’m not from North America and I’m honestly too scared to try smoking there bc most of our shit in Europe is twigs and seeds mystery strains and I see dispensaries in the US selling 30% THC Mega Pussy Blaster Strawberry Cookie Fuck

Great article!

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isha's avatar

this is frying me I love you

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Matt Ostermueller's avatar

I feel like so many people get discouraged from a couple bad highs and never really break that barrier where you can comfortably smoke a little poot and clean your room. I am definitely someone who smokes a lot so my tolerance is pretty high. The times where I get that feeling of guilt and shame only really come when I face an entire joint or go ham on a geeb. Dosage is the most important factor for me. Since you can't die from consuming too much weed I think many people just assume they should smoke as much as they physically can. All you really need is like a few puffs to get that 'reset' you were talking about. Not saying weed is good, but I feel like most people immediately go to quitting cold turkey once they've had one tweak out. Not dissimilar to weaning off social media, I think there is a meaningful way you can allow yourself to enjoy these things in moderation without completely depriving yourself of them.

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eliza mclamb's avatar

I swear if they brought back the North Carolina mid I was raised on I’d still be a stoner 😔✊

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Chrissy's avatar

no deadass illegal weed hit different

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elisabeth's avatar

one of my favorite jokes

me: yeah, i'm not smoking anymore

them: fr??

me: ... but im not smokin any less!!!

been thinking about how i need to reduce my consumption but haven't really done it yet 😅 and i'll never stop sharing joints

🩷

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vin's avatar

shared a joint in the park today and literally was thinking like… i should start doing this again

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Chrissy's avatar

something so healing about it when it’s good ..

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allie ailis's avatar

gleefully have been cali sober for 6+ months and nothing will be keeping me from my fun time plant

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Chrissy's avatar

IKTR

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mari reads's avatar

east coast dispensary weed is so anxiety inducing like I used to smoke bullshit flower in my rural college town and be chill but half of a half of a edible is a downer half the time

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Naj Neptunes's avatar

they flip and reverse those 5mg at the northeast dispensaries! things get so unchill so quickly

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Spencer G's avatar

I mad connect to this story… I’m always trying to return to that age 18-19 peak high. Moved into my first place out of my parents house with my bestie, getting high under beautiful clouds without a worry in the world.

Now I am manually relaxing because all my core muscles are tensing for some reason and “I just need to drink a little more water and I’ll be okay.” Hahaha.

At the same time I know that if I have a little I will be in a good spot, but I will NEVER get back to that ignoramus-euphoric-high of years ago.

I always see this future of myself going stone-sober, but I can’t tell if that’s actually what I want?

Anyways, thanks for writing this, you made me feel seen.

We should all probably be a little more skeptical of our weed use, but cut ourselves a little slack every now and then… honestly idk.

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Sabrina's avatar

I wonder if this is an exclusively American thing because as an Australian I know more people who smoke weed (and I'm in my late 20s) than those who don't. I wonder if this has to do with the method, because edibles are so rare ime and it's usually just joints or bongs.

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Chrissy's avatar

oh interesting!! I lived in europe for two years and everywhere I went, people smoked less weed than in America. Never been to australia though :)

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Jonathan Weil's avatar

Afaik Australia has a “grow your own, but dealing is illegal” policy, which probably means the weed there has escaped relentless corporate THC optimisation.

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jonesy in ssbu's avatar

🗣️ WEED !! AND !! FORTNITE !!!!!!!

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cori's avatar

Love love love this. Sums up exactly how I’ve felt for years too. Just a thought, but a big part of me feels like this is the corporatization of weed that we are feeling like you mention. Like, I used to love socially drinking with my friends (the cheapest and shittiest beer we could find in shitty parking lots too), but the second Champagne Bars and Wine Bars and bro-centered Breweries and like Mixology/Cocktail culture kind of took over literally everything, it became so much less fun. It required not only more effort, but more money. I feel similarly with how dispensaries are so plainly just these ubiquitous money-making operations now—and such cis white male centered spaces (no coincidence). I believe that what we are feeling now is the product of years of cultural conditioning to see weed as a consumer product rather than directly related to the “stoner” lifestyle/ideology, if you will. As opposed to the great stoner films — Big Lebowski, Pineapple Express, How High, etc — you can’t be jobless/unemployed/unmotivated and smoke weed anymore. AKA you have to have a reason to smoke weed now — you need it to sleep, you need it to relax, you need it to make pain go away or stimulate your appetite. Weed now = modern day snake oil. Which is why it no longer works for us, why it’s stronger than ever and yet still always leaves you wanting. Like snake oil, it may not work the way you want it to or as described, but it still does something. And this is so vastly different to how previous generations looked at it — as a catalyst to socialize with others, as a nod to the counterculture, as entirely anti-capitalist in a way, as associated with spirituality and nature. The second they started using technology to enhance weed and create these extremely powerful strains that knock you on your ass without the giggles and the socializing of it all, we lost the plot entirely.

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Arri's avatar

This was one of the most enjoyable reads on this site in a while for me! I'm from California and I didn't start smoking until 2018 so I didn't know anything but Apple Store dispensaries and premium delivery services. I went to university in the north of Scotland and there was a really good plug there too, but he moved, and the replacement plug sold me the most sus shit ever 😭 the ashiest twigs and seeds! For the last couple years I've mostly been on gummies that I only do three times a week maximum (even that's a rarity) and that giggly, buzzy high hasn't really gone away, but I do find that it's been knocking me out faster recently! Not sure if thats just my body changing or the strains I chose. I 1000% relate to the experience and relationship you have with weed changing over time. It is sad that it'll never be what it once was (especially after that very first time!!!), and you wonder if it's just a matter of finding the right strain or if your body chemistry is betraying you. Love this piece!!

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slug's avatar

heavy relate , bring back mid 🫡

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Lydia's avatar

Also nowadays bathroom is too fr ✋🏾

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Lydia's avatar

Kinda like water boarding urself for funnnnn 😭😭😭

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