Is there any way to avoid the high?

[stressmom]

This will seem an odd question here, I suppose, but I seriously cannot stand the cannabis high. I never liked it when I was young and healthy. I don't like it now that I'm old and hurting. I have read there are ways to process it so that the THC breaks down to CBD? CBN? (one of those) which will be helpful for my pain without getting me all frikkin buzzed. If I can't figure something out, I have to stick with narcotics, but they are brutal on my liver. My kids grow medi, so there's plenty of ganj of several types, but I can't use any of it without getting wrecked... and mama don't play dat. Any suggestions?

stressmom Reviewed by stressmom on 07-23-2010. Is there any way to avoid the high? This will seem an odd question here, I suppose, but I seriously cannot stand the cannabis high. I never liked it when I was young and healthy. I don't like it now that I'm old and hurting. I have read there are ways to process it so that the THC breaks down to CBD? CBN? (one of those) which will be helpful for my pain without getting me all frikkin buzzed. If I can't figure something out, I have to stick with narcotics, but they are brutal on my liver. My kids grow medi, so there's plenty Rating: 5

[LOC NAR on probation]

Eating it is much like the narcotic pills you take now Only it doesn't do bad things to the liver and kidneys. I guess the buzz is like a side effect to the pain meds. When I take pain killers I get very sick to my stomack and can not function. If MMJ does you that way then it is not for you.

Do the pills not make you feel buzzed in a way your used to ?

I have never heard of a way to take the buzz away and leave the pain meds.
Sorry.

[stressmom]

Excellent point. No, I don't feel any buzz from the opiates or opiods I use, presumably because I'm at the dosage necessary to get the relief without an opi high. My understanding of the psychopharmacology of these compounds is that if you've got genuine pain, they'll occupy your nociceptors to the point necessary, and you should have less difficulty with side effects. That said, I know people respond very differently to different opis, so I guess that it's really up to the patient to decide how much "side effect" makes the relief worthwhile. So far, I just can't get the cannabis "high" down to a tolerable level and still get some pain relief, EXCEPT in unheated glycerol tinctures, which presumably are not as stoney, because they don't ever get decarboxylated, so I'm medicating with THCA, rather than the THC that others are trying to optimize.

Helpful way to think about it, though. Thanks for that.

mom

[drudown11]

try taking "little" tokes? lol i have anxiety issues and i quit smoking because of it for 2 years. I used to freak out and get way too high, and it wasnt until i started to build a tolerance until it started to get better.

[irydyum]

Here's a link to the most comprehensive work I have seen regarding medical studies and uses, all compiled into one place. You seem the educated type, so I'm sure you can find some good info in there.
Granny's List

[Graywolf]

This will seem an odd question here, I suppose, but I seriously cannot stand the cannabis high. I never liked it when I was young and healthy. I don't like it now that I'm old and hurting. I have read there are ways to process it so that the THC breaks down to CBD? CBN? (one of those) which will be helpful for my pain without getting me all frikkin buzzed. If I can't figure something out, I have to stick with narcotics, but they are brutal on my liver. My kids grow medi, so there's plenty of ganj of several types, but I can't use any of it without getting wrecked... and mama don't play dat. Any suggestions?

If you ingest oil, you get less head effect. If you use in in heavy doses, eventually you will no longer even be able to get high.

Look for a high CBD medical strain. I just tested one donated under the name Catalyst, which is ostensibly a high CBD strain and has excellent pain relief qualities.

More to your point, the one we grew out has no high and appears to even be a high antagonist for any THC previously consumed.

Enough so that we joked at what a dirty trick it would be to pass a doobie of it in a party circle, after everyone was already ripped.

Cooking the THC into CBN will give it less euphoria and more sedative effect, but it may be more disorienting,

[stressmom]

Gray Wolf:

Interesting that you should respond to this thread, because someone in these parts told me I should take my question to someone else in these parts with your very name. May be a coincidence, but perhaps not, since you're in the same state, so that may be roughly the same parts!

Yes, I've learned that I'm apparently going to need to start with a high-CBD strain to begin with, rather than trying to tiptoe around the THC. I'd love something like the Catalyst you mentioned!

I have tried prepping tinctures without heat, so as to not decarboxylate, and I'm going to try using immature plants, which presumably have the CBD bioavailable before the THC even comes to fruition, as it were.

The butter I made using the leftover vegetation from a few runs through the bubble bags was way too psychoactive for my liking. I figured that after the hash process, whatever remained--if anything--would be really mild, but I got SUPER stoned from it...for a LONG TIME. Note that I don't make much distinction between being high, or stoned, or buzzed, though I gather that there is some agreement among regular users as to what these subjective terms mean. I just wasn't in my right mind and didn't like it, and couldn't sleep it off.

For some reason, there seems to be a lot of OLD trim around here in which I am guessing the THC has degraded into CBN, so I'm going to try a couple things with that too, though I am leery about what "disoriented" means with respect to CBNs. I've seen that elsewhere, as well. Hmmm! I wonder if that isn't what I got out of my butter experiment, just a bunch of tenacious CBNs that had survived six trips through the bubble bags and then 22 hours of slow simmering .... I guess I could say I was disoriented. It was pretty hallucinogenic for at least a couple hours.... but there shouldn't have been much THC left, after all that, eh?

Any further thots?

mom

[radiodoug]

I understand, Stressmom. I'm 54, have Glaucoma, and recently started cannabis. Freaked me out with a TERRIBLE panic state the first few times I did it. I have no choice, and I'm NOT going to screw up my system with prescriptions. MJ is the only answer, and my eye doctor told me if I am treating myself with MJ, it IS working, that is, it's lowering my ocular pressure.

He did tell me if I stopped, I may be doing myself harm. So, I kept at it. Now, after I've gotten used to it, I LOVE the "high", or whatever you call it. With a strain called "Indica", I don't seem to get those "bad trip" sessions, and my chronic insomnia is practically gone. I sleep like a baby!

Unfortunately, I moved to another state (Maine), and I know nobody. I've been without for about a month, and am a bit worried about ocular pressure getting out of control. Plus, I miss it! I need to get a doctor's appointment to get a "Med Card", but I'm finding it difficult. It really works for me on so many levels. I'm sorry you can't get used to it...I assume you've tried several varieties.

Good luck to you!

Doug

[billbenson]

Try eating fresh oranges it straightens me out quick smart dont know why but it seems to work for everyone ive mentioned it to