Fellow grown-ups,
If you learn nothing else from Mary Jane, if you click away now and never return, I beg you to take note of this critical piece of advice. If you don’t how much cannabis to smoke/vape/eat, heck even if you think you do know, always Toke and Wait.
Modern Cannabis 101
It may sound obvious, but still, it must be said, and you must pay attention: Cannabis, no matter what variety or format, is so, so much stronger than anything you encountered in your youth (with the possible exception of that one trip to Jamaica in the late ‘80s that you can’t quite remember, but that’s another story).
This is not, I repeat not, the bag of brown Mexican whatever-weed your roommate scored from the guy across campus, and dumped into an upturned frisbee or double album cover for a session of de-seeding, before packing bowl after bowl. This isn’t even the awesome weed some friend-of-a-friend brought from California, green and lovely, and very rare by Mary Jane’s college-era East coast standards.
One Toke at a Time
Today’s cannabis is so strong that it requires employing what I call the Toke and Wait strategy. That is, try a little and see how it goes. Give it plenty of time to take effect. You can have more later if it’s not enough, but you can’t really undo cannabis you have already consumed.
The best way to gauge your tolerance is by taking just one toke of some good old-fashioned flower (yup, it’s not called pot or weed anymore, now the plant form is called flower) – of a joint, pipe, bong, etc. After ten or 15 minutes, you’ll know exactly what the effect of your one toke has been, whether you want more or not, and just how delicious this new chickpea snack really is, hmmm….
Same goes for vaping (either extracts or flower). But since the vapor you inhale is cooler and smoother than the smoke from combustion, be extra careful not to take in too much; take small “sips” and wait.
Nibble, Don’t Gobble
The Toke and Wait strategy is a little harder to apply with edibles, since they take much longer to take effect and are often just so darn tasty — who wouldn’t want another gummy or two? You, that’s who. Trust me, you don’t want another, at least not until you know how it’s going.
Better a series of trial-and-error frustrations, than suffering through what I call pulling a MoDo, after the ridiculous antics of New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who overdosed on edibles back in 2014, alone in a Colorado hotel room, in order to write a dumb piece about how legalization was all a big mistake or something.
Sage Advice
Pay attention to the information on the packaging – what is the recommended dosage? how long can you expect before it takes effect? Always give cannabis a little more time to kick in before you even think about having more, especially if you have also been drinking, like silly ol’ MoDo with her room service Chardonnay.
Toke and Wait. Words to live by.
Grown-ups, let’s be careful out there.