Sadly, I only vaguely remember the first time. But I do recall I smoked the ganj before I ever even smoked tobacco. I was thirteen, and for some reason, I had just recently opened up to the possibility of smoking anything. I remember we were hanging around the library, and we smoked those little pop horoscopes in the plastic tubes you find in the supermarket. Don't ask me why we decided to try this. I still am baffled by that to this day.
My friend's family were all stoners of Portrugese descent emigrating from California earlier that year. The worst kind of stoners, as well. Dysfunctional, trashy, aggressive, and stupid. Well, when we returned to his house, there were no cigarettes to try, and I wasn't about to smoke their old, disgusting butts. His brother Josh was smoking a joint, and smoke was filling the room. I tried a few hits, but I don't recall it doing too much to me. I remember being in an altered state, but obviously it didn't have much of a lasting effect, because I didn't want to try it again for a number of months, when I started hearing reports about its effects from my other friends.
The second and third time though. Ooooh boy. Being horribly confused, laughing at every normal thing, and even being so messed up on a few occasions that movement made me vomit. It was rare, but it did happen to me a handful of times. Most of the time though, I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I was usually so stoned I could barely tell what was going on around me. I remember a few times where there were distinct visuals (such as vibrant colours, brightened lights, and trails), and distinct audio hallucinations, such as a Smashing Pumpkins song that played so perfectly in my head I swore it was on the radio.
But mostly, I had very powerful moments where I would retreat into my head, and my imagination went wild. That's what I loved about it, and that's what I love about it to this day. Though it is nothing like in those innocent days of youth.
I don't smoke now, but to be perfectly honest, when I smoked up until recently, I still had pretty powerful effects. Not nearly like I did when I first began to blaze, but my tolerance has rarely, if ever, been that significant. I always attributed it to those prolonged periods when I didn't smoke, but even those times I smoked on a very regular basis, it always got to me to some extent. And for that, I'm thankful.
~Ethno
