Have questions about weed-related matters? Our resident potheads can help.
Each month, Blaze and Puf are answering your deepest, most intimate questions about cannabis. No question is to small, no task is too weird, and no inquiry is too dumb. So, come one, come all with your questions about weed.
This week, Blaze and Puf are tackling questions like whether weed can make you sick, how you can choose the best bud, and where you can imbibe as a tourist in Colorado.
So, buckle up your stoner seat belts and scroll down to the questions below to read what they have to say. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Can weed make you sick?
Blaze: I’m interpreting this question as “can weed make you throw up,” but correct me if I’m wrong. And the answer is, yes. THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana and it will make you high, or intoxicated, if you will (spoiler alert). I’ve certainly had bouts with edibles that were way too potent for my liking (or I was really stupid and took too much — who knows). They made the world tilt and spin in a way I didn’t appreciate, especially when I had to walk across an entire food court to buy Thai boba tea for Puf and I once and I felt like I was in “Inception.” For me, I tend not to have that issue as much with flower, except for one instance when I threw up outside a friend’s home after smoking a joint with them. On that occasion, I was just inhaling too hard. This is all in confidence, right?
Puf: OK, well as Blaze said, I’m not super sure what you mean by this question, but I’ll assume you mean can weed make you “sick” as in feeling like you licked the inside of a dump truck and not give you like, a SARS-level illness or something. Feel free to email me angrily if I’m wrong.
Before I go any further, though … because we’re talking about health issues, please enter the obligatory “I am not a doctor, weed or otherwise” here. This does not constitute medical advice, but I’d hope you’d ask someone way smarter and with way more science knowledge than I have if you were looking for such a thing.
Anyway, here’s the deal. Can weed make you sick? Um, yeah, kind of.
For starters, contaminated weed — like weed with mold spores or whatever — can make you sick. But Colorado has a good system in place for ensuring such things won’t make it onto the shelves, so you don’t really have to worry much about that if you’re buying from reputable sources (i.e. the dang dispensary).
Otherwise, weed can make you FEEL sick, but actually making you sick-sick? Eh. Doubtful.
I know this for certain because weed has made me feel like an actual dog butt before, and it sucked. The first time it happened I mixed it with cheap beer, which was not a good idea. So, at the time I was living in another state that shall not be named, and I was drinking huge goblets of Shiner. A friend showed up with a fat ol’ joint of god knows what, and we proceeded to smoke the whole thing between the three of us — on top of being semi-drunk.
I felt fine initially — in fact, I felt more than fine. I felt stoned as a mufucka, and my head was swirling around like the inside of Dumbledore’s pensieve. But, as the night went on, I began to feel worse, and worse, and even worse. At some point we ended up at another bar on the opposite end of town, and at that point, I was acting like a complete derp. I was sweaty, paranoid, felt like I was going to puke, and worst of all, I couldn’t even drink my dang beer. It. SUCKED.
Did I end up puking? I did not. But if I had, I would have deserved it, cause you shouldn’t mix weed and booze unless you have a real knack for knowing your limits.
You will not be surprised to hear that I do not have a knack for such a thing. Boo, hiss.
The second and final time that I got “sick” from weed I was just being a damned fool. Blaze and I were hanging out and decided to try and cook some stuff
that we didn’t know how to cook. We were just being dumb, listening to music and hanging out in my kitchen while puffing a vape. Said vape was — unbeknownst to me — filled with a creeper strain, and I didn’t feel like I was high at ALL until it hit me right in the dang face. And I’m dead serious when I say it hit me in the face.
There I was, just laughing and laughing at how bad Blaze is with chopping onions, and suddenly, I couldn’t use my legs. My stomach got queasy and I had to lay down so I didn’t die of vertigo or some junk.
From there, my stomach got gnarly as hell, and I felt like I’d licked the inside of a dirty toilet bowl. I felt RANCID.
Again, I did not puke, but again, I would have deserved it if I had. Know your limits. And don’t underestimate the power of a creeper.
That’s basically all I’ve got for whether weed can make you sick.
As with anything, if you overdo it, you can end up feeling like crap, can puke like Blaze did, or you may even end up calling an emergency line you don’t need to call like those fools we hear about occasionally. Just don’t overindulge and chances are you’ll be fine.
The last time I smoked weed, I got super paranoid. How do I keep from becoming paranoid and just enjoy getting stoned instead?
Blaze: This is an answer that can very much differ from person to person. First, how are you ingesting? I, personally, get much more paranoid and anxious when I take edibles. No amount of vaping or smoking will make me feel that way but a chocolate truffle laced with THC could very well be the end of me.
Second, how much weed are you using? If you’re an experienced stoner, you may find your tolerance toward the ganja increases. This is an unfortunate fact of life. However, if you’re a beginner, you should really be cautious with how much marijuana you ingest. That can greatly contribute to your reaction, as well, if you’re not used to or completely comfortable with marijuana products.
Puf: Well, for starters, you need some CBD on hand, my friend. That’s right; CBD.
I know this because I have asked this same question of the fine folks at the dispensary. Sativas make me horribly paranoid and weird as of late, and as someone who writes about weed for a living, I can’t really avoid them.
But, it turns out that CBD, the cannabinoid that people tout is useful for just about everything, can help.
Before I get to that, though, I want to say that if you’re super sensitive to THC, you should start by not taking that much to begin with. Lower your dosage and you may not even need CBD to cut down the paranoia that comes from it.
What I’ve found is that smoking too much of a good thing increases my paranoia, as does taking too many edibles. I don’t like hearing the sound of my own heartbeat in my eardrums, and when it happens, it makes me super jumpy and unnerved. Not a fun combo.
But if I go slow, I end up in a much better, much happier place. So, before you invest in CBD, try that. You’re probably taking too much.
If that doesn’t work? Well, get you a bottle of CBD tincture, stat. It works like a charm.
Here’s what you do. If you find yourself scaling the walls after smoking a blunt or hitting a vape, you just take a few drops or droppers full of CBD (whatever
the dosage on the bottle says), it will help to temper the crushing paranoia that you’re feeling.
It really is a magic anecdote, that stuff.
You can also look for products that have some CBD in them, alongside the THC. Anecdotally, those tend to make me less paranoid than some other cannabis products, but they also make me sleepy, so buyer beware.
And, again, take less. If you’re getting paranoid on a regular basis, the answer may just be that you’re overdoing it. And that is a lot more simple than finding the right dosage of CBD to cut down on the negative effects after the fact.
How can I tell if the flower I buy is good or not?
Blaze: OK, I’m glad we got this question because I had a recent experience with this. Sometimes the best way to recognize good weed is to smoke bad or cheap flower. I recently made the mistake of trying a new dispensary for the fun of it (I’m not back to my regular dispensary, thank you). I ordered an ounce of flower and I should have known better because the price tag was pretty cheap. Once I opened it when I got home, I immediately regretted all my life decisions. It was instantly apparent to me that the flower I’d purchased hadn’t been cured properly and the container was packed with seeds. Thankfully, it didn’t smoke too terribly, but it was pretty obvious what I was missing out on. In my opinion, good weed will have a vibrancy to it in both color, flavor, and smell. It also tends to be more expensive, unfortunately for all of our wallets.
Puf: Our reviews, duh.
I kid, I kid — sort of. So, to me, this is a tricky one, because “good” is all relative. What you consider good weed may not be what I consider good weed, and vice versa.
For starters, you don’t want weed that has a bunch of sticks and stems in it, and seeds are annoying as hell, too. Those things are not generally a sign of a quality product — or perhaps a product that has been handled with care.
But those are the basics, and you undoubtedly already know that, if not from your own experience, then from a Snoop song or two. (No stems, no seeds, no sticks!)
There are ways to look at your cured flower and tell if it’s got certain qualities you’re looking for. Thing is, though, that unless you’re intimately familiar with the way a strain should look, smell, and feel, you’re probably not going to want to take that route. It requires a steep learning curve.
And, the reality is that “good” weed is the weed that works for you and your brain — not the weed that looks prettiest on the shelf.
Not that I’m knocking beautiful weed, mind you. I freaking love a strain with fat, fluffy nugs covered in kief with bright orange or red hairs running through it.
But even those can be disappointing on occasion after you light them up.
In my humble opinion, the best thing you can do to ensure you get “good” weed is to go through the process of trial and error after reading a ton of reviews on the strains that you may want to try out.
We have plenty of those to fall back on. Or, you can check out just about any other weed publication to find others if you don’t vibe with ours. Do your research and try them out. In time, you’ll start to figure out what you consider good weed — and what you want to spend your hard-earned money on.
I’m traveling to Colorado and obviously want to swing by some pot shops, but with social consumption being so frowned upon there, where do I even smoke it?
Blaze: You, dear reader, have touched on an issue that Colorado has wrestled with for a long time. Despite being the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, states who have gone legal after we paved the way are leaps and bounds ahead of Colorado’s marijuana legislation. We’re still afraid of cannabis in a lot of ways and our legislation demonstrates that. Denver is just now dipping its toes into weed delivery nearly 10 years after marijuana was legalized.
Denver is where you’ll mostly find social clubs that allow for marijuana consumption. There are also cannabis-friendly hotels, campsites, and Airbnbs located throughout Colorado where you can stay out that will allow cannabis smoking and ingestion on their property.
Puf: Yeah, I’m just going to tell you right now that your options are limited. RIP to at least part of your weed-focused trip, probably.
Colorado hasn’t been too great about implementing a rational public consumption policy. In fact, we’re still really behind on things like weed tasting rooms or weed “bars,” for lack of a better term. You might find a couple of private venues here or there that will allow you to smoke to your heart’s content, but they aren’t going to be widespread — and most of them require membership or other buy-ins to take advantage of what they offer. So, that’s probably going to be no bueno — and I’m not even sure if they’re open right now, considering the pandemic mess we’re in.
But, all hope is not lost.
The good news is that if you’re in certain parts of Colorado it’s going to be a lot easier to find legal ways to consume. The Denver area has a ton of pot tourism options to take advantage of, including some that allow for consumption in certain capacities or certain areas.
And, there are a handful of weed-friendly hotels and Airbnb’s out there, too. I will say that I am personally not a huge fan of Airbnb (let me live — and let the people have affordable rent!) but you can certainly find some that are 420-friendly or whatever. That’s probably your best bet.
Or, you can check out what’s available on sites like budandbreakfast.com, which is the smoker-friendly version of Airbnb. The options on that site were more limited the last time I looked, but it’s still a good resource to consult.
And, last but not least, there are several known weed-friendly hotels and bed and breakfasts in Colorado, so maybe check with them, too. Here are a few to
get you started:
– The Adagio Bud and Breakfast in Denver
– The Stout House BNB in Denver
– Quality Inn Denver Central in Denver
– Quality Inn & Suites Denver International Airport in Denver
– Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Northglenn in Denver
– TownePlace Suites by Marriott Denver Downtown in Denver,
– The Solarium International Inn & Hostel in Fort Collins
– Fernweh Inn & Hostel in Fort Collins
– The Shangri-La Inn at Gaia’s Farm & Gardens in Laporte
– Arrowhead Manor in Morrison
– Aspen Canyon Resorts in Silverthorne
So, yeah. There you go. The options in Colorado are inexplicably limited, but there are some, at least. And it’ll get better in time, so maybe consider holding off on your trip til the pandemic dies down and then cross your fingers for more options
