By pure coincidence I planned to make a thread the last two days, topic something like "Weed - The Devil's Drug", something like that.
What brought on the idea was initially a video I came across on LL where they showed this one guy having a panic attack on "dabs" as well as my own experiences with weed A LONG, LONG time ago. (Will get to that later).
This thread just comes very convenient, along with some of the experiences here.
After I found the video on LL I also did some more research about "bad weed trips" and came along some more astonishing things. Ok, let's start from the beginning.
It was a few weeks ago where I actually read in the news of two confimed deaths which were attributed to heart-attacks after weed consumption. So in other words, THOSE deaths mentioned here in the thread are not the first ones - there is a REAL, although possibly remote danger that people who had "large amounts" of weed CAN die. FACT.
My own experience:
It is a long time ago, 25 something years, when I didn't say no to hashish/weed. We had "those friends" and I generally hung out with people you would call "alternative people", stoners, hippies, musicians etc. Everyone smoked.
One day I was home alone and I remember I made a very tiny weed cigarette. (Note that my experiences back than were mostly Hashish since hashish in Europe is/was way more common than "grass". My hashish experiences were all "pretty good" and there was hardly any negative effects as far as I recall).
This day where I made that tiny weed cigarette I remember I didn't even smoke that much since I normally am rather careful and not the type who would mindlessly "overdo" it or willingly risk something.
Shortly after I too a few puffs a really bad panic set in, heart started to race etc...the typical "weed panic" which I read on the net a lot of times now already. It was a really, really bad experience where at some point I also considered to call an ambulance, but I guess the dosage was so SMALL (I think) that the panic thankfully didn't last too long. So or so, even given the very small amount of what I smoked the experience was so bad I didn't smoke EVER again. I had plenty (!) of opportunities to smoke ever since but I am constantly kindly rejecting the offers.
In my "research" the last couple of days I came across some "bad weed trip" stories which make my bad experience pale in comparison.
In fact, I was surprised to learn my OWN experience where I freaked on weed 25 years ago was not an exception, that indeed many people had sometimes even worse experiences...AND NOT ALWAYS PEOPLE WHO ARE NEW TO SMOKING!!
I read stories of people who used to smoke up for years, almost daily, and then for some reason had a very bad "trip" with all the symptoms I mentioned and often a lot worse.
Many were convinced they were about to die or having an heart-attack, some DID in fact call ambulances etc.etc..
I read about a nurse (!!) who on one site stated she personally knows about 25 cases where weed turned people permanently into schizoid cases or at least triggered serious psychotic episodes which can often flare-up and have a deep negative impact on people's lives.
I read about people who were so high/paranoid they considered killing themselves just so the "trip" would be over, stuff like that.
People saying "you cannot OD on weed"....so what about those cases of deaths and the other cases I mentioned earlier where medical professionals concluded that the two people died from heart-failure from weed.
IT IS CORRECT that as with anything else, it's about the amount..and that "possibly" weed in moderation is no problem.
The PROBLEM is rather that it is not always easy to moderate the intake of weed/THC since you do not know what you're getting. 25 years ago, at least where I am coming from, there was no such thing as "dabs" or super-pure weed or hash-oil etc. which is many times more potent than what stoners took decades ago.
In my experience and with the friends we hung out with, weed was always seen as a "harmless" drug which is "so much better and beneficial" as compared to alcohol, let alone harder drugs. Heck I knew people who would NEVER smoke tobacco and kept smoking weed/hash whenever they could.
IMHO, it is as "harmless" as any other hallucinogen or drug, it is not "better" than alcohol or all the other myths I had to listen to.
We now have the government in some states in your country legalizing weed which I am extremely opposed to, even with otherwise very liberal stance on other issues.
I could now list many, many first-hands stories where people had really bad experiences on weed/hash etc. including where many of them also said after their experiences they actually finally understood WHY it is actually illegal.
I think it's bizarre to see people from allover coming to Colorado to get MJ "for medical reason" (what a crock of BS....medical reasons..)....and it is sanctioned now and again seen as the "better and healthier" alternative. This is unbelievable, imho.