That's pretty unfortunate, sorry that happened. I smoke flower relatively often (far less than many), twice a week for the last 3 years (date nights with my wife) and have never experienced anything like that. I have on occasion gotten into a negative thought spiral where I start to obsess on some of my perceived poor choices in life but those generally last less than 20 minutes. Generally I start to worry that I don't give my kids enough attention and resolve to do so. In reality though I consider myself a pretty good parent. Instances of this are very rare maybe once every 20 times I smoke and even then they make up only a small portion of the overall period. They are not intense and no wear near panic level, just reflective.

Unscientifically I would recommend maybe next time smoking with someone else, and getting a lower % thc, try for a hybrid strain, a mix of Sativa and Indica. If you go on the website of the dispensary it will list the details. Don't over complicate it, just choose something in the 15% range if available. Then just sit down and watch a comedy or something. Have some snacks available. Only take a couple hits and call it a day. The next week try 3 etc. Its cumulative and can sneak up on you.

Either way good luck :)

Thank you for the suggestions! If I do try again, I will definitely try a flower with the lowest THC concentration available. I certainly don't want to go above 15% after the recent experience. I was reading that THC concentrations in the sixties were around 3%, but I can't find any products at my local dispensary with concentrations less than 14% (!). I'm also considering dividing edibles into very small proportions and gradually increasing the dose each week until I feel something.

It just seems like a surprisingly tricky thing for me to figure out. Another recurring thought I had during the experience is that most people don't feel this way after smoking and that there must be something wrong with me. Maybe that's true, I don't know.

Here is my tip: Search for CBD „only“ flowers. They will often have THC concentrations from 0.5 to 3 %

Why not try to buy some low potency stuff elsewhere? Joint are not good for dosing, since content is not spread evenly. I would recommend pipe for just weed. Or vape oil if you can get hold of it and take just a small hit. Edible effects depends on your stomach so that's not the best for dosing neither.

20-30 mins between hits is too much, if you don't feel anything after 5, max 10 minutes it won't come. You describe it like that, so it contradicts 25 years of my experience though...

It may be true that weed won't be the best for you, depends. I had this experience with few people, it was all just in their head, too much anxiety and fear but that's enough to ruin any trip, anytime. But I would give it another (different) chance before you give up on it completely.

If you have friend who is doing it and you feel comfortable around them, try it with him/her. They can 'guide' you and calm you down if required. Remember, sugar will take trip down if needed (plus it tastes amazing when high). Or most junk food like hamburgers, pizza etc., also an experience above any Michelin * restaurant when sober.

I'm not even sure where I can buy low-potency stuff. Looking online, the lowest at the dispensary where I bought the first thing is around 14%. Sixties THC concentrations were reported to be around 3%. What I'd really like to do is to try 1%, increase to 2%, etc., until I find something that works for me.

Yeah, I know thirty minutes is too long between hits, but I was trying to be as conservative as possible about it. That's why I'm kind of upset that, even being as careful as I was, I still ended up freaking out.

I can't think of anyone I'd feel comfortable smoking with. My wife was sober the entire time, thankfully, and helped a lot. She tried to guide me out of the negativity, but I ended up just feeling like I was too afraid to tell her she wasn't really helping. I did read about the sugar thing beforehand, but in the moment, eating was the last thing I was thinking about. A glass of juice might have helped, in hindsight.

You might be best off with edibles. There you can break down the dose and try incrementally higher doses. I find it's much easier to microdose with them

If you do try it again, then go for a park/forest with less people.

No. Starters should stay inside their own home where they feel safe and comfortable

Agreed. I can’t imagine if I had experienced the above in a public setting. I probably would have required an ambulance to leave.

> The feeling that I would be stuck like this forever - that I had lost my mind and entered some state of irreversible psychosis - persisted for at least an hour while I desperately tried to relax myself.

Prototypical bad trip.

Unless you are a mutant or were not inhaling at all you were certainly ingesting high amounts of THC and were getting higher while not subjectively realizing it. By the 4th hit you were far gone.

Would be like being annoyed that the world was spinning after you drink a 5th of vodka...

But how does such a dramatic change happen when waiting twenty minutes between hits? My wife was also an objective observer of my behavior in between hits and noticed no changes between the first three. The experience after the fourth was extremely different - more than I think one hit could possibly provide. My understanding is that joints and one-hit vaporizers are the best option to "control" how much you are ingesting. My experience, though, is that it did not provide a good amount of control. When I was not accidentally combusting the cannabis, I was unsure if I was inhaling anything from what was supposed to be the "vaporized" amount. Maybe it's because of my lack of consistent and good heating and inhaling practices.

>more than I think one hit could possibly provide.

Most likely right about that.

I know its a very individual experience for people so it seems like you have a higher threshold for "feeling high" and you blew right past it before you noticed. Vaping plant matter is typically a more concentrated way to ingest. If anything I'd try combusting small amounts and gauging your reaction that way. However I know people that get anxious or have panicked previously are more inclined to do so again, you get scared of having a similar experience and prime yourself to do just that.

My understanding is that lungs are an extremely inefficient way to get chemicals other than oxygen into the bloodstream (by specialization of what the lungs are intended to do). Twenty minutes may not be enough time for your lungs. Anecdotally I've known people that don't get high until two hours after their first hit.

Personally, I prefer the efficiency of the stomach and digestion system myself. It seems much more reliable.

Your exact experience is similar to mine. I also worried that I broke my mind and would now suffer from psychosis. Turns out, I had just consumed incredibly potent weed, like you did.