DOSE:

4 mg

smoked

JWH-018

(powder / crystals)

BODY WEIGHT:

170 lb

I just recently heard of JWH-018 from a friend on Facebook, and I decided it merited checking out. A legal synthetic cannabinoid four to five times more potent than THC? Yes, I'll read more about that.

I did as much online research on it as I could (the amount of data on it seems pretty limited--I'm providing this experience as another first-hand report for those of you looking for information.) I deliberated whether it would be worth the price of buying it from an online retailer, and I had concerns about potential long-term effects given the lack of research. I decided to take a gamble and finally go ahead and buy it online, as it is about 20 times more cost effective per dose than cannabis. As for the potential personal damage, given that it has been present in Spice products since 2002 (and has thus been smoked since then with no reported harms over that 7-year period,) and given the general positive slant of the most reputable information I could find, I decided that I would be willing to give it a shot a couple of times at least.

I received my .59g of >99.7% JWH-018 in the mail within three days of ordering it. The sample I received was a white powder with just the slightest tinge of a cream color. The smell is rather chemically; it reminds me in consistency, color, and smell of good Molly if you've ever had the pleasure of meeting her.

Weighing it was tricky. I have a 100th-of-a-gram scale, but that is still way too large an amount for one dose, from what I've read. I managed to weigh out 0.15g, and my technique of paring it down was to arrange it into a symmetrical clump with a knife, then divide it in half as best as I could. Logically, then I would have two clumps of about 0.075g each. Cutting one of them in half yielded two more clumps of about 0.0375g each. Continuing this eyeballing process another three times gave me theoretically .0047 grams, and expecting that I lost some to my sheet of waxed paper and approximations, I rounded down to 4mg. [Erowid Note: Two samples of powder (even of the same chemical) with equivalent volumes won't necessarily weigh the same. For this reason, eyeballing is an inaccurate and potentially dangerous method of measuring, particularly for substances that are active in very small amounts. See this article on The Importance of Measured Doses.] .

I cleaned my favorite cannabis pipe thoroughly so that I would have a pretty pure experience, and I used a fresh screen. The JWH-018 seemed just clumpy enough to sit on the screen without falling through, which was good, as I was concerned it may not be that simple. I used a match to light it, I inhaled, and I took a hit that would have cleared probably a tiny portion of a normal bowl, but I inhaled fully. While holding it in, I examined the bowl to see that the screen was entirely empty with only a little black mark to show for what had just been a tiny bit of white powder--I wondered if I had just drawn the powder through the screen. When I exhaled, though, I was surprised to find that my lungs had been filled with smoke--I had as much smoke in my lungs as one expects to have after an epic bong rip. The lesson I gleaned from this is the JWH-018 smoke is entirely painless: my lungs don't want to leap through my esophagus and take a bath to rid themselves of their painful assailant as they do when I smoke a large amount of cannabis.

With that one hit complete I thought to myself, 'Well, that's that,' and proceeded to clean up the area I used to apportion the goods. The ceremony of 'smoking a bowl' is definitely lacking with JWH-018. As I was putting the remaining powder back in its baggy, it suddenly hit me, strongly. I was really stoned, really quickly. I remember having a dopey smile on my face and just thinking 'whoa,' to myself on repeat as I finished cleaning up. I proceeded to my room where I sat down and just kind of melted back. I would say the high was almost a little more trippy for me than cannabis: not in terms of visuals, but in terms of logic distortion and general state of mind. I do not recall any profundity (such as I feel from LSD or psilocybin,) but I do remember feeling the same sort of out-of-nowhere creativity that I feel with cannabis.

One of the aspects about JWH-018 that I read repeatedly is that people are especially prone (particularly with high doses) to getting anxious and paranoid. I prepared myself for this ahead of time with the plan to 'just chill out' if that happens, as that is how I resolve similar issues with cannabis or other psychedelics. I found as I was melting into my chair that I started thinking about some of my everyday stresses, and the thought process definitely started making me anxious. Recognizing this, I decided to just sit back, ride the high, and maybe play some Super Nintendo to get my mind on other things.

While playing Gradius III I noticed my first major difference from a cannabis high. My coordination seemed shot. Granted, I was playing on an emulator, so I was using my computer keyboard as a controller, but generally that isn't an issue. I was simply unable to play--I couldn't figure out/remember which button was which, and I was hardly able to navigate the mapping menu to map the buttons to keys on the keyboard. Having to manage moving around the screen, shooting oncoming alien robot-spaceships, and using powerups was just a little too much, but I could probably manage that just fine in a normal cannabis-baked situation.

I moved onto another game (HyperZone) that involved just dodging and shooting--no pesky powerups. I found that I did pretty well with this: reflexes were fine, and with fewer controls to manage, the game was great.

Getting bored with (read: having lost at) HyperZone, I was suddenly hit with INTENSE munchies. I succumbed with no argument to the urges and obliterated an entire bag of chips, two brownies, and some crackers before I realized what I had done. Although I didn't have dinner (I had a very late lunch,) I feel like these munchies were more intense than a usual cannabis bout.

I started this experience at 10:17 pm on a Tuesday evening (meaning I had class the next day,) and after all the video games and munching, it was about 12:20 am. I started a movie and got into bed. Interestingly, I already felt the high wearing off. I read that for some it is longer lasting that cannabis, but after about t+2.0 hours, I had settled into a movie and after about t+3.0 hours I just felt tired with a mild hint of stonedness. For me with this experience, the high was actually a little briefer than cannabis.

I fell blithely asleep, slept very soundly, and awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and great. My overall experience with JWH-018 was very positive. Although there were mild differences in flavor with the high, it was very similar to a strong cannabis. The best part (for now at least, in December 2009 in the US) is that it is much cheaper than cannabis.

My only concern with the substance is the lack of readily available, in-depth research. I will probably experiment with it a couple more times in a couple of more adventuresome settings (and definitely with friends,) and then I will let my stash sit tucked away while I let the research unfold and return to my more natural and longer-time green friend to get myself stoned.

Exp Year: 2009	ExpID: 82668
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 21
Published: Feb 15, 2010	Views: 30,433
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JWH-018 (483) : Glowing Experiences (4), First Times (2), Alone (16)