DOSE: T+ 0:00	25 mg	oral	Cannabidiol	(edible / food)
T+ 2:00	12 oz	oral	Alcohol - Beer/Wine

BODY WEIGHT:

140 lb

The last few weeks have been pretty tense. I've been trying to secure a work permit, but the paperwork has grown a lot more intensive since I last worked overseas and the timeframe to gather it all is a lot tighter than I would have liked. I've been looking for a means to cope with the stress, something that's healthier than bourbon whiskey. Kava doesn't seem to be terribly effective so I've turned to cannabidiol as a possible answer. It's stupidly controversial in this backwards state of mine but there are still plenty of places to buy it, including a little storefront clinic a few blocks away whose staff were happy to help me out.

+0:00 - 25mg oral, in the form of a cinnamon-flavored gummi heart. Foretaste is like any other candy; there is a slight unpleasant aftertaste, though it's not as bad as I was expecting (and certainly not as rough as raw kava).

+0:45 - I'm not yet sure if the dose is having any effect - I do feel very calm, but it's subtle enough that it could be psychosomatic. I've also been yawning a lot, but this, too, could be due to expectations. Out of curiosity, I take my pulse and find that it's actually slightly slower than my normal resting rate. Breathing is a bit slower, too. These objective measures would suggest that the CBD is having some real effect.

+1:00 - I crawl onto the loveseat and pretty much merge with it for the next half-hour or so. While I remain awake for the period, all of my muscles are totally relaxed, and this is not something that comes easily to me. My thought are moving with a bit more ease, and even when stressors pass through my mind I find that my anxiety is blunted. When I finally wrench myself free of the couch, I feel as though I've awoken from a power nap.

+2:00 - Dinner time. Despite the professed effects, the CBD isn't really giving me a special appetite, but it's not upsetting my stomach either. It's a fairly heavy meal by my standards - chicken and crab rangoon with a Stella Artois - and it sits quite nicely.

+2:45 - By this point, my resting pulse is returning to normal. My initial assumption is that the effect is wearing off, which is a bit of a disappointment.

+3:30 - Suddenly, I am VERY tired despite it still being quite early. Perhaps this is an interaction between the CBD and something I ate (or food in general), as it's potent enough that I can't write it off as mere expectation. I hit the loveseat and chill for another forty-five minutes, wishing that I could relax this easily at night.

+7:00 - Drowsiness sets in. This is around the time I go to bed if I have to work the next day, so it's appropriate and appreciated, especially since I hadn't really felt much of anything in hours and haven't taken anything else. Sleep comes with some pretty odd dreams, though no weirder than what I would get with a therapeutic dose of diphenhydramine.

CONCLUSION: CBD is a tricky beast to analyze. Despite its source, it is a medical product and not a recreational drug, so I can't really judge it by the same standards as a psychedelic chemical. Now, judging it as a medicine, I'm really of two minds. On one hand, the objective effects on my pulse and respiration rate suggest that there's something to it, and it's hard not to get excited about an easily obtained anxiolytic and sleep aid that has no obvious side effects. On the other hand, it's a little pricey to use on a regular basis, especially given how mild it is. I probably should have tried it on a more stressful day so that the effects would be easier to gauge, as it's very subtle when I'm calm to begin with.

Despite my reservations, I probably will have cause to use CBD again. If nothing else, it's clearly superior to kava as an anti-anxiety agent, which should make it a useful companion in psychedelic exploration.

Exp Year: 2018	ExpID: 111594
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 31
Published: Feb 14, 2018	Views: 19,507
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Cannabidiol (596) : Combinations (3), Medical Use (47), Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), General (1), Alone (16)