Does anyone here smoke weed and have it cause feelings or paranoia, guilt, and shame? Feelings that you are under a magnifying glass and self conscious thoughts of second guessing yourself and your life and what other people think of you?

Weed makes things more enjoyable and at times makes you more content and helps to see the world in a different light and with a different perspective, but why the paranoia and all the other negative thoughts? At times it almost overwheling, I am wondering if anyone else gets this and if so how do you deal with it?

Why is it that people are their own harshest critics and we get these odd feelings of the world revolving around us?

I'm so not even close to an expert and can only speak from experience. I'm sure others will be able to give you wayyyyy better responses.

I've probably smoked like 3 or 4 dozen times in my life, and maybe like 3-4x in 2013. Every single experience has been very different from the last. With many drugs, your expectations/mood going into the session of consuming drugs will influence how you feel during. For instance, you're paranoid and stressed about smoking or doing shrooms or whatever or just in general, you're more likely to have a bad experience/trip. Whereas if you're happy before starting or everyone around you is having an awesome time during, you're likely to enjoy the experience and be happy etc.

So I think it's just a combination of external factors and your mood before and during the time you're smoking that shape these negative emotions you're describing.

To answer your last question in the OP: Because human beings are inherently selfish and even the most levelheaded people feel like they're the center of the universe from time to time.

Edit: Also what you are smoking can probably make for some variance, unless you're smoking the same stuff for the most part.

You're asking how to not suffer the negative side effect of an intoxicant?

That's what drugs do. They make you paranoid. You've no control over it.

If you don't wanna feel like crap while on it and afterwards just don't do it.

I've smoke weed myself and the negative side effects were usually worst then any positives I got from it. I did feel like I was dying or something don't remember.

It varies from person to person. Some just get high but most of the time it is an self-exaggerated high & nowhere near vs coke or ecstacy.

i smoked weed for 13 years. i had just quit. i just think of all the money i had spent. and i dont smoke the cheap green either.

yes it helped me with insomnia, made me happy at times,but overall my life is better now.

i see things more clearly, im way more productive. but i would still smoke party's with friends just for kicks. but dont let it take over your life. like smoking all by yourself all day everyday.

Guilt and shame probably have nothing to do with the chemical effects of marijuana. They are because of social factors, such as the way your friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, etc would view you if they found out you smoke weed. If you didn't need their approval, you wouldn't have these feelings, unless you find it shameful to smoke in the first place. If that's the case, then why smoke?

Paranoia does happen with weed and I would say it's a chemical effect. Those feelings should go away with experience, but it depends on your personality. I say it's probably emerging out of the fear of the unknown, such as: how long will I be high for? will I ever be sober again? am I damaging my brain? is that a cop? do these people know that I'm high?

Personal experience: smoked it on an off after HS. Smoked for about a year, every other day, when I had a chill job that I smoked through. Quit for 4 years when I went back to finish up undergrad. Have been smoking a couple times a week after wrapping up uni.

Sometimes weed amplifies the feelings that are already in you. Maybe you tend to criticize yourself and it removes all defenses. I think you can use it for any purpose you choose. I smoke with the purpose of clearing my mind. When I sit down and do it with that purpose, there is no paranoia or anxiety.

OP, I suggest you decrease the amount you smoke. If you feel that you smoked too much, drink lots of water, eat food, and citrus fruit helps in bringing down the high. Good luck and be safe.

Absolutly untrue. I know many people (including myself) who experience zero paranoia regarding cannabis, and other drugs as well. I have had slight feelings of paranoia, but when you realize that it's a side effect of the cannabis, it goes away. It's the same as mushrooms. If you remind yourself that you've taken a drug, you don't get tripped out as badly.
Anecdotal, and not an accurate portrayal of what most of us will experience.

Anecdotal.

I smoke cannabis before 99% of my sessions (probably 200-300x/year this year) and I love it. As good as meditation is, cannabis use is even better. I don't get paranoid anymore, I tilt for maybe 5 seconds once in a few months, and have a lot more success in my life when I use it regularly as opposed to abstaining.

Regarding the paranoia, Cannabis Sativa is considered the more "productive" stone, where you will feel like cleaning your house, finishing tasks, etc. Cannabis Indica is the "couchlock" stone, where you will just want to chill, lay back and listen to cool music. Personally, I only consume Indica dominant strains. Although I only get small amounts of paranoia from Sativas (realizing its a side effect makes it vanish for me pretty fast), I like how chill Indicas make me. I am a very energetic person by nature, and letting me slow down helps my decisions, soothes my ego, and has literally tripled my winnings vs sober playing.

It is funny how we sometimes feel guilty for smoking cannabis. The stigmas attached to it from "society" (aka the idiots who made it illegal in the first place) can sometimes make us feel like criminals or outsiders from society. This isn't really the case. In fact, as the years go on, I meet more and more people who nobody would ever guess are potheads. Politicians, police officers, respectable members of society, that aren't afraid to use something that is much safer than alcohol. Maybe this is because I'm from Canada, but I like to think the trend towards marijuana being "socially acceptable" (not that I care what society thinks anyway) is a worldwide movement.

A couple more things I should add. When you smoke weed, you can't be a control freak. Sometimes you get baked for 1 hour, sometimes a few hours. Sometimes you get really baked, and the anxiety will make you wish you weren't so high. Over time, you'll learn to just tune these thoughts out, and I've noticed that during these times when I get "too baked" once I calm myself down, I am the most relaxed I have ever been in my life.

As ABC said, weed does amplify the effects of whatever you're doing. So if you are drunk, and then you get baked, your brain might start pointing out things that may make you feel weird. For example, if you're around some people you don't know, your mind may worry about whether these people like you, whether someone across the room laughing who happened to look at you, is laughing at you etc. What you have to realize is, you wouldn't care if they were laughing at you while sober, so there's no reason to let these silly fleeting thoughts impede you from enjoying your high.

OP, please talk to your medical practitioner regards your feelings and paranoia. It could be a sign of a serious mental illness or just a side effect from weed.

Marihuana use increases anxiety long term. I too smoke before all of my sessions it makes the hands more interesting. You'll be fine stop viewing the drug in such a negative way it's amazing learn to love it.

^this

People saying weed is cool and whatnot and mainly reasserting themselves that what they do is ok.

It's like smoking cigarettes, you end up conjuring up benefits for a very detrimental process. It's called an adiction mechanism and it's very hard to counter act.

Yes, it's bad for you. Makes you lose your mental sharpness and, with time, make you more prone to paranoia and depression. Some people are more susceptible to this than others, obviously.

You have to understand that all drugs are nothing more than chemicals that alter the functioning of your brain and no thing that does that is good, except for the trivial good feeding and exercise habits.

Sadly, topics such as this one get people with uneducated opinions making blanket statements that may apply to themselves, but few others.

Thinking of all the money you spent is stupid. For one, if you enjoyed yourself, it's worth it. I know someone who will walk to the front of the line at bars and pay bouncers to get in. Is $20-50 worth being inside instead of waiting in the cold for an hour? He thinks so. Same goes for a new laptop. You can buy it a year later for a few hundred bucks less, but I bet most of us buy it when we can get it. And why wouldn't we? There should be a balance between saving money and enjoying yourself. Skydiving costs $200. Snowboarding costs $60-120 per day at most mountains. Am I going to look back in 20 years and be like, "I can't believe I spent 20 grand snowboarding, when I could buy a car today" Hell no. That's stupid logic.

If you are unproductive on weed, you're just lazy! Period! There are a TON of go getters who wakenbake, then go put in long hours doing hard work. If you are unproductive, don't blame weed, blame your lazy self. Take some responsibility for your actions. Look at Joe Rogan. Like him or not, he is a huge pothead, and he has 2 black belts in BJJ, trains regularly, has a podcast, does standup, does UFC commentary, and other ventures. He's not lazy, do you see him giving weed credit for being a motivator? NO. It isn't one or the other. It just is.

Micronoob, while everyone is entitled to their opinion, your opinion seems based on stupidity. Where do you get your info? Smoking weed is nothing like cigarettes. I'm not even going to explain why because it's just too dumb. You say weed is bad for you, but you clearly don't know what you're talking about.

Makes you lose your mental sharpness? Based on what? Go through my posts and find a spelling mistake. I've been smoking weed for a long time, mostly on a regular basis. I read a ton of books still, probably more than 98% of the population.

Makes you more prone to paranoia and depression? Again, this is a dumb blanket statement with 0 facts to support your dumb case.

You do realize that every human on the planet has cannabinoid receptors right? That means our bodies have essentially EVOLVED to receive an effect from this plant? It saddens me that people like you are allowed to post, because you perpetuate stereotypes about cannabis even though you literally know EFF ALL about it!

If you tried the stuff and didn't like it, good for you. But do some god damn research so you can actually have an INFORMED opinion, instead of just regurgitating useless false statements that you heard from FOX NEWS.

I smoked daily for a couple of years when I was in my twenties.

We evolved to smoke weed? Cool story...

Don't get so upset and refrain from calling people stupid.


You should get your stories straight before you make all those claims that weed is good for everyone. While you may suffer no apparent ill effects from it (apart from all that anger) others may.

The cigarettes were an example because they too provoke adiction.

(Any spelling mistakes or poor syntax: english is not my native language.)

I wasn't going to post because I knew the stoners would get all mad. Well, some of them at least. But the Op should get both sides of the story and not just the pro dope.

where did I say it was good for everyone?

And yes, we evolved to be able to have the cannabinoids in marijuana have an affect on our body. Otherwise, eating or smoking it would do nothing, like wheat, or leaves etc.

I was sober when I wrote that, so I guess we can scratch your assumption about the anger. It just frustrates me when people who are not informed on this subject or others make blanket statements that aren't based on science and/or facts, and may give someone bad advice.

You are how you act. If you say stupid things, I'm going to call you stupid. Don't like it? Don't be stupid. Think before you speak. Learn about a topic before you post false claims like saying cannabis is addictive. I don't think you know what the word means, but in English, it doesn't apply.

If you came here with something to add, or made statements of FACT instead of just opinions off the top of your head, I wouldn't have felt so compelled to reply.

Anything else?

Happy new year, winnercircle. Peace and love.

This discussion isn't going anywhere. The problem is that when someone smokes weed, they usually truly believe it's good for them, unless they feel obvious psychological issues.

Usually (and I know a lot of people who smoked for many years), there comes a time when they will start to admit it is detrimental to their motivation, concentration, etc, and they will start talking about quittinng for a while or for good and so on...

Be happy guys, but do seek medical help if you start to feel depressed or confused regularly. Mental health is important.

Anyone familiar with OP's history on 2+2 would know that he has problems with other substances and doesn't seem to be terribly emotionally or cognitively stable. No matter your overall opinions on weed, he is certainly one person that would have clear benefit from never smoking again.

I love when people say things like "a lot of people" as if that somehow validates their claims. You have not cited anything except these anecdotes. Just because your lazy friends quit smoking weed at the same time as they try being more motivated, does not mean there is a correlation between the 2 things. If your friends stop getting laid because they don't feel motivated, would you use them as an example as well?

It never ceases to amaze me how everyone always has A LOT OF PEOPLE in their lives with which to support any claim they ever seen to want to make. If the debate were space travel, guys like you would still be saying they know a lot of people who have gone. Small world I guess.

I used to smoke a lot of weed. Like daily and weekly for years. I definitely believe it has an adverse effect on your work ethic. Especially when it comes to physical work. I also think it made me somewhat introvert or socially uncomfortable. I don't like big groups and parties any more and I've noticed a lot of the friends that used to smoke like I did are the same.

I stopped because I didn't have time for it anymore. It was ok while at university but not anymore with work and being a family man.

I definitely think people underestimate the negative effects of it and that in itself is quite dangerous.

I agree with pretty much everything you said here.

I'd say my experience has been the opposite of yours, Brain. I have worked many years in physical labour (furniture/appliance mover, carpenter, pipefitter, concrete) and all have 50%+ potheads. With the hardest jobs, concrete and moving appliances having 80+% potheads. It makes those jobs bearable since they're so labour intensive. I worked 50-60 hours a week and did those jobs for a long time.

Also, if you ever go to raves, you'll probably get baked with a dozen people you never knew before, and weed is certainly a social drug. You can't drink 9 beers with strangers and think you won't stumble onto a topic that starts a fight. Smoke a few joints with people who share opposing opinions and you'll have spirited debate, and both will come away having learned something.

I'm not saying that weed didn't make you anti-social or lazy, but it is more likely that other things are the reason for your experience. If a smoker quits smoking and starts saving money, is it fair to say they're better at managing money now that they don't smoke? Or are there other factors?

If someone quits doing hard drugs, and stops hanging out with their large social circle of habitual users, they may feel antisocial. Did quitting the drugs make them antisocial?

Stop trying to associate two independent concepts to make sense of things. It's more dangerous that lazy people love to use Cannabis as the whipping boy for all their woes.

Lots of potheads are loser falldown antisocial lazy weirdos. They are this way with or without pot. If cannabis were truly the cause of these things, wouldn't some university try to study it? Oh wait, anyone with even a general grasp of psychology would realize how big of a stretch linking these 2 is.

I have nothing further to add. Lazy people are gonna forever make excuses for why they are lazy, forgetting that they were lazy before weed, and more than likely will be lazy within a few weeks/months after quitting weed. The end.

Funnily enough I trained twice a day during those years (jiu jitsu and mma) and had the body of a male model so I guess in that way - weed did not ruin my work ethic and did help me with aches and pains. The chores around the apt didn't exactly get done every night.. or week though which is more of my point. If it isn't pressing it tends to not get done at all.

The socializing-aversion is definitely something I notice in friends who smoke/d pot.

It is not an issue of social incompetence. It is more of an aversion to going out and meeting new people. Nearly all of them prefer small groups of friends sitting in watching movies and having a few drinks. Going to clubs seem to be completely off-putting to most of them (me included)

Please just ignore him.....

Potheads will alway's find some excuse. In this case, he is an extremity. Instead of just keeping it to himself where odds are clearly against him, he'll throw a million pseudo facts at you until he wins. So he can justify his reason for his continued addiction and messed up existence.

He is someone who never wanna admit he is wrong even when facts are thrown at him, he only listens to himself. . He is alway's right in his own mind and would argue back from the grave if he had too. It is pointless trying to talk any sense in him.

Next thing you know, he is gonna try to convince himself that heroin & coke is good for health. Then when there is negative side-effects, blame it on a faulty mindset! (Surely, drugs had nothing to do with it.)

Chip, like I said before, you need to see a psychiatrist immediately. You're 100% the one who uses pseudo facts (arguing science constantly). Anyone on here can look at your previous posts and see you're messed up. One minute you say you've won 100k in tournies (even though both usernames are like 5k combined), the next minute you're whining that micro fish are impossible to beat, and begging for someone to stake you at micro MTTs. Just stop posting for everyones sake..

Brain kinda proves my point (that pot doesn't make a person lazy) considering he was able to pull off that much exercise regularly while still smoking weed. I'd attribute his lack of doing chores to the fatigue that comes from putting in a solid days work. That happens to people whether or not they are potheads.

Due to the fact that people usually hang out with people similar to themselves, it makes sense that your friends would all have the same social aversions. One of my biggest social links of my life was a huge pothead, who had no problem making friends anywhere he went. Likewise, if he would have been antisocial, it might have been harder for me to meet new people.

Humans are very social creatures. However, some of us like huge groups of people, some like smaller groups. I know people who are the life of the party when it's 5-6, but who clearly seem uncomfortable when it's a large crowd. Going to clubs isn't for everyone. And all I'm saying is that more than likely those same people wouldn't try to be the life of the party if they weren't potheads.

What did I tell you! This guy only hears himself. He throws away morality over twisted facts he tries to convince himself /w to deny any feelings of guilt.

Now he is basically saying being a pothead helped him become more social & allowed him to make more friends who also happened to be potheads. (This is just another self-justify bs he tries to impose on others & deceive himself with!)

I maybe a little messed up & steam in the forum a lot, but aleast I'm not delusional or stupid enough to believe that drugs are good for you. (Aside from medical purposes.)

I couldnt help but lol