If you’re not feeling the ‘high’ from cannabis that you’re looking for, there can be several reasons for this. It’s good to have a checklist to run through before taking action. After all, knowing the cause is a lot more effective than guessing. The nature of the problem can dictate the solution, too. Once you know what’s getting in the way, you’ll better know how to fix it. The good news is you can indeed fix it. Are you not getting a buzz? Here are five ways to increase your high.
Why you Can’t get High – a Checklist
First things first – check your strain. Ask yourself these questions:
- Where did you get your cannabis?
- Was it grown and cured properly?
- Was it stored correctly?
- Is the THC content sufficient?
Knowing the above is essential. Assessing your product will help you rule out several factors before moving forward, helping you narrow down the reasons you’re not getting the high you’re looking for.
Actions to Take
Try a different strain if you can. If you’ve got a bad batch of product that wasn’t given the tender loving care it deserves during the growing, curing or storage process, you may find it’s not giving you the buzz it ought to. Trying another strain is a quick way to assess if the problem is product-related.
It could be lousy weed, or it could just be low-THC or high-CBD cannabis. In that case, you shouldn’t expect too much of a high effect. You won’t get drunk on a glass of water because there’s no alcohol in it. Likewise, if a cannabis strain isn’t getting you high, it may be because you’re using a strain that wasn’t designed to. Knowing your strain is important for many reasons, and the effect is probably top of the list for you as a consumer.
Did you use enough Bud?
Did you prepare your smoke yourself, or did someone else do it? They may have sold you short on bud, and for that reason, you’re feeling underwhelmed. Try upping your amount and see if that gets you where you want to be.
5 Ways to Increase your High
Now that we’ve got the basics out of the way, we can look at some fun hacks that may prove helpful in taking your high to the next level.
Change up your Consumption Method
If you’re typically a joints person – and especially if you mix your flower with tobacco – why not try a different intake method? Experiment with edibles, dabs or concentrates. If you prefer to smoke, try a pipe, a bong or a vape. It may take something as simple as changing your means of consumption to knock your high up a gear or two.
Edibles are a great way to feel the effects as they interact with the body differently from inhalation methods. When you eat cannabis, it has to be processed by the liver, and while that does mean it takes longer for you to feel the effects, they last longer and hit a little harder.
A word of caution, though: If you’re new to edibles, proceed carefully. It’s essential to be aware of the delayed onset of an edible high, so give your edibles around an hour to work through the system after consumption. Don’t be tempted to chomp down another couple if you’ve felt nothing after 15 minutes. They’ll definitely combine and kick in soon, leaving you absolutely legless. Edibles hit differently.
Foods to Increase your High
Food and cannabis tend to be perfect bedfellows. You’ve heard of the munchies, right? Cannabis and food work well together in a few ways. Some strains stimulate your appetite, and some foods can tame your high. But depending on what you eat, some foods can also boost the effects of cannabis.
Even better – a lot of those foods pair well with cannabis. If you enjoy a cup of coffee with a joint, you may be interested to learn that switching to a cup of black or green tea can increase your high. This works via an antioxidant called catechin, which binds to your CB1 receptors and increases the effects of cannabinoids with increased efficiency.
Dark chocolate has a similar effect and can prolong your high by slowing the breakdown of anandamide, a chemical found in the brain. As far as we know, this effect depends on the cocoa content in your chocolate – with 70% cocoa or higher being the sweet spot (pun intended).
Since cannabis contains terpenes, consuming certain foods containing the right terpenes can also prolong or increase the high of your weed. Although scientific evidence is scant, seasoned stoners believe that eating mango can increase and prolong your high, since mangoes contain myrcene, a common terpene found in many strains of cannabis. Myrcene can boost the effects of THC, and eating a few slices of mango may make for a cool hack to increase your buzz without powering excessive amounts of weed. Nuts and eggs are also considered valuable foods to consume when looking to increase a high, thanks to high concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids, which bind to cannabinoid receptors and help THC move through the body faster. Increase your high AND improve brain health at the same time? They said it couldn’t be done!
Take a Tolerance Break to Increase Future Highs
While not a hack to boost your high in the here and now, taking a tolerance break is a great way to get more from your cannabis in the future. If you’re regularly over-indulging in cannabis, there’s a good chance it’s taking more and more to get you high. Take some time away from it (if you can), and when you return, your system will have reset, and you’ll feel more powerful effects again.
A 2016 study carried out at Yale University found that, in daily cannabis users, CB1 receptor availability lessens over time. This means there are fewer sites for cannabinoids to bind to and interact with, which ultimately leads to lower efficacy in terms of you feeling high. However, the study found that after just two days of abstinence, more CB1 receptors became available. Four weeks of abstinence saw CB1 receptor availability return to normal (that of a non-user).
The bottom line is that cutting out or even just cutting down your cannabis use for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks can significantly restore CB1 receptor availability. When you do jump back in the game, you’ll feel it like you used to.
Hit the Gym before you hit the Bong
Or go for a jog, a bike ride, or even a brisk walk. Timing your consumption can make a difference to how well it hits you. Scientists believe the euphoria many experience after a good bout of exercise originates in the endocannabinoid system. A study from 2003 found elevated levels of anandamide in the blood of volunteers tested after exercising, suggesting exercise activates the endocannabinoid system.
Anandamide was the first endocannabinoid to be discovered, and it’s known as ‘the bliss molecule’ due to its role in producing feelings of happiness. You can stimulate the natural production of this wonderful substance with just a few minutes of intense exercise and increase the sensitivity of those receptors. This would appear to act as a way of priming your system before cannabis use, potentially boosting your high.
Switch Up Your Strain
This is the quickest fix of all – if you want to be higher than usual, get your hands on a more powerful cannabis strain than your normal. This is a great short-term solution. If you typically enjoy something around the standard 15-20% THC mark, a quick shot of something like Seedsman’s Purple Ghost Candy (27%) and you’ll soon be higher than a Bee Gees harmony.
Remember though – if higher-THC cannabis becomes your new routine, your tolerance will eventually increase to accommodate that. You may find yourself on a never-ending quest for new strains with higher and higher THC content!
