Writer remembers smoking cannabis for the first time

Photo: Contributed

A teenaged David Wylie back in his early pot-smoking days.

The first time I smoked a joint was during a Kris Kross concert at Canada’s Wonderland.

It was the early 1990s and I was a young teenager. A friend of a friend pulled out a badly rolled one-paper pinner during an intermission at the Toronto-area amusement park’s outdoor venue.

The sun was setting and Kris Kross was coming to the stage to get us to ‘jump, jump.’

I remember the weed’s distinctive smell. The three of us took some tokes—me, Aaron, and Neil.

I’d been smoking cigarettes for a few months before this, so I knew to inhale.
“Hold it in,” Aaron told me. I did. I recall the tickle and the uncontrollable urge to cough.

I remember laughing and jumping to hip-hop beats. I’m not 100% sure I felt high that night, but I do know I had a lot of fun.

The following years are a blur and I don’t actually recall the second time I smoked up. Or the third. Or fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh, really. I do remember enjoying weed, very much indeed.

Getting high feels like another plane of being. It’s sensory and messes with the perception of time.

Cannabis experiences also vary and evolve. Weed is personal. It runs the gamut of emotions and effects, everything from euphoria, confusion, enlightenment, inspiration, anxiety, fixation, space, comfort, healing, giggles, etc. Weed is a million different things to a million different people.

Like good days and bad days, we have good highs and bad highs. Back in the day, we didn’t have the overwhelming amount of weed options we do now or the in-depth information about THC, CBD, and terpenes. You just smoked what you had. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it was bad.

If you’ve had a bad experience with weed, it doesn’t mean it will be like that every time. It helps to experiment and find what works. You can try a different way of getting high—drinks, edibles, oils, vapes or joints

There’s a strong consumer bent toward buying the highest THC percentage flower available at the cheapest possible price. Frankly, it’s bad for selection.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking high THC flower. I like to get a good buzz on with the best of you. What I’m saying is, not everything has to be over 20% THC. Lower THC cannabis and balanced CBD ratios are amazing for people who are new to weed or suffer from anxiety. There aren’t many high-CBD, low-THC (or even 1:1) flower offerings on the market.

I’m sometimes asked about what I think is missing from the legal market. That’s a no-brainer—more B.C.-grown craft flower that’s rich in terpenes and ultra-high in CBD. That’s the type of weed I would jump for.

David Wylie is publisher of the oz. In high school he played guitar and video games a lot while stoned. Reach him at [email protected].[email protected]

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.