While there is a nearly endless amount of cannabis products available on the market today, it is still critical that you enjoy them responsibly to avoid green out.
Thanks to the legalization of cannabis, many industry professionals and medical experts have attributed the herb to be an effective treatment for a variety of different ailments.
Through rigorous research and extensive clinical trials, researchers have debunked and clarified many of the controversies surrounding cannabis and its efficacy as a medicine.
That said, smoking cannabis has been widely associated with relaxation and stress relief. However, funnily enough, overdoing it can actually lead to a series of events on the opposite end of the spectrum.
From the most experienced tokers to the unlucky rookies, this phenomenon is known as green out, and it’s the result of consuming too much of that good green.
That’s right. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, even when it comes to that bodacious bud.
So, what is a green out? How do you stop it from happening? How do you know you’ve consumed too much weed?
Have no fear. All of these answers will be right here. Just keep on reading.
What is Green Out?
Green out is a term used to describe the uncomfortable side effects that occur when you have ingested too much weed.
Greening out presents with multiple symptoms, including nausea, paranoia and anxiety, as well as vomiting in more serious cases.
Although greening out is relatively hard to achieve when smoking weed alone, it still happens and can last anywhere between 30 minutes to 6 hours.
One of the more common culprits of the green out is mixing alcohol and weed.
“Crossfading,” as most tokers know it, can be a surefire way to cause greening out. As such, we would advise steering clear of mixing the two, even if you are an experienced blazer.
Drinking alcohol can intensify the effects of cannabis. When users stray away from enjoying the magic herb on its own, they pave the way for potential bad situations and adverse effects.
Alcohol not only increases THC levels in the blood, but it can also lead to other effects like dehydration and impaired decision making.
Needless to say, THC is a chemical compound that affects every individual body differently. It can have intense effects on its own, let alone mixing it with another substance.
In high doses, THC may have adverse side effects on those who are sensitive to it in the same way that excess amounts of sugars, carbs, or caffeine may have them feeling sick as well.
What Does Green Out Feel Like?
Green out is never a pleasant experience. You’ll never meet anyone who raved about greening out.
In fact, of all the benefits that weed provides, an intense green out can very well be the final straw that breaks the camel’s back.
This particularly potent experience mixes many of the symptoms that weed is known to treat. Instead, it combines them into an unrighteous cocktail where they work together synergistically to create an equally horrible and traumatic experience.
For those who are unlucky enough to recall a green out, the experience amplifies individual senses to extreme heights and dulls others. For some, consuming too much weed may lead to motion sickness, nausea or dizziness.
For others, green out may involve a debilitating bombardment of anxiety-inducing thoughts, driving them to a state of fear and paranoia and causing shortness of breath and increased heart rate.
Individual physiology, including health, build, and gender, causes THC to affect everybody differently, so no two people will have the same green out experience.
How to Deal With Green Out
Greening out is never a fun time, but sometimes it catches us off guard. At that point, all we can do is try to cope with the experience.
That said, whether you are greening out or are witnessing someone else green out, we’ve developed a list of some of the most effective remedies for this dreaded phenomenon:
Gnaw or Sniff on Some Black Pepper
It’s not as random as it may sound.
Similar to how raw cannabis has a load of terpenes that influence the high you get, black pepper also carries a key terpene as well: Beta-Caryophyllene.
Beta-Caryophyllene is a terpene and essential oil that is found in many different plants in nature and is known to have therapeutic, anti-anxiety properties. Greening out can cause people to become extremely anxious and paranoid.
Chewing or sniffing black pepper may soothe the nerves and ease anxiety or paranoia symptoms.
Take a Cold Shower
If you have access to a shower, taking a quick and cold one can be an effective pick-me-up to chase away any unpleasant feelings.
Obviously, a cold shower isn’t pleasant in itself, but coming out of the other end, you’ll find that it will help sharpen your senses and hopefully sober you up from weed.
At the very least, a cold shower will help ease paranoid thoughts and reduce cortisol, the stress hormone.
Sleep it Off
The saving grace of green out, if there is one, is that it does not last forever. It eventually will end.
One of the most tried and true methods of solving the dreaded green out is simply sleeping it off.
Given that you or the person you are watching aren’t feeling nauseous, and that vomiting is off of the table, taking a nap can help pass the moment by much quicker than staying awake would.
Set The Tone
Dim the lights, block out distractions and potential anxiety triggers, find a comfortable place to lie down.
Do whatever you need to do to set the tone to make it suitable for your situation.
Play your favourite music, watch your favourite shows, and don’t do anything that’ll excite you too much and, eventually, you should start to calm down.
Stay Hydrated
If you’re greening out, you’re bound to experience severe cases of cottonmouth.
Have a pitcher or glass of water handy so you can sip on it as you go along.
Low blood sugar is another crucial indicator that facilitates green out. So, if you have some lying around, try drinking fruit juice to serve a double-whammy of sugar and hydration.
Green Out – Not Here for a Good Time, but not a Long Time Either
Prevention is your best strategy when it comes to dealing with a green out.
Still, even in the heat of the moment, when you’ve smoked too much weed and you’re greening out, and prevention is no longer an option, all you need to do is remember that the moment will pass.
If all else fails, sometimes it’s best to just go for a walk and unwind. Suppose that doesn’t suit your mood. That’s okay too. Treating green out is all about catering to the needs of the individual.
Some people may benefit from getting some fresh air during a walk while others just want to find a dark, secluded place to try and sleep it off.
Regardless of what works, even if you have never experienced green out before, it is an important lesson for any toker to learn the signs of green out, what symptoms to look out for and how to treat it to ensure the safety of yourself and fellow blazers.
Stay safe!
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