- seCtIon FIVe: BoRDeRLAnDs
Describing the subjective effects of cannabis is not easy, partly because ‘Most
people cannot find the words to explain their sensations’ (Earleywine, 2002, p.
98) and partly because the effects differ so widely from person to person. Some
people become self-conscious, disorientated, and paranoid and are disinclined to
repeat their experience, while others experience delight, novelty, insight, or just
relaxation and go on to strike up a positive, sometimes lifelong, relationship with
the drug (Sagan, 1971). Nevertheless, research has revealed some typical effects.
In the first major survey of cannabis use, Tart (1971) asked over 200 questions of
150 people, mostly Californian students, who had used the drug at least a dozen
times. Other studies have subsequently administered cannabis, or just THC, in the
laboratory and recorded the effects.
Users report many emotional effects, including euphoria and relaxation at lower
doses, and fear and paranoia at higher doses. Sensory effects include enhance-
ment of all the senses, enhanced depth perception, increased sexual respon-
siveness and enjoyment, slowing of time, widening of space, and a focus on the
present. Synaesthesia is sometimes reported at high doses. Openness to expe-
rience increases and some people find a sense of the sacred or divine. Memory,
especially short-term memory, is often felt to be impaired. Creative thought and
personal insight are often reported, but so are mental fogginess, slowed thinking,
and inability to read.
Laboratory studies show that the perceived effects on memory are roughly accu-
rate, with short-term memory severely disrupted while episodic and semantic
memory remain generally good. On the other hand, the enjoyable experience
of enhancement of the senses is not supported by objective tests: ‘people think
marijuana can enhance some visual processes, and laboratory research suggests
it actually impairs some of them’ (Earleywine, 2002, p. 105). Planning, problem-
solving, decision- making, and basic motor coordination are also affected (Crean
et al., 2011). There is also some evidence for longer-term effects on brain develop-
ment (especially neural connectivity in particular areas such as the precuneus and
fimbria) and on other aspects of physical and mental health (Volkow et al., 2014),
but this evidence is almost exclusively correlational rather than demonstrating
causation. Varieties of cannabis vary in ingredients and effects. For example, can-
nabidiol (CBD) is found at high levels in natural cannabis but much lower levels
in modern skunk varieties bred to fetch high prices on the illegal market. Some
studies suggest that CBD may protect against some of the harmful effects of THC
(Niesink and van Laar, 2013).
She was sorry, and rather revolted at his dirty hands, but she
laughed in a well-bred way, as though it were nothing unusual to
her to watch a man walking in a slow dream. Often people display
a curious respect for a man drunk, rather like the respect of simple
races for the insane. Respect rather than fear. There is something
awe-inspiring in one who has lost all inhibitions, who will do any-
thing. Of course we make him pay afterward for his moment of
superiority, his moment of impressiveness.IS THIS MY
NORMAL STATE OF
CONSCIOUSNESS?