I have smoked weeds exactly once in my life and I hated it.
I was a beginner to college and the experience, full of intense feelings of panic and paranoia, meant that it would not be another ten years before I flirted with marijuana again, this time in the form of some nibbles of a weed cake. While I escaped all the negative side effects from my first experience, I was so Cool that I was practically glued on a chair for hours. It was not a feeling that I loved, and I concluded that marijuana in some form probably wasn’t for me.
So when my friends found out that I started drinking THC drinks – Contains the same active ingredient in marijuana that will get you high – they were floored. I had seen THC drink options appear at some local restaurant menus, which got a rabbit expedition to learn more about them and then led me to try them.
Promise to get a Buzz Sans liquor appealed to me. Like someone who likes a glass of wine a few nights a week to unwind, but who also tries to lose a few pounds and become more health-conscious, it seemed like drinking a THC drink could kill two birds with a stone.
Through attempts and errors I have found to have 2-3 milligrams THC in combination with 4-5 milligrams of CBD Makes me feel that I have had a pretty huge glass of wine. I get the same type of headbuzz as I would with wine-in addition without sleep disorders or the subsequent morning draw.
My friends were fascinated, but the general consensus seemed to be that they were afraid to try them. I threw out an idea to the group: with our next Book Club meeting Would they like to try the THC drinks together? There would be security in number, and having a shared experience can make those who were curious more receptive to try. The answer was then overwhelming yes.
Until the book club there was a certain level of scams among the group. And at night I came a little early to ice down the drinks. I had promised everyone that I would bring a low dose option to try to mitigate any potentials for someone to experience unpleasant side effects from having too much.
As we sat gathered around, some with different flavors of Edge In our hand and some chose just to observe, it struck me that we acted exactly like high school students on the way to get their first bang of alcohol at a big house party.
I remember my first drink, kept a Smirnoff -is and excited by the prospect of trying it but also nervous about how it would make me feel. I had asked several other friends’ presence that had already had their virgin drinking what to expect, if I were to be drunk and if I were to be hungover in the morning.
The same questions I had asked over 20 years ago now came to me as the only experienced person in the room. I put questions and concerns about how long it would take to feel an effect (30-40 minutes), how long the effect would last (90 minutes to two hours) and if they would probably enjoy the experience (yes). Deidly, they began to sip their drinks.
When they did, I asked a question: “What would your partner say if you told them you would go with some glasses of wine with your friends?” Predictable were the answers supportive. But the next question made them brush, as I asked, “What would your partner say if you told them you would go a little high with your friends?” I quickly followed it with, “Did you tell your partner that you tried thc drinks tonight?”
I had also asked my husband the same questions. He thought for a second before he admitted that it would make him feel uncomfortable if I told him on the way out the door that I would go and get high with my girlfriends. He could not put his finger on why it was scrubbing and uncomfortable, although he admitted that my usual glass of wine would have a similar effect.
We have made drinking alcohol into a generally accepted social norm, and it is even considered acceptable to sometimes completely exaggerate it when we drink. The pervasive “mother wine culture” means that no one blinks when girlfriends meet to drink some bottles of wine.
THC in some form feels like it still have a heavy stigma Although these industrial hemp drinks are legal in a majority of states. Given the known negative effects of alcohol, it is a frustrating double standard that it is more accepted to drink.
The women admitted that they had been nervous to tell their partners that they would try a THC drink for fear that they would not approve, with someone who told me that she would not tell her husband. Everyone said they would tell their men about drinking any alcoholic with friends, without break
As the night went, they began to feel the effects of the drink. I had been nervous that they would all hate it and that I would feel responsible for destroying their night, so I released a big sigh of relief when the positive reviews came into. They also get excited about the benefits I had put them. And as parents of young children, none of us can afford to feel distant sluggish in the morning.
When it comes to the book club’s discussion itself? Well, we are a book club that probably makes more chats than deep diving, and not everyone reads the book all the time to begin with (hello!), But we had a lively conversation about “James”, a current best seller that transforms the story of Huck Finn.
Our book club tends to become more lively when the second and third glasses of wine meet, with our voices that get higher and higher. This time, however, the discussion was definitely more cold and our tongues were not as loose as they usually are.
Will we meet regularly to drink THC? I bet that, even though I suspect it will take some time to get to that point. In the meantime there will be plenty of New editions to keep us busy.
Elliott Harrell Is a Raleigh, NC-based freelance writer with two little girls who run a sales team a day and write about things she is passionate about, such as women’s health, parenting and food, at night. In addition to PS, her work can be found in evermoma, modernly, business insider, eater and more.
