Hey, it's me again! I have an update to share about a blog post I wrote back in November of 2023 about my experience with marijuana edibles. As you remember, that blog detailed a sudden bad experience I had with THC despite having no issues before it. I now know what caused that unusual bout of depression it brought on.
I want to preface this blog by saying I'm not a drug user. I enjoy and am one with nature, and this includes natural plants and fungi that are used responsibly for therapeutic purposes. After many years of research and activism, marijuana has finally been recognized and, in some US states, legalized for its medicinal properties, and in some parts of the country, psilocybin (the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms) has even begun to become decriminalized for therapeutic use. I enjoy mushrooms on rare occasions and I take THC edibles in moderation and in small doses of 10mg. I do not use, support, or condone illegal/narcotic drugs, nor do I smoke or vape. There are different chemical variants, known officially as isomers, of THC available today. Isomers are compounds that share an identical chemical formula but are arranged differently, and this new structure results in new pharmacological properties that can result in a different experience depending on the user. Delta-9, the psychoactive compound of cannabis, is the most common and well-known form of THC, and there's also a more mild variant known as delta-8. The latest and least-studied version is delta-10, and here's where my experimentation took a turn for the worst. As a teenager I smoked weed, and I have no recollection of ever suffering depression from it. This was the regular, cannabis-derived delta-9 THC that everyone is familiar with. I quit smoking over 10 years ago in order to live a healthier life, which effectively ended my use of marijuana. Then marijuana began to see legalization in parts of the country and edible versions of it started becoming popular. I was curious to revisit marijuana after 10 years because of the research supporting its therapeutic properties and because eating it was a healthier alternative to smoking. The important fact about this rise in edible marijuana products is that the legal versions of it are hemp-derived, not cannabis-derived. This means that in order to get around a legal loophole and sell them in states that don't allow medical marijuana and ship them anywhere online, they must be chemically synthesized from hemp instead of naturally derive from cannabis. I had no negative experiences with the cannabis-derived delta-9 gummies I tried. However, shortly after using a hemp-derived delta-10 variant, I began to experience a sudden onset of depression out of nowhere. I don't have depression, so I was confused about where it was coming from since everything in life was going so well for me, and the only recent change I had made was the new edibles. I pinpointed that as the cause, but in my previous blog post, I made it sound like marijuana in general was to blame. I now want to clarify it was simply my reaction to a specific variant of THC edibles. For some reason, the delta-10 had an adverse effect on me. I recall a time before that experience where someone had given me a bag of THC gummy bears that had resulted in the same depressing effect and I ended up getting rid of them because of it. I'm guessing those may have been chemically altered and hemp-derived as well. Online research tells me that delta-10 is mostly produced in a laboratory, converting hemp-derived CBD artificially into delta-10 using chemical solvents and acids. They call this synthetic process "isomerization." Delta-8, as well as legal delta-9, is also produced in a similar way. While it occurs naturally, there's only a trace amount of delta-8 and delta-10 in cannabis plants, so they have to chemically convert CBD or delta-9 THC into a higher amount of delta-8 or 10 in order to raise its level while staying compliant of the law. These processes are done so marijuana can legally be sold as a loophole since these variants are hemp-derived and contain less than the legal limit of delta-9 THC. It's strongly recommended you only purchase laboratory-tested THC products because chemical impurities could be present in what you're ingesting if it's from an unqualified source and this could cause harmful effects on you. Homemade edibles should always be carefully considered for this reason. Like all things prescribed or enjoyed for medicinal or therapeutic purposes, marijuana and its different variants could either have a positive, neutral, or negative effect depending on the person. We all react differently to different things, and it's important to be careful about what medicines and substances you experiment with, even if it's natural or prescribed to you. I wanted to write this blog to clear marijuana's name after blaming it for the dark depression I momentarily experienced last year. Marijuana is nature, and of the earth. Humans messing with it using chemical compounds and synthetic processes in order to avoid legal ramifications are what caused the adverse effect in me. I support the use of unadulterated marijuana for medicinal or moderate recreational purposes, and I hope one day the legislative war on this plant will finally be over so future negative reactions can be avoided.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
|