cannabis and constitution

December 25, 2000

When I first got interested in natural healthcare, it was because I had

spent too much time partying in college about 20 years ago. So my

experiences with drug culture are somewhat behind me in that I have not

moved in such circles for a long time. However, I was acutely aware of

differences in individual experience at that time. One of my best

college buddies was a high school wrestler and soccer star. He was a

very physical person who had no time for intellectual conversation or

spiritual practices. He was also a talented artist, not so much

creative, but rather able to perfectly duplicate the artwork of others.

He used to copy very intricate album covers (anyone remember those) from

heavy metal and rock bands. One of things I came to notice about this

fellow early on was that he never got sick, never got tired, never even

got a hangover. He would stay out till 3 am and wake up and landscape

for 12 hours then party again. I, on the other hand, had frequent colds

living this lifestyle, had horrible hangovers and was forever lacking

enough vitality. I was raised in a sedentary lifestyle, overly

intellectual, low quality food. My friend was raised with constant

sports and his family grew most of their own food. At the time, I was

not aware of this, but he probably had more jing and a much stronger

spleen qi.

When we smoked pot, we had very different effects. I would get a bit

anxious, sit around and talk, listen to music, etc. This culminated in

strong hunger. My friend would want to play sports like soccer and

frisbee, which he could do for hours after smoking pot. And he was no

uncoordinated slouch. To this day, I have never meant a more perfect

physical specimen. He excelled at all sports. He was both extremely

fast, agile and strong. He never had any trouble lifting a full keg of

beer onto his shoulders and carrying it up 3 flights by himself, despite

bing only 5'8 " and 165 lbs. When we tossed a frisbee on the roof of our

dorm, he would scale the brick wall like a lizard to retrieve it. He

could walk out on narrow tree limbs high above the ground and he could

jump 20 feet to the ground and land like a cat. And all this while

being stoned. If he was not doing this, he was painting huge murals on

dorm walls. Most remarkably perhaps, was that smoking pot did not seem

to consume his yin to cause hunger. I always wanted to eat soon after

smoking, but my friend did not respond this way. While he had strong

appetite, he basically ate 2-3 big meals per day and didn't snack or get

the " munchies " . I now attribute this to his abundant essence and his

powerful spleen. While this lifestyle may have ultimately caught up

with him, it was not apparent at the time, much to my chagrin.

However, I think his response to cannabis also reflected stimulation of

ministerial fire, but his innate constitution played a large role in how

this played out in the form of physical activity. I would suspect that

many folks who smoked pot in high school were more of the maladjusted

introverted types. Outgoing, popular athletes were often very against

pot in my high school. Most of my other friends at college experienced

pot more like me. But my good friend who shared the same set and

setting and cultural experiences responded much differently. If you

have never spent much time with born athletes with abundant jing, then

perhaps one's observations about the effects of cannabis become skewed

by the innate constitutions of the those whom we observe. I haven't

hung out with jocks much of my life, but I have sometimes moved in these

circles and have often observed similarities to my college friend in

cannabis response. It was actually observations such as these that led

me to embrace TCM as it seemed to offer an explanation for these

differences that was missing from both western medicine and naturopathy

and psychedelic theorists like Weil and Leary.

--

Chinese Herbal Medicine

December 25, 2000

My experience was quite similar, back in my teens. First, I started young,

at 14 yrs old, stopped when I was 17-18. Marijuana was really a 'head'

medicinal for me, it helped me to enjoy music and science fiction books even

more, also movies like '2001'. However, it took all desire for physical

activity away. This was during the flowering of the late 60's and early

70's. I quickly got into Hermann Hesse, Leary, Ram Dass, and anything

spiritual I could get my hands on. It also, perhaps most significantly,

turned a city boy into a country boy. I really tuned into the earth, and

discovered the power of plants. I started with organic food at 16-17 yrs of

age (continuing today), and experimenting with herbs such as ginseng and the

famous 'mu tea' (which was all Chinese herbs). I also discovered yoga

(still practicing today), macrobiotics and Eastern culture. As I became

involved with these things, my desire for psychedelics and marijuana faded.

I found pot to make me more and more paranoid, weak physically, spacy and

shaky, without the insights I had earlier. The good food and yoga seemed to

keep me in a good head space by itself, and moving to Colorado from New York

really helped.

I know other people who didn't get so spacy and paranoid, in fact, some have

been smoking for years. Again, constitutional factors have something to do

with this, obviously. As Todd mentioned, it was the jocks who were against

pot at first, and called us intellectual hippies 'heads'. They liked to

drink instead. Surprisingly, these 'greasers', as we called them, embraced

pot, long hair and the rock music a few years later.

The few occasions I tried pot in the last 30 years were always the same. .

..spacy distracted and unproductive. So I've never really wanted to

experiment again.

The upshot is that different people do react differently to medicinal

substances.

on 12/25/00 12:11 PM, Todd at wrote:

> When we smoked pot, we had very different effects. I would get a bit

> anxious, sit around and talk, listen to music, etc. This culminated in

> strong hunger. My friend would want to play sports like soccer and

> frisbee, which he could do for hours after smoking pot. And he was no

> uncoordinated slouch. To this day, I have never meant a more perfect

> physical specimen. He excelled at all sports. He was both extremely

> fast, agile and strong. He never had any trouble lifting a full keg of

> beer onto his shoulders and carrying it up 3 flights by himself, despite

> bing only 5'8 " and 165 lbs. When we tossed a frisbee on the roof of our

> dorm, he would scale the brick wall like a lizard to retrieve it. He

> could walk out on narrow tree limbs high above the ground and he could

> jump 20 feet to the ground and land like a cat. And all this while

> being stoned. If he was not doing this, he was painting huge murals on

> dorm walls. Most remarkably perhaps, was that smoking pot did not seem

> to consume his yin to cause hunger. I always wanted to eat soon after

> smoking, but my friend did not respond this way. While he had strong

> appetite, he basically ate 2-3 big meals per day and didn't snack or get

> the " munchies " . I now attribute this to his abundant essence and his

> powerful spleen. While this lifestyle may have ultimately caught up

> with him, it was not apparent at the time, much to my chagrin.

December 25, 2000

When we smoked pot, we had very different effects. I would get a bitanxious, sit around and talk, listen to music, etc. This culminated instrong hunger. My friend would want to play sports like soccer andfrisbee, which he could do for hours after smoking pot. And he was nouncoordinated slouch.

>>>>>This reminds me of a friend I have that became a surgeon, however eventually got in trouble with crack, which did affect his health both mental and physical

Alon

-

cha

Monday, December 25, 2000 12:11 PM

cannabis and constitution

When I first got interested in natural healthcare, it was because I hadspent too much time partying in college about 20 years ago. So myexperiences with drug culture are somewhat behind me in that I have notmoved in such circles for a long time. However, I was acutely aware ofdifferences in individual experience at that time. One of my bestcollege buddies was a high school wrestler and soccer star. He was avery physical person who had no time for intellectual conversation orspiritual practices. He was also a talented artist, not so muchcreative, but rather able to perfectly duplicate the artwork of others.He used to copy very intricate album covers (anyone remember those) fromheavy metal and rock bands. One of things I came to notice about thisfellow early on was that he never got sick, never got tired, never evengot a hangover. He would stay out till 3 am and wake up and landscapefor 12 hours then party again. I, on the other hand, had frequent coldsliving this lifestyle, had horrible hangovers and was forever lackingenough vitality. I was raised in a sedentary lifestyle, overlyintellectual, low quality food. My friend was raised with constantsports and his family grew most of their own food. At the time, I wasnot aware of this, but he probably had more jing and a much strongerspleen qi.When we smoked pot, we had very different effects. I would get a bitanxious, sit around and talk, listen to music, etc. This culminated instrong hunger. My friend would want to play sports like soccer andfrisbee, which he could do for hours after smoking pot. And he was nouncoordinated slouch. To this day, I have never meant a more perfectphysical specimen. He excelled at all sports. He was both extremelyfast, agile and strong. He never had any trouble lifting a full keg ofbeer onto his shoulders and carrying it up 3 flights by himself, despitebing only 5'8" and 165 lbs. When we tossed a frisbee on the roof of ourdorm, he would scale the brick wall like a lizard to retrieve it. Hecould walk out on narrow tree limbs high above the ground and he couldjump 20 feet to the ground and land like a cat. And all this whilebeing stoned. If he was not doing this, he was painting huge murals ondorm walls. Most remarkably perhaps, was that smoking pot did not seemto consume his yin to cause hunger. I always wanted to eat soon aftersmoking, but my friend did not respond this way. While he had strongappetite, he basically ate 2-3 big meals per day and didn't snack or getthe "munchies". I now attribute this to his abundant essence and hispowerful spleen. While this lifestyle may have ultimately caught upwith him, it was not apparent at the time, much to my chagrin.However, I think his response to cannabis also reflected stimulation ofministerial fire, but his innate constitution played a large role in howthis played out in the form of physical activity. I would suspect thatmany folks who smoked pot in high school were more of the maladjustedintroverted types. Outgoing, popular athletes were often very againstpot in my high school. Most of my other friends at college experiencedpot more like me. But my good friend who shared the same set andsetting and cultural experiences responded much differently. If youhave never spent much time with born athletes with abundant jing, thenperhaps one's observations about the effects of cannabis become skewedby the innate constitutions of the those whom we observe. I haven'thung out with jocks much of my life, but I have sometimes moved in thesecircles and have often observed similarities to my college friend incannabis response. It was actually observations such as these that ledme to embrace TCM as it seemed to offer an explanation for thesedifferences that was missing from both western medicine and naturopathyand psychedelic theorists like Weil and Leary.--DirectorChinese Herbal Medicinehttp://www..orgChinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education.