My experience with cannabis has been both been very limited and very positive. I never used any drugs routinely beyond caffeine until well into adulthood. I was never a fan of drug culture including the "dude weed" element of it. I've also had an aversion to self-medication and still do to some extent since I know what I know and I know what I don't know, and so I will at least trust pharmacologists, and doctors that have taken the time to study drugs over my own base assumptions. That said, my experience is my own and evolving so nothing stated here should be treated as advice, promotion, or discouragement from starting/continuing/stopping the use of cannabis or other psychadelic substances. I believe that is a personal decision that needs to be approached with intentionality only for those of free willing and not under social pressure in any direction one way or the other.
My first experience with cannabis was with a 10mg THC and melatonin combo edible just to try it out before bed. I can best describe it as feeling sea sick on a boat that was shifting around, but I was in my bedroom. That wasn't pleasant of course so I went with pure extracts to experiment. I first spent about $90 on a package of 10mg THC edible gummies for my first wakeful high and it was much more pleasant. I also took it a few hours before bed so I would be able to sleep off any unpleasant effects but they never came. At worst I did feel a bit dizzy, but watching regular TV was like watching a lazer light show and I was much more aware of the subtle camera movements and framing in scenes. I assumed the dizziness was from that so I stopped using it while the TV was on and switched to music. Music has been WAY better with 10mg of THC and even at 5mg with my tolerance it just sounds incredible. My natural choices for song choices were Pink Floyd, and slowed versions of songs (slowed + reverb meme helped). Pink Floyd in a sober state of consciousness was already good to me, but while I was high I just experienced more of the sounds and felt time pass differently which I strugle to put into words. The amazing thing is that the next day after the THC intoxication wore off I was able to pay attention to the same songs and enjoy them the same as before with the added feeling of knowing there's more going on in the background. Psychadelic rock was a natural choice to me, but even slower Metallica songs like Nothing Else Matters were just pleasant to me. The feeling of music while feeling so comfortable in my bed to where I feel part of it made an ordinary mundane activity into something that genuinely felt sublime. The Pink Floyd experience was one of my favorites, but having what I would describe as an "avalanche of laughter" was also a peak experience.
As I started running low on my THC edibles I was both curious and cautious of what I would do with cannabis and if it would be a new part of my after work routine or just a temporary thing and stop. I was 50/50 on continuing or stopping but ultimately decided to continue as my only negative experience was the initial try with the THC with melatonin with the rest being positive. I tried a different product for sleep but this time it's CBN for sleep rather than melatonin. It's a 10/10/10mg CBD/CBN/THC edible and from what I've read the CBD balances against the THC to blunt the high and promote more relaxation, and the CBN is similar but supposedly promotes calm and sleep. It has been beneficial to the extent that my mind doesn't race when trying to go to bed, when I'm asleep I stay asleep, and when I'm waking up I can just get out of bed feeling a lot less groggy. My intention with it initially was for sleep, but also to go in a direction of finding more balance over the pure extracts. While I was taking the pure THC I did end up reducing the dosage to between one fourth to half to avoid diziness or paranoia. It hasn't made much of a difference for me in overall sleep quality, but it does feel like a less intense high and I still get the extreme comfort from it.
What really started improving my sleep immedeatly was switching to broad spectrum CBD. It's CBD plus other minor cannabonids including CBN but zero to undetectable amounts of THC and I cannot say if the entourage effect is real, if it was THC getting in the way while CBD did all the heavy lifting, but I can say that the effect is real on my sleep and ability to relax and be calm. The first day I took one of the CBD edibles, I was able to relax when the effects metabolized and able to go to sleep, stay asleep, still have dreams, and not only wake up without feeling groggy but also feeling rested. I am beating my alarm clock to the point where I'm getting out of bed and starting my days earlier rather than slowly getting out of bed after my alarm goes off and needing to rest my eyes first. I have also noticed it feels like a greedy drug since I just don't want to take in as much caffeine or caloricly dense salty/sugary/fatty foods as much as I used to. The caffeine and food quality factors are also a nice complement to my sleep management as before I was having 200-400mg of caffeine per day, occasionally going over the safe limit of 400+ so I have an improved relationship with caffeine since the CBD takes up more of my "appetite" over less healthy stuff. Sometimes I do wonder about the ramifications about the wide availability and acceptence of caffeine and the stigma around cannabis with how it plays into how people talk about the two. I don't oppose caffeine nor think it should be stigmatized or that there should be laws saying it has to be for adults only but rather I think it needs to be understood as yet another drug with its own risk-reward profile that's different from person to person.
The direction I have gone in was from getting mild highs every other day to more and more balance. I've never wanted to go in the direction of seeing how high I can get. I just want to be well-fed so to speak, having the right tools for the right job of managing my consciousness both awake and not. It's incredible to me that a plant is capable of so much and causes virtually no harm in the general population. I feel like it's helped me manage my CPTSD symptoms, conquer my sleep schedule, and think and feel in entirely new and more ways. While high I have consistent themes of thought of recursion, self-replication, self-similarity, and while that's not anything special on its own I still feel its a tweak to my consciousness that's enjoyable and fosters my sense of curiousity and is a source of feeling inter-connected with my surroundings rather than separate. I don't think it's a panacea despite my overwhelmingly positive experiences as there is zero evidence that it's a magical plant uplifting human consciousness into a more empathetic, intelligent, and insightful mode of being. There's plenty of evidence of people that use cannabis that are close-minded, hostile, and abusive anywhere you find people with positive experiences like my own. It brings out more of who (or what?) you are in your own head. I've thought of myself in some ways and cannabis brings out a little more that's in the background. Seeing the brush strokes doesn't change the subject of the painting even though they are there when you're able to examine it closely and I feel that's the same with the psychadelics and the mind. I intend to continue going in the direction of balance, and the next time I purchase more cannabis it will be either more broad CBD or full spectrum CBD. I am curious about other psychadelics such as LSD or DMT; however, I am not at a point where I am prepared to explore my mind in a psychonaut manor. I also have thoughts on the politics, scientific research (and lack thereof), method of usage (against smoking), and usage among adolescents (it's complicated) but each should be the subject of its own posting.