High score – My first experience gaming while high.
I’m probably a poster child for the effectiveness of the anti-drug campaigns of my youth. I never once took any illegal substance and could probably count the times I had any alcohol through my teens on one hand. And while I’m an avid beer drinker now (in my thirties), I’d still never really delved into the world of marijuana. Yes, it’s legal here in Washington and billboards advertise it on every major freeway. Up until very recently, I just couldn’t shake my school program fueled disdain of the substance. Finally, curiosity got the better of me.
I’ve been on a mission to get my Destiny Age of Triumph T-shirt, but that’s required a ton of PvP activity. I’m bad at the crucible. Like reeeeaaal bad. I also tend to take everything way too personally (they clearly have it out for me, specifically) and get pretty angry. So instead of throwing a controller through my screen, I figured why not give this whole getting high thing a try? Anything that’d keep me mellow while I endure match after match of a sub 1.0 k/d ratio is worth a go, right? Which then left me to figure out just how in the world to best get stoned. Turns out, like with all of life’s mysteries, Google is a big help in that department.
The trials of purchasing
On a sunny Saturday morning, I took a walk to my local pot shop. I walked so I could catch Pokemon along the way and work off the nervousness of barging into a place I didn’t even remotely understand and requesting their finest reefer. (I had no clue what I was doing.) Thankfully, most of my terror vanished as soon as I was through the door. This place has the absolute friendliest staff I could have asked for. After checking my ID, the lady behind the counter complimented my New California Republic shirt and started talking about New Vegas. Turns out, that’s about all it takes to put me at ease. After I admitted how green I was at all of this, she helped me pick out some edibles since I’m still pretty firmly against smoking. (I swear I ate up every scare campaign they fed to me in school.) She gave me a quick rundown of dos and don’ts with the biggest being not to assume it’s not working and take more unless it’s been a couple of hours since my first dose. I’ve heard similar things from friends who ended up stuck on a couch for the better part of a day. So it’s advice that should definitely be followed.
The experience
I made my way back home with my illicit (read: completely legal) purchase concealed in a paper bag which I may have been gripping a little too tightly. I settled on chocolates from Evergreen Herbal since I do love me some junk food. As soon as I got home, I opened the package and munched some of the cannabis candy. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t have any sort of weed taste to it. (I haven’t smoked, but I have been to concerts.) That left me with some time to kill until the effects set in. I certainly knew when I’d waited long enough by the not-quite-drunk feeling and my sudden inability to concentrate on reading. It was time to get my game on.
I jumped into the crucible after staring at my vault a little too long during my stop at the Tower. I’d say that I want to apologize to all the teams that ended up with me, but I honestly didn’t do any worse than normal. I felt like I got into a kind of flow at one point, but that might have been in my head. In total, I ended up playing eight rounds of Rift during my experiment. I only know that now after looking at my PVP stats page since everything blended together at the time.
It was as a good a time as I’ve ever had in the crucible. The experience was kind of like being drunk without the slurring speech and uncomfortably full stomach or bladder. I had a hard time focusing on my objectives and my reactions were certainly slower than normal. At the same time, I didn’t care nearly as much and so I didn’t feel the stress I normally would. Though a few times I definitely found myself spacing out while walking into a wall because my thoughts had wandered. I get the feeling that if I were playing an RPG, I’d have likely ended up taking a nap in my chair. Getting regularly blown up was what kept me grounded and coming back to the present. After an hour and a half or so of playing, I had to give up because my mind was no longer anywhere near the game.
Regardless, I found myself being way more chill than usual. Not only did I not throw my controller, I kind of enjoyed myself thanks to being so relaxed.
There were, however, a couple of downsides.
Some words of warning
Folks, when you’ve never been high before, it’s probably a good idea to do so around friends. I took this fantastic voyage solo and hit some patches of rough sailing. I was not prepared with snacks on hand because getting the munchies is just so cliche. The problem with having your mind altering substance in candy form is that once you’re looking for something to snack on, they start looking real appealing. What harm could just one more piece do? It’d taste soooo goooood! Thankfully, I resisted the urge and went out in search of food. While stoned. Because that’s a great plan.
The other problem was the heightened sense of paranoia. Clearly, everyone around me knew that I was messed up and they were all judging me. They might have been judging me more because my plan to get a sandwich was replaced by a king size candy bar and a bag of Australian licorice. What I’m saying is you should really plan ahead when trying something like this for the first time.
High score!
I’m told that a product containing CBD would help with the anxiety/paranoia side of things, but it was really only an issue when I was walking around. On the whole, it was a pretty cool experience, and I did manage to get through most of the stuff I needed. But weed’s not something that I’m going to start using regularly. Gaming while high is more of a once in awhile thing that I might treat myself to if I’m incredibly stressed and need to chill. I have no idea how people do it on a regular basis. The effects from the edibles lasted several hours, so having nothing to do for the rest of the afternoon is a must. If you’re someone that’s always been curious but, like me, saw too many PSAs growing up, it’s probably worth getting over the anxiety and trying. However, I’ll stick with a beer or glass of whiskey as my regular gaming vice instead of something that’s going to leave me stoned for a couple hours.
