Whenever I see descriptions of strains and how they will make you feel — the whole indica/sativa/hybrid divide, you know the deal — I feel like we’re really just perpetuating ignorance.
It’s been pretty well established at this point (at least among the initiated) that the whole indica/sativa debate isn’t the best indicator of how a cannabis strain will make you feel. Whether a plant is indica or sativa is more about the landraces of the strains. More on this in a previous blog post entitled Indica vs. Sativa: Does it Really Matter? The Great Divide.
Entourage Effect
Now, it’s worth mentioning that the entourage effect is real — and that we don’t fully understand it. Let me explain. There are over 100 phytocannabinoids identified to date, along with other factors like terpenes that we also believe affect user experience. One of the notable interactions between phytocannabinoids is that CBD will actually counteract the effects of THC.
Often, you’ll hear that if you eat too many edibles you should take CBD to keep you from being quite so high. Well, that is one interaction between two phytocannabinoids. So we don’t really know the implications of how over one hundred phytocannabinoids will interact with each other.
Personal Physiology
Secondly, your personal physiology is more important than the strain you consume — and I have countless experiences with medical patients as a caregiver in Colorado that reinforce that position — but that still isn’t the number one factor. What’s funny is that no one talks about the number one factor, even though I think most people would agree with me. Drumroll please…
So What is the Number One thing?
The number one factor is your personal state of mind when you consume, and no one will ever convince me otherwise. Think about this for a second. When you’ve had a stressful day at work and you come home and smoke to take your mind off it and relax — can you actually relax if you get really stoned? Maybe you can, but I doubt it. If you’re anything like me, you’ll probably smoke, get really deep into thought (especially if you smoke too much), and spend your time not relaxing, but rehashing over and over what happened at work and how you can fix it. Now, going back to personal physiology, not everyone will do that, but I think overthinking is generally part of the human condition — especially when we consume too much cannabis.
Now let me pose a different situation. Let’s say you get home from work as a salesperson after closing a huge sale you’ve been working on for months, and you smoke the very same strain that made you overthink and stress about your shitty day at work. Well, the feeling is going to be very different even though you’re smoking the exact same herb. You’re probably going to be feeling very good about yourself and very accomplished. You want to reflect on the day and all the hard work that got you to that successful place — as opposed to the first scenario where you hoped you could forget the day by smoking but just couldn’t.
First Time Smokers
I feel for the people who have only consumed cannabis once, and it was during a very stressful time in their life, and they came to the conclusion that cannabis just makes them anxious, so they never try it again. We’ve probably all met someone like that. Don’t get me wrong — some people just don’t like to consume and that’s totally fine. But when people tell me they “hate it,” I think there’s more to the story than that. We all have an endocannabinoid system and are, in a way, hardwired to get high.
One love.
