01 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Marijuana Use is Self-Regulating
There is a very nice self-titering aspect to cannabis. Each puff is a very small dose; the time lag between inhaling a puff and sensing its effect is small; and there is no desire for more after the high is there. I think the ratio, R, of the time to sense the dose taken to the time required to take an excessive dose is an important quantity. R is very large for LSD (which I've never taken) and reasonably short for cannabis. Small values of R should be one measure of the safety of psychedelic...Because the period of time between the puff of smoke and its effect on the user, it is easy to regulate how high you want to get when smoking it.
01 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Carl Sagan's Insights from Smoking Marijuana
I find that most of the insights I achieve when high are into social issues, an area of creative scholarship very different from the one I am generally known for. I can remember one occasion, taking a shower with my wife while high, in which I had an idea on the origins and invalidities of racism in terms of gaussian distribution curves. It was a point obvious in a way, but rarely talked about. I drew the curves in soap on the shower wall, and went to write the idea down. One idea led to anot...It is difficult to record the insights in such a way as to have them appeal to the sober mind, but Sagan, with much effort, got 11 essays out of an insight found while high.