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This page is divided into two sections: I know this is the sort of page that some people would see as exactly the sort of "filth" that they believe should be eradicated from the Net. A page that tells you how to take drugs! Shocking! Well to those people I say the following: if someone (your daughter, your friend, your grandmother) has already decided that they are interesting in trying cannabis, that's down to other reasons, and this page ain't gonna make a goddamn difference. So assuming this person is going to try it anyway, how would you wish them to do it? Random experimentation, which could lead to unexpected problems? Or safely, in full possession of the facts? The latter, I'd assume - and that's what this page does. What it doesn't do is tell anyone how to get hold of some cannabis. Beyond suggesting a trip to Amsterdam, there, you're on your own. Your friends will probably know, though. There are three main ways to take cannabis:
Boredom is the mother of invention though... if you know of any other (safe) ways to take this particular substance, let me know! You can't buy these ready-rolled in the shop, yet (though some coffeeshops in Amsterdam will offer them to the very very gullible - make your own! It's easy!), so you need the following if you're going to roll your own:
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Image probably © HandMade Films or some gigantic faceless media conglomerate who might decide to have a go at me and get this taken off the site |
A common conception amongst the uninitiated is that constructing a spliff from several dozen cigarette papers in a fabulous engineering feat is an arcane skill which they simply will never acquire. This may indeed be true. (I have been smoking for over a decade now and I'm still crap at it.) The solution is simple, however - buy king-size Rizla papers. After all, that's why they sell them. I offer no advice on constructing a spliff from several small papers, as it would take diagrams and blueprints and stuff, and would probably fall apart on you anyway. Get King Size. Honestly. The next misconception is that actually rolling up is intrinsically impossible if you don't have the knack. This is not true. It just takes time and practice. Yes, your first few attempts will probably be poor, but so what, as long as there are no holes in the joint you'll still be able to smoke it. Or, buy a rolling machine (though these can be as hard to use as doing it yourself if you're unfamiliar with them).
Phew! I never realised rolling up could sound so complicated! But as I said - practice will improve it! ADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD: Spliffs are the most controllable method. Compared to pipes, the dose with each inhalation is small. If you start feeling uncomfortable, you can stop taking any more and the hit will stop (unlike if you've eaten it). It is also convenient, quick and relatively discreet. DISADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD: Running out of cigarette papers and/or tobacco at 2 in the morning is a common malady that we've all experienced. Good planning is therefore required at times. However the main disadvantage of this, and the reason this method isn't in fact universal, is that it requires you to smoke tobacco. You can roll up a joint entirely with grass, but unless it is particularly weak or you are extremely tolerant to cannabis, I wouldn't recommend it. So you must face up to the general health issues involved in smoking tobacco, as well as associated problems such as the smell. If the tobacco is low-quality, or dry, it can also be a pretty harsh experience on the lungs. Back to the top The association of the Caterpillar in Lewis Carroll's Alice stories with cannabis - or at least some form of drug smoking - is familiar enough for me to have chosen this image as the logo for this site: 
However elaborate the pipe, the basic method stays the same. The cannabis is burnt (with or without tobacco) in a receptacle at the top or side of the pipe. By sucking through the pipe as the weed is burnt, the smoke is drawn through the pipe into the lungs. In the "bong" or "hookah" - as in the picture - the smoke is also drawn through water to cool and filter it, which is what the "bulb" in the Caterpillar's pipe will contain. However you can smoke cannabis in a relatively "normal" pipe - though I wouldn't use your Grandad's. If you do, you'll need to pack it with tobacco anyway (you'll soon realise why) and you might as well smoke a spliff instead. Apart from the pipe and the weed, you may also need some gauzes - little circles of heat-resistant material which you place in the pipe and put the weed on top of, so when it is burnt the solid material does not fall through the pipe into your mouth. You can buy these from your local head-shop or tobacconists. Smoking through a pipe, whether water-cooled or not, without tobacco will give you a much, much smoother hit than a spliff will. It will also be more intense - you will get many fewer inhalations out of an equivalent amount of cannabis, so try and hold each in your lungs for a few seconds. You will probably need to use a light on the weed each time someone inhales, so some manual dexterity is also a benefit - not something everyone possesses after a few hours of a heavy session. Enterprising smokers, often of the teenage persuasion, have of course over time improvised many variations on the basic theme, involving such implements as biros, vacuum cleaners, indeed anything that is basically a big long tube. One of the most scarily impressive things I've experienced with weed was "hot-kniving", where a block of hash is burnt between two hot kitchen knives and the smoke funnelled up into a cardboard tube - the hash disintegrates quickly this way and releases vast amounts of smoke at once. Do not try this at home, kids! (Unless you know what you're taking!). Another variation on the pipe is the vapouriser. This is something I was lectured about (in mildly patronising fashion, I have to say) last time I visited the "Cannabis College" in Amsterdam (an information centre). Rather than burning the weed, it is vapourised in a stream of hot air, which apparently gives you a smoother, tar-free hit. The disadvantage is that you need something with which to produce said hot air, and the favoured method looks as if it's a cross between a power drill and a hair dryer - hardly the sort of thing you can use discreetly. This is probably a great way to medically administer cannabis but I really can't see it catching on amongst social smokers. ADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD Still quite controllable. Again, if you've had too much, just stop. Also elegant - it is the connoisseur's way. Gives you an excuse to buy ornamental hookahs in Turkish bazaars. Sociable - best done as part of an actively smoking group. DISADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD Very few actually, although gauzes are not easy to get, and easy to lose. (Not all pipes need them.) You couldn't possibly do it discreetly, however, and it does still get cannabis into your lungs, which may have certain health effects which eating it might avoid. Back to the top Eating it is considerably different from the other two methods. As the cannabis enters your body through a different channel (e.g. your stomach lining rather than the alveoli of your lungs), the hit will differ. It will take longer to reach your brain - up to an hour, possibly - as your stomach first needs to digest the food in which the cannabis is contained. However, once the hit arrives, it will be much stronger than for smoking an equivalent amount, basically because you get 100% of it rather than losing quite a lot in the smoke and ash. That being the case, I advise eating it only with some discretion, particularly for the inexperienced user. Let someone experienced, who you trust, help you with preparation the first time so you can judge the strength, and will be on hand if your high gets too intense. The point being that unlike smoking, you can't just stop. Once you've taken it, you've taken it, and you just have to see it through. |
Image snaffled from http://www.cannabisculture.com. |
 Don't let that put you off eating it, however. Because it is an "invisible" hit, you can take it then just forget about it, and as long as the dose is right, just relax and enjoy the high. There are also some very tasty recipes around, and cannabis actually tastes quite nice in its own right (rather like gingerbread, I think). There are links to some recipe pages on this site's links and index page. It is also the healthiest method of taking the drug. You just need to be careful, that's all, and the best recommendation there is to not take any more on top of what you've taken, until that high has arrived - don't be impatient, it will come within an hour or so. If it hasn't by then, question what you've been eating! Also, don't mix it with alcohol. ADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD As said, it is healthier, and acceptable to those with strong objections to smoking. You can take some and then go out for the evening while the high comes up, thus getting high in public (a rare pleasure for some - though would cause great paranoia in others). There are many different ways of preparation so even those who treat some with distaste would probably like others. DISADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD Also covered above. Cannabis is not dangerous, even if you take too much - there's no such thing as an "overdose" (you need to take about 10,000 times as much cannabis as it takes to get you high to be reaching potentially fatal levels - the equivalent with alcohol is as little as 10 times). But a deep hit from eating too much can be quite unpleasant - at the same time it can be quite mind-bending in the best sense of the word. Do it at your own risk, but don't run scared of it either. Back to the top When mixing any two drugs - and this goes for prescription drugs, "legal" drugs like alcohol, and prohibited drugs - you should do so with discretion. My best advice is in fact not to do it at all if you are inexperienced or in any doubt about what effects the drugs will have. Once again, the best thing to do is be fully aware of what effects the drugs and the combination will have, and then you can make your own decisions. So although I'm no expert on some of these combinations, here's the information. The simple advice is that if you are taking any medication, use cannabis with extreme discretion or not at all. You may not feel comfortable asking for medical advice, but many GPs, at least in Britain, will be honest about the compatibility of cannabis with your medication. (For more information on cannabis and medical issues, click here.) In my own experience I've used cannabis quite safely with a codeine-based painkiller when I had a bad tooth a few years back, but haven't had any personal experience with anything stronger or which deals with more complex conditions. Any information would be welcome, however: click here to mail me. Back to the top The main legal drug which has a mixing issue is alcohol, though first let me deal with some others, particularly aromatic oils, which in strong forms can have certain effects which the cannabis user needs to be aware of.  |
Information on oils taken from F. Watson, Aromatherapy blends and remedies, 1995, HarperCollins. |
Some oils have hypotensive effects, meaning that they reduce blood pressure. As cannabis also does this, too strong a combination of the two might make you feel faint or actually pass out. The feelings of panic and paranoia which can come about because of increased heart rate will also be increased. Hypotensive oils include geranium, marjoram, clary sage, lemon and ylang-ylang. On the other hand, hypertensive oils increase the blood pressure when it is too low, and cannabis can here have a balancing effect: hypertensive oils include rosemary, camphor, thyme and cumin. More important is the combination with alcohol - one of the easiest drugs to get hold of, and one of the most damaging both mentally and physically, but hey, that's politics. The main rule to remember is this - if you are very drunk, and you have your first spliff of the evening, you will get sick. Mixing cannabis and alcohol works quite well if you take them in combination, in other words, balance your intake of them throughout the evening. Smoking cannabis first will more than likely put you off drinking too much. However, if you take too much of either, you are more likely to feel nauseous. If this happens, stop smoking and/or drinking straight away - carrying on will be stupid, and you'll regret it. Back to the top Again, best advice is to avoid it except with great discretion. As cannabis is a "downer", it can act to combat "uppers" such as amphetamines or Ecstasy, but piling on further doses of any drug is a lot less good for you than just stopping your intake. It's up to you, though. However, there's nothing actively dangerous in the combination of cannabis with any other drug: nothing you can do with cannabis compares, for instance, to the potentially fatal combination of alcohol and heroin. It's really all in the amount, so if you're going to mix them, be careful. Back to the top |