Flashback time! A young creature, with its friends, trying out the sort of legal drug of choice of artsy teens: weed. A friend had turned 18, her artist mother out of the house, and free reign to a trio of weirdos. She picked up prerolls from the local coffeeshop, and we smoked them in her garden. It took until I'd smoked 1.5 of the total 2 prerolls¹ we had before it hit, which for a neurodivergent kid who'd never done a weed was maybe a little too much. Needless to say, I didn't have the best first impression.

It took me until well into my thirties to relax a little about weed. The autism went hard on "weed is bad awful and everyone who uses it is an annoying stoner." Part of this was because aforementioned friends dove deep into weed and befriended my high school tormentor, who became their plug. Part of it was simply ignorance and falling for anti-cannabis propaganda.

But everything changed when the COVID attacked...

I was kind of sick of being in constant pain, and after a lot of sweet, sweet research settled on a game plan. A cheap dry herb vape, tiny scales so I could precisely manage my dose, a grinder, a rolling tray. I was set. We threw the cats into the hallway while I worked with the weed, wiped down the table before and after, washed my hands before and after, and made sure I counted the inhales. Because how can you reasonably figure out how something affects you if you do not very strictly control the parameters so you can compare?² Anyway, safe to say that it was a success in helping me deal with both mental and physical issues.

I'm a lot more chill in how I handle cannabis these days, but it has kind of developed into a special interest. I go on regular weed adventures where I visit coffeeshops around the country to try the weed. I keep notes in a journal about flavour and feeling. I keep up to date with news about the Dutch Controlled Cannabis Supply Chain Experiment³, and the products that roll out of it. Plus, as a creature with corvid traits, between dry herb vapes and glassware and accessories I have plenty things to collect. (And let's not get into gardening and collecting them all.)

So, that's why cannabis. A potent combination of being a nerd, being disabled, and being a little bit of a hedonist. It feels occasionally strange to have gone from staunchly anti cannabis to a chronic stoner, but all in all it has had a lot of positive effects on me.

¹ I'm not a weed hog, I promise, they were well and truly high, and were happy to get me high too.

² Yes, I have a diagnosis. Also years of STEM education hasn't affected me at all. I'm so normal.

³ We'll get to this one.