Maybe it's just my generation, but I don't really count tobacco and alcohol, but since the children are here: I started smoking tobacco at 16, quit when I was 25. Always had sips and tastes of beer when growing up. I was 7 the first time I tasted vodka, though I didn't know it at the time. Dad had mixed it into his 7up and forgot. I asked for a drink, he handed me his cup, and I promptly spray painted the wall with it because it burned my young mouth. I never got drunk until I was 18 and in the military, where we were allowed to have beer on base. It only took a 6 pack of Miller Genuine Draft to get me sloshed. Like many in the military, getting drunk was a good way to relieve stress, but it did make going to work the next day a little difficult. I spent my first two months after I got out drunk all of the time, until that one night... yeah, one of those nights. After cleaning up the mess, I didn't get drunk for the next two years, then got completely blotto at a bachelor party. These days I can't even get drunk. Not because of any high alcohol tolerance, but because I have one maybe two drinks and I'm no longer thirsty. It'll be days or weeks before I want to have another. Very recently my doctor put me on a medication where I was told I can no longer drink. I don't find it that great of a loss.
I've done marijuana twice. I live in a legal weed state, so I decided to give it a go, see what all the fuss was about. First time I was 40, and it was an edible. The girl at the dispensary said to just eat half of one of the two brownies that came in the pack, and see how I react. I ate one whole brownie and felt nothing. A couple hours later I ate the other, still felt nothing. The brownies didn't even taste good, so that was a waste. When I was 42 I decided to try again, only this time it was a couple of pre-rolled joints. I was going on a week long camping trip, and wanted to get wasted in the woods. I set up camp, settled down with a beer and lit up. Now, I tried smoking it like I did when I smoked tobacco, just burn through the thing until you're down to the butt, and toss it. It was easier to smoke than tobacco, the smell wasn't as strong as the weed I remember kids smoking in high school, so I was enjoying that part. I got through half of it, and was kind of disappointed because I wasn't feeling anything. With tobacco, you can feel it hit right away, but I wasn't getting anything from this joint. I got halfway through it, and was bored with it. I didn't want any more, so I just let it burn out. I finished my beer, got up to pee. Grabbed another beer, and sat back down in my chair. I was sitting there for about another 10 minutes, and then it hit. I felt like I was falling backwards, and it just stayed that way. Soon enough it was like I had a 100lb lead blanket on me. I also felt the kind of buzz I used to get from tobacco, but tobacco doesn't stick with you like that. It's there and gone in a few minutes. The buzz I felt from the weed was nice, but that heavy falling sensation didn't let me enjoy it. All I could do was just sit there, and wait for it to end. The problem was it didn't end. After about an hour, even the buzz wasn't enjoyable anymore, it was annoying. I finally decided to just go sleep it off. It was really difficult to get up and move, but I got into my tent, crawled into my sleeping bag, and couldn't sleep. Not right away. Even though I felt so lethargic, I was too wired to sleep. All I could do was lay there, and wait for it to happen, which it eventually did. I woke up a few hours later, drank some water, was feeling a lot better since it was over by then. I made a sandwich, and it just tasted like any other sandwich, and I went back to bed. So as far as I'm concerned, weed sucks. It's not worth trying.
