Weed Was Better When It Was Illegal: A Nostalgic Rant
Justin has a confession. He misses his dealer.
Not the parking lot dime bag days. Not the sketchy meet in a dark alley stuff. The dealer you could actually visit. The one who had a personality, a living room full of lizard cages, and a black shiny Python coiled on the floor that Justin spent ten full minutes admiring as a carpet.
This week on Thoughts Off The Stem it’s a full nostalgic rant about what the dealer era was really like — the characters, the camaraderie, the completely unpredictable experiences — and what got lost when weed legalization turned the whole thing into an iPhone store.
There was a dealer named Gary. Gary lived in a basement apartment, he had lizard cages lining every wall of his living room. Gary also had a coiled black Python in the center of his living room floor that was so big and so shiny, when Justin walked in and sat down on the couch, he spent the next ten minutes genuinely admiring what he believed to be a very cool carpet.
He was even planning to ask Gary where he got it.
Then the carpet blinked. Then the carpet raised its head — above the chicken wire fence that was apparently supposed to contain it — and Justin was gone. Out of the apartment. Up the stairs. Outside on the street for 35 minutes while his buddies stayed inside smoking a joint and talking about him.
That was the weird world of weed dealers. And Justin kind of misses it.
The Dealer Who Withheld The Weed
Then there was the dealer around 25 to 30 who had a rule — you had to hang out for at least half an hour before you could leave. In the beginning this was fine. Bust a couple poppers, play video games for three hours, go home. Good times.
Then he got married. And suddenly showing up to buy a gram meant building a tree house first. Helping fix a pond. Gardening for the first hour before anything fun could happen. Helping him move when he moved. Building an entire deck.
Weed is not a gateway drug. Weed is — as Justin puts it — a socially maniacal herb. It makes you want to be friendly to everybody. It lets you get sucked in through empathy to help people out. And if your dealer has the best weed in town you will build whatever he needs built.
What Legal Cannabis Got Wrong
Walking into a dispensary now is like walking into an Apple Store. Forty employees. Forty options. Someone immediately asking what they can help you with. Justin just wants a bag of weed and there’s no good way to say that while standing under fluorescent lighting next to a glass display case.
The experience is gone. The characters are gone. The camaraderie is gone. And the Cannabis Council of Canada just disbanded — leaving the industry without a lobbying voice in government at a time when it probably needs one.
Justin’s theory — and it makes more sense the more you think about it — is that the government should have just licensed the dealers that were already dealing. Keep the garage, basement and backyard shed. Just inspect it for compliance and let the culture stay intact.
Because right now the industry is missing something. Less corporate glow. More mom and pop, or spending time with your favourite hippie. More of what made getting weed an experience rather than a transaction.
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Weed Was Better When It Was Illegal: A Nostalgic Rant is available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all major platforms.
New episodes of Thoughts Off The Stem drop every Friday at 4:20 PM.
When you think thoughts — what do you actually see? Pictures? Words? A running commentary that won’t shut up? Nothing at all?
It took way too long to figure out that not everyone answers that question the same way. And not just because people have different opinions or different ideas. When people think, they literally experience their thoughts in completely different ways. Some people see vivid pictures and videos, or they see words, and some have an inner monologue that narrates every single thing they do all day long. And some people see absolutely nothing — they just have a thought and react.
This week on Thoughts Off The Stem, Justin Barone goes deep on one of the most fascinating realizations he’s had in a sesh — and it might just change how you see the people around you.
As a kid it seems obvious — we’re all learning the same math problem so we must be solving it the same way, right? We agree on something so we must have thought about it the same way. Makes sense until you actually talk to someone about how they think and realize their brain is doing something completely different from yours.
Justin thinks in pictures, words, videos, shapes and sometimes nothing at all — switching between them depending on what the conversation is about or what he’s feeling. Tell him a story and he’s visualizing every detail. Get him deep in thought and the lights go out completely — blank space, just presence and clarity. Get him emotional and suddenly it’s all words, big feelings turning into sentences in his head.
Not everyone works like that. Some people only have the inner monologue. or see shapes, and some people have no visual experience of thought whatsoever — they just feel it and do it.
Isn’t that fascinating?
The Inner Monologue Drill Sergeant
Here’s the one that gets Justin. The inner monologue that just never stops. The voice that narrates everything — I’m getting up, I’m walking, I’m driving, I’m talking to my boss, I’m going to say this.
Justin’s inner monologue isn’t exactly a helpful life coach. It’s more like an angry drill sergeant who shows up the second you sit down with your coffee to remind you that you thought about vacuuming twenty minutes ago and the clock is ticking. Not friendly. Not encouraging. Just pushy, a little bossy, and honestly a touch aggressive.
But could you imagine having that voice running all day? Every single thing narrated in real time? That’s someone else’s entire experience of being alive. And somehow they’re functioning. Respect.
The Hardware Store Kid
Here’s where it gets really interesting. Justin’s uncle tells him about a kid working at a hardware store who literally cannot hammer a nail into a wall. He holds it up, lets go, and tries to hit it before it falls. Every time. The owner is about to fire him.
Then the till system goes down. And this kid — the one who cannot figure out a hammer and a nail — sits down behind the register and gets the entire point of sale system back up and running from scratch.
Everybody’s got their thing. The way you think shapes what you’re good at. And if you can’t visualize a nail going into wood, maybe you’re seeing something else entirely — something that makes you exceptional at a completely different problem.
Give People A Break
Here’s where the episode lands and it’s worth sitting with. If everyone processes their thoughts differently — if some people are running on a non stop inner monologue, some are seeing nothing but shapes, some are being controlled by an angry internal narrator they didn’t ask for — then maybe we need to give each other a little more grace.
You don’t know what’s going on in someone’s head, how they process things, or what their inner voice sounds like or whether they even have one. So maybe — just maybe — be a little nicer to the next guy. Because you genuinely have no idea what’s happening in there.
Those are the thoughts off the stem this week. 🌿
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New episodes of Thoughts Off The Stem drop every Friday at 4:20 PM.
Could you survive prison? Not the Netflix documentary version. Not the podcast where some guy describes it from a studio in Manhattan. The actual yard. Day one. Real prison.
It’s the kind of question that only comes up in a sesh. Someone’s been watching true crime. The conversation goes sideways. And suddenly everyone in the circle is a Navy SEAL with a black belt and an undefeated record.
This week on Thoughts Off The Stem, Justin Barone takes that hypothetical seriously — or as seriously as a cannabis comedy podcast can — and the reality check is both brutal and hilarious.
You know how it goes. Someone asks if they could take Mike Tyson. Someone else wants to know how many guys they could fight at once. Then that one dude in the circle breaks the silence with full confidence — he’d kick Tyson’s ass, destroy a pack of wolves bare handed, go full special forces on anyone who touched his family, and yeah he could probably take five guys at once.
Every group has a Dwane. Shut up Dwane.
It’s a guy thing. We all want to be the ultimate protector. We all like to think that when the moment comes we’ll somehow channel every action movie we’ve ever watched and just handle it. It’s harmless. It’s funny. And it is absolutely not what would actually happen.
The Prison Yard Reality Check
So let’s say you actually end up in there. Day one on the yard. You’ve heard the advice — assert dominance immediately, take out the biggest guy so everyone knows not to mess with you.
Here’s the problem. Yesterday you were mowing the lawn. You had a tea party with a three year old. gave your wife a foot massage and watched something on Netflix and went to bed at a reasonable hour. You are a blue collar dad with a full dad bod, a touch of arthritis, and absolutely zero hand to hand combat training.
And now you’re supposed to walk across that yard and cold cock a gang member like you’re Jason Statham in a Jason Statham movie.
You are not Jason Statham.
The gap between who we think we are and who we actually are, might be one of the weirdest and most honest things about being a guy. This episode goes there completely unfiltered.
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New episodes of Thoughts Off The Stem drop every Friday at 4:20 PM.
New tech is cool. I genuinely love it. That is, if you’re willing to give a big F**k you to privacy with gadgets like meta glasses. Don’t get me wrong innovation is amazing and the fact that we live in a world where you can walk around with a computer on your face like you’re in Minority Report swiping through files and checking your messages while you grab a coffee, is pretty cool.
But here’s the question nobody seems to be asking.
Do the people building this stuff actually think about what happens when real humans use it in the real world? And do we — the consumers — think about the potential consequences before we hand over our money and our data and apparently our most private moments?
I’m not so sure we do.
Welcome to Thoughts Off The Stem. I’m Justin Barone and this week we need to talk about Meta glasses, Tesla batteries, wearable tech privacy and the fundamental disconnect between building something cool and thinking it all the way through.
Meta Glasses: Cool Concept, Terrifying Reality
Meta glasses are genuinely impressive technology. Wearable, stylish, functional — the most recent incarnation of a concept that’s been trying to work for years. And now they actually kind of do work which is both exciting and deeply concerning.
Here’s what nobody thought about.
When they’re on, they’re on. And they see everything.
If you’re wearing them while shaving your balls — that’s on file. If you forget to take them off before you head off to handle some personal business — congratulations, you just made POV content and it’s sitting on Meta’s servers right now.
If you’re recording with your face, you’d think — you’d think about that.
Apparently not.
I’ll be honest — when I was a kid I had to wear a heart monitor from time to time as part of my yearly checkups for a heart condition. And even then, as a kid, I was worried about what it would tell the doctors. Like why is your heart rate spiking at 10:30 at night? That’s nobody’s business.
Now imagine that same energy but it’s a camera. On your face. Connected to Meta’s servers. Worn by millions of people who didn’t fully read the terms and conditions.
What Meta Workers Are Actually Seeing
Here’s where it stops being funny and starts being genuinely disturbing.
Meta workers — specifically Kenyan subcontractor employees — have blown the whistle on what they’ve actually seen while reviewing footage captured through users smart glasses. And the Dude For Real segment this week pulled directly from their accounts.
What Meta Workers Reported
The Reality
Users going to the toilet or getting undressed on camera
People wearing the glasses without realizing they’re recording
A man leaving glasses on a bedside table — wife undresses in frame
Accidental recording of private moments without consent
“We see everything — from living rooms to naked bodies”
Meta has this content in its databases right now
Workers told not to question what they see or they’ll be fired
No accountability for what’s being stored or reviewed
Two US citizens filed a lawsuit in San Francisco against Meta
False advertising and disregarding privacy laws
Meta being investigated by multiple governments
The pervert glasses problem is now an international issue
Two US citizens have filed a lawsuit in San Francisco accusing Meta of false advertising and disregarding privacy laws. Multiple governments are now investigating. And somewhere in Meta’s servers there is content that people recorded without having any idea they were recording it.
They’re calling them the pervert glasses now. Which honestly feels about right.
Tesla Batteries and the $25,000 Surprise
Meta glasses aren’t the only example of consumers not thinking things through. Let’s talk about Tesla for a second.
A few years ago first generation Tesla owners started showing up at dealerships and getting hit with a $25,000 repair bill for battery replacement. And a lot of them were genuinely shocked.
Here’s my take — that’s on the consumer.
When I buy a car there are a few things I want to know. What does the service maintenance plan look like? How long will this car last? Should I worry about mechanical issues including the engine?
When you buy a Tesla you are buying an electronic device. A very expensive, very large electronic device. And the most basic question you ask when buying any electronic device is — what happens when the battery dies?
People didn’t ask that question. And then they were blindsided by a bill the size of a used car.
The Disconnect: Developers vs Consumers
Here’s the pattern I keep seeing and it applies to Meta glasses, Tesla batteries, and honestly most technology that causes problems after launch.
What They’re Great At
What They Generally Suck At
Developers
Building cool innovative technology
Thinking about real world human use beyond the tech goal
Consumers
Fixating on new shiny things
Thinking about real world consequences before buying
Developers are brilliant at solving technical problems. They are generally not great at asking “but what happens when a regular person uses this in their bedroom at 11pm without thinking about it?”
Consumers are great at wanting the newest thing first. They are generally not great at asking “but what are the actual long term implications of this purchase?”
The result is Meta glasses on Meta servers and $25,000 battery bills and a lawsuit in San Francisco and a bunch of very uncomfortable Kenyan subcontractors who have seen things they cannot unsee.
Weed Facts: Can Technology Actually Detect Cannabis Impairment?
Since we’re talking about tech this week the Weed Facts segment goes there too — because there’s actually some genuinely impressive new technology being developed specifically to detect cannabis impairment. And it’s more accurate than you might think.
The challenge with cannabis impairment testing has always been that THC doesn’t work like alcohol. The amount of THC in your body is not directly correlated with impairment — THC and its metabolites can stay in your system for an extended period, making it impossible to tell from a blood test whether someone is currently impaired or just consumed cannabis days ago.
Enter Gaize.
The Problem
The Gaize Solution
THC levels in blood don’t indicate current impairment
Eye movement tests detect real time impairment regardless of when cannabis was consumed
Human drug recognition officers are subjective — 60-85% accuracy
Automated VR headset testing removes human error
Traditional tests can’t distinguish past use from current impairment
Pupillary reflex and ocular motion analysis detects active impairment only
No portable rapid testing solution existed
Gaize is rapid, portable and automated
Officers can be wrong
Gaize boasts 98% accuracy
Gaize runs the same eye tests that police officers use — high precision ocular motion and pupillary reflex analysis — through a VR headset using Tobii eye tracking technology. It measures subtle changes in eye movement that indicate impairment with 98% accuracy.
Your eyes tell on you every time. Apparently even when your glasses are recording things they shouldn’t be.
Think Before You Wear It
Here’s the bottom line.
Technology is going to keep advancing faster than our ability to think through all the consequences. That’s not going to change. But the gap between what developers build and what consumers actually do with it in the real world is a gap that’s causing real problems — privacy violations, lawsuits, $25,000 repair bills and a lot of footage on Meta’s servers that nobody consented to share.
Think before you buy. Read the terms and conditions. Ask what happens when the battery dies. And for the love of everything — if you’re going to wear a camera on your face, think about where that camera is pointing.
If you’re recording with your face you’d think — you’d think about that.
Those are my thoughts off the stem. 🍃
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Give A Big F**k You to Privacy with Meta Glasses is out now on Spotify and YouTube.
We go deeper on the Meta privacy lawsuit, the Tesla battery disaster, Gaize impairment technology and the full Dude For Real breakdown of what Meta workers have actually seen through users smart glasses.
New episodes drop every Friday at 4:20PM. Subscribe so the sesh comes straight to you — we’re pushing to 1,000 followers on Spotify and every follow counts.
They Love to Say They Know a Stoner: Cannabis Stigma Normalization
Let me paint you a picture.
You’re sitting across from someone in a suit. Nice office. Firm handshake. The kind of person who irons their shirt collar and says “synergy” without irony. You’re there for a job interview, you’re trying your best to look like you definitely did not just hotbox your car in the parking garage, and everything is going fine.
And then it happens.
The interview wraps up, they walk you to the door, and just before you shake hands and part ways — they lean in. They lower their voice. They glance over their shoulder like they’re about to tell you where the bodies are buried.
“You know… I actually know someone who smokes weed.”
And then they look at you. Waiting. Expecting you to react like they just told you they know Jesus.
“Oh my GOD. YOU know a stoner?!”
I have been in more interviews and business meetings than I can count over the last year and I promise you — it happens every single time.
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The Cannabis Stigma Is Alive and Well. Sort Of.
Here’s the thing about cannabis stigma in 2026 — it’s not dead, but it’s definitely on life support and arguing with the doctor about whether it really needs to be there.
Cannabis is legal in Canada. Dispensaries are on every corner. Your coworker, your boss, your accountant and probably your dentist are all quietly passing through those slightly obscured dispensary entrances on a Friday afternoon. And yet somehow the stigma persists — mostly in boardrooms and interview rooms where people who partake feel the need to hide it, and people who don’t partake feel the need to whisper about it like it’s still 1987.
I left the cannabis industry recently after working at a pot shop — genuinely one of my favourite jobs. I love the industry. It’s chaotic and weird and the people are fascinating. But I got my project management certification and spent the last year trying to break into a new field.
Which means suits. A lot of suits.
And every single one of them, at some point, pulled me aside to let me know they know a guy.
The Hushed Tones Confession
I cannot explain to you the energy of the cannabis confession in a professional setting. It is unlike anything else.
They lean in. The voice drops two octaves. The eyes scan the room for witnesses. And then they deliver this information — that they know someone who consumes a legal substance that is sold openly in stores across the country — like it is classified intelligence.
Like they’re giving you access to a secret society.
Here’s what kills me. I’ve walked into interviews and recognized faces — not because I’m great at networking, but because I sold those people weed. The person interviewing me, the receptionist who handed me the visitor badge, the guy I passed in the elevator on the way up — familiar faces everywhere.
Not because the cannabis community is small. Because it isn’t. It’s enormous and it’s everywhere and it always has been.
The suits just haven’t caught up to that reality yet.
Cannabis Normalization: Where We Actually Are
Let’s be real about where cannabis normalization actually stands right now because I think both sides of this debate are getting it wrong.
closing the gap
The Reality
Legal status
Fully legal in Canada, legal in many US states
Social acceptance
Growing rapidly but still stigmatized in professional settings
Workplace policies
Most still treat cannabis differently than alcohol despite similar effects
Public perception
Majority of people either consume or know someone who does
Cannabis is not alcohol. It’s not there yet in terms of social normalization. But it’s making its mark and the gap is closing faster than most people realize — especially the people whispering about it in hallways.
The Part Nobody in the Cannabis Community Wants to Hear
Okay. Here’s where I’m going to say something that might ruffle a few leaves.
We as the cannabis community need to do better too.
We love to declare cannabis as a completely safe alternative to other substances. And in many ways it is. But that doesn’t mean it comes without its own downsides. And right now we are not being honest enough about that.
The reality is that edibles are most likely the safest way to consume cannabis. The moment you introduce any inhalant into your lungs you are introducing foreign substances into your body and your lungs are taking the brunt of that exposure. We don’t have enough long term scientific data to say with confidence that all forms of cannabis consumption are completely safe — because the research simply hasn’t been done yet. The industry, the cultivation methods and the processes are still evolving and some of the long term effects are genuinely unknown.
As a cannabis enthusiast and advocate I believe we need to recognize that. Anything in excess can cause negative health effects. Pretending otherwise doesn’t help our credibility — it undermines it.
Where Both Sides Need to Land
Here’s my take and it’s pretty simple.
The naysayers — the suits, the whisper confessors, the people who treat a legal substance like a dirty secret — need to make a concerted effort toward acceptance and normalization. Cannabis is here. It’s legal. It’s not going anywhere. The stigma serves nobody.
And the cannabis community needs to recognize that progress is actually happening and we don’t need to push as hard as we used to. We’ve won a lot of ground. Celebrating that honestly — including being honest about what we don’t know yet — is how we win the rest of it.
Meet in the middle. Normalize the conversation. Clean your bong.
Those are my thoughts off the stem. 🍃
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Looksmaxxing and incel culture have produced some truly unhinged ideas over the years — but hitting yourself in the face with a hammer to get dates might be the one that finally broke me. There are grown men doing this. On purpose. With an actual hammer. And they have hundreds of thousands of followers cheering them on.
I’ll let that sink in for a second.
Welcome to the world of looksmaxxing — the incel community’s full-send obsession with optimizing your physical appearance at all costs. And I mean ALL costs. We’re talking steroids at 14, crystal meth to hollow your cheeks, and a daily hammer session to your jaw because apparently that’s a thing people do now.
I’m Justin Barone. I’m 44 years old, I’m 260 lbs, and I used to be fit back in my 30s when I was about 185. Somewhere between Doritos and laziness I became what these kids would probably classify as some kind of ogre. But you know what? I still figured out that personality is the move. These kids apparently haven’t gotten that memo yet.
Let’s get into it.
What Is Looksmaxxing and Incel Culture?
Looksmaxxing is the practice of maximizing your physical attractiveness — and it started in incel culture. Incel, if you don’t know, stands for involuntarily celibate. These are dudes who can’t get a date and have decided that the reason is entirely their bone structure.
Looksmaxxing and incel culture are more connected than most people realize — the whole movement was born on incel message boards before it jumped to TikTok.
The movement got a massive boost from a 19-year-old content creator named Clavicular — and yes, that’s his actual name, or at least his online name. Braden. His name is Braden. I don’t know what we expected.
At 14 years old this kid started taking testosterone, using steroids, and by his own admission on camera — meth. Why meth? Because he thought it was basically just street Adderall. One derivative away, he says. He also took a hammer to his face every single day.
Not to bits and pieces. Just until it got red and puffy. Because he believed it would create micro fractures in his jaw that would heal into a sharper, more square jawline.
You know what else gives you a sharper jawline? Puberty. Which he was going through at the time. But he couldn’t wait.
This guy is now 19, has hundreds of thousands of followers, and allegedly earns over $100,000 a month teaching other young men how to do what he did. And somehow we as a society have decided this is acceptable.
I take partial blame. Not personally. But as a generation? Yeah. We dropped the ball.
Where Did We Go Wrong?
The looksmaxxing community and incel culture didn’t create these insecurities in young men — but it weaponized them.
When I was a teenager and I wasn’t getting invited to parties — and I wasn’t always, I was a chunky kid with a belly from eating too many Doritos — I didn’t smash my face with a hammer. Instead I went outside. Mingling with actual humans and correcting my personality in real time through real interaction was how you figured things out back then.
These kids don’t have to do that anymore. They can find a corner of the internet that validates whatever insane thing they’re thinking, and that corner will attach itself to them and grow. Before you know it you’ve got a 19-year-old doing meth for his skincare routine and an audience of young boys watching him do it.
I asked my kids about looksmaxxing. You know what they did? They rolled their eyes. Both of them. “Can you believe it, dad?” No. No I cannot. But I went deep on this one so you don’t have to.
The Weed Facts: Does Cannabis Actually Affect How You Look?
Since we’re talking about looks this week I figured we’d pivot to something actually relevant — what does weed do to your skin? Because if you’re going to take a hammer to your face you should probably know what your edibles are doing to your collagen first.
This segment’s facts come from Cosmopolitan, who spoke with dermatologist Dr. Karan Lal, MD. Here’s the breakdown:
Factor
What Cannabis Does
The Verdict
Testosterone & Acne
THC may slightly increase testosterone, which spikes oil production
Could cause breakouts in some people
Appetite & Glycemic Index
Munchies + carbs = higher glycemic index
Associated with increased acne
Anti-inflammatory Effects
THC is anti-inflammatory, may calm inflammatory pimples
Could actually help some skin issues
Stress & Cortisol
Weed can reduce anxiety, lowering cortisol
Less stress = less oil = less acne
Skin Picking
THC may reduce itch and irritation
Could help chronic skin pickers relax
Edibles & Sugar
Gummies contain sugar that causes glycation — stiffening collagen and elastin
Could contribute to sagging and wrinkles
Smoking & Skin
Smoke sits on your skin and can irritate it
External irritant regardless of strain
Dirty Equipment
Unwashed pipes and bongs spread bacteria
Can cause acne around your mouth
The honest takeaway? It’s not really the weed. It’s what you put in your body and how you take care of yourself. Clean your bong. Watch the sugar in your gummies. Manage your stress. That’s basically your cannabis skincare routine right there.
Oh, and I’ll say this — I’ve been smoking pretty regularly for years and I still get the occasional pimple along my hat line. I think it has more to do with cleaning your skin than anything else.
Dude For Real: The Looksmaxxing Terminology You Need to Know
This stuff comes straight from the looksmaxxing community and I genuinely couldn’t believe some of these are real terms that people use with a straight face. This week’s Dude For Real comes from Buzzfeed’s looksmaxxing explainer and dude — for real.
Term
What It Means
Mogging
Displaying physical superiority over someone nearby
Softmaxxing
Improving looks through skincare, diet, exercise, grooming
Hardmaxxing
Extreme methods — surgery, steroids, bone smashing
Bone Smashing
Hitting your face with a hammer to create micro fractures that reshape your jaw
Ascending
Significantly improving your physical attractiveness. The looksmaxxing version of a glow up
Mewing
Resting your tongue on the roof of your mouth to sharpen your jawline
The PSL Scale
A scoring system for facial attractiveness based on harmony, symmetry, and sexual dimorphism
Chad / Stacey
Highly attractive man or woman. Top of the PSL scale
Subhuman
The lowest PSL score. The most unattractive. Literally called subhuman
Sub 5
Anyone ranking below a 5 on the PSL scale — considered unattractive
Lookism
The belief that your value and place in the world are determined entirely by your looks
Gesture Maxxing
Using humor to attract women rather than appearance
Femoid / Foid
A dehumanizing term for women. Short for female humanoid
Hunter Eyes
Almond-shaped, deep-set eyes with low brows — considered highly attractive
The system literally calls people subhuman based on their face. That’s not self improvement. That’s a cult with better lighting.
Looksmaxxing, Incel Culture and Why Personality Is the Real Move
If you’re not getting invited to parties — and I say this with love — it’s probably not your jawline. It’s probably your personality.
You can change everything about how you look. Get the surgery. Smash your face. Chew the gum. But when the mask comes off — and it always does — if your personality is garbage, people are going to figure that out. As a result they’re going to walk away every single time.
I’ve seen the ugliest people with the most friends because most people genuinely do not care what you look like. Instead they care whether you’re fun to be around, whether you make them laugh, and whether you’re loyal. That’s it. That’s the whole list.
Be that person. That’s the move. Not the hammer.
That’s the real problem with looksmaxxing and incel culture — it sells young men the idea that their value is their face, and there’s nothing they can do about it except suffer or smash.
As for Clavicular — I watched a bunch of his content researching this episode. He’s shallow, uninformed, and has a massive platform teaching young boys that their value is their face. That’s a failure. And it’s on us as the older generation to push back on that wherever we can.
If your kid is watching this stuff, talk to them. Ask questions and be present. Because we can’t leave them to figure this out on the internet.
Use a hammer if you want.
Those are my thoughts off the stem.
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This week’s full seshisode — Looks Maxxing: Guys Who Smash Their Face With Hammers to Get Dates — is live now.
We go deeper on Clavicular, the full Dude For Real terminology breakdown, and the complete weed facts science on cannabis and your skin.
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You need terpenes that help anxiety, now that your girl has turned your space in to a “Penthouse” full of scented candles.
One day you’re a king. You have a queen-sized bed, a single kettlebell in the corner for your morning sets, and enough floor space to do some body weight squats and lunges to kick start leg day. It’s a temple of minimalist efficiency. You even have your original razor boxes neatly stacked under the sink because—let’s be honest—original packaging makes moving easier.
Then, she moves in.
Suddenly, your kettlebell is a doorstop. Your room has been annexed by blackout curtains and a king-sized bed that took up the last of your “activity” space. Your bathroom vanity storage space? Gone. It’s now a graveyard for 14 different lotions that all smell like “Spiced Rain” but serve no discernible purpose.
But that’s not even the scary part.
1. The Shower Wall Resident
You’re mid-shower, washing your business, and you look up. There, at eye level, is a matted mask of hair, clumped up, just… hanging out. You know it’s not yours. But it is a permanent resident of your new life.
2. The Nether-Region Garrote
You ever get halfway through your workday—maybe you’re in a meeting, maybe you’re at the gym—and you feel an aggressive, high-tensile tug? It feels like an invisible Bond villain is trying to reduce the flow of anything to the brains of your operation. Yeah there’s a hair wrapped around your balls bro.
Yeah, there’s a hair wrapped around your balls, bro. It’s the Invisible Assassin. Along with his buddy—the stray strand of your girlfriend’s hair hitching a ride on your caboose like a train-hopping hobo—it’s now flossing your “brown eye” like a piece of high-test dental tape.
How to Survive “Girlfriend HQ” (Without Losing Your Mind)
If the sudden appearance of a vanity full of hairbrushes and girly stuff elevates your heart rate to 120 BPM, nature has a “mute” button. We call them Terpenes.
When your bachelor pad dies and your girlfriend starts tossing all your favourite crap, these terpenes help anxiety and you should look for them when choosing a strain to curb your anxiety:
Terpenes that help anxiety the invisible assassin
Terpenes
The Science
Limonene (The Paranoia Killer):
A 2024 Johns Hopkins study proved that inhaling Limonene with your THC stops that “someone’s trying to suffocate me” anxiety.
Linalool (The Serotonin Shield):
Found in floral strains, this terpene blocks serotonin transporters to keep your “rest and digest” mode active. It turns “Why is there a bar fridge here?” into “Hey, a bar fridge for my whiskey!”
Beta-Caryophyllene (The CB2 Specialist):
It’s spicy, peppery, and hits your body’s calming receptors without making you too stoned to find the drawing of a wang she hid in your suitcase five years ago.
Myrcene (The Relaxation Foundation)
Increases sedation and muscle relaxation; helps cannabinoids hit faster. Earthy, musky, or “skunky” strains—mostly Indicas—are your best bet for a Myrcene fix.
How to Get Your Terps: Product Type Matters
Not all consumption methods are created equal. If you’re trying to outmaneuver the Invisible Assassin, you need to make sure you aren’t literally burning off your relief. Here’s the breakdown of how to get the most out of your terpene profile:
Product Type
The Terpene Delivery
Pro-Tip
Flower
Highest Potential
Vaporize at low temperatures. High heat (combustion) destroys delicate terpenes.
Vapes
Variable
Avoid distillates with “botanical” terps. Look for Live Resin or Full-Spectrum to keep the plant’s soul intact.
Edibles
Low (Usually)
Most terpenes are lost during the infusion process, unless the brand specifically adds them back in.
Tinctures
Consistent
Stick to Full-Spectrum tinctures. Isolates are just the cannabinoids and usually have zero terpene benefit.
The Weird Truth
Relationships are weird. If you aren’t shouting “SHUT UP” at each other when someone sneezes or doing an elaborate mating dance involving one-handed clapping or dong slapping are you even in love?
You might have lost your floor space, but you gained a partner in crime who knows that if you’re happy, she’s happy. She’s just trying to make your space a sanctuary. Think of it like the Batcave—just pour some whiskey from that decanter on top of her fridge and ignore the floral aromas of your new blissful paradise.
Transitioning from a bachelor pad to a shared home is a wild ride, but as long as you’ve got the right Terps and a sense of humor, you’ll survive the “Invisible Assassin.”
Join the Conversation!
What’s the weirdest thing your partner did to your “man cave” after moving in? Have you ever been a victim of the Nether-Region Garrote?Drop a comment below and TAG a homie who’s currently losing the war for his under-sink storage! Don’t forget to share this post to help other brothers in arms survive the “Spiced Rain” invasion.
The Gravity Bong: A DIY Masterpiece (and My Biggest Fail)
Whether you call it a Gravity Bong, a Bucket, or a ‘Geeb,’ this DIY stoner invention is a rite of passage. But as I learned the hard way, water pressure doesn’t care about your plans. Before we dive into the 2,700-year history of weed, let’s talk about the ‘High Lesson’ that left me waking up on a stranger’s couch.
Welcome to Thoughts Off The Stem! Today, we taking a trip down memory lane and sharing my first experience with “Buckets”. That’s right we’re talking about the time I hit that DIY atom bomb of a bong. Where the amount of clouds you have to inhale force their way out your ears like a cartoon and the unexpected Life Lessons that revealed themselves in that moment. Then we’re laughing at some of the more absurd but hilarious Stoner Moments from people online. We’re not just talking about getting high; we’re talking about the lessons that only come from those truly elevated perspectives.
The Bucket that started it all…
My very first experience with a gravity bucket wasn’t just a stoner moment—it was a full-blown initiation into another dimension. It was college, a time for exploration and, in my case, a distinct lack of proper planning.
The Scenario: A makeshift bucket in a cramped dorm room.
The Moment: Taking the rip, and immediately realizing I’d bit off way more than I could chew.
The Fail: Waking up hours later, not in my bed, not in a friend’s bed, but passed out on a total stranger’s couch in a completely different building. The lesson here? Know your limits, and maybe always have a wingman when trying something new.
What is a “Bucket”?
For those new to the game, a “Bucket” (also known as a Gravity Bong) is the ultimate Stoner MacGyver creation. It uses water pressure and gravity to create a vacuum that pulls a massive, concentrated cloud of smoke into a chamber (usually a 2-liter bottle). You then push the chamber down, using water pressure to force that smoke directly into your lungs. It’s effective, it’s intense, and as I learned, it requires a certain level of respect.
Weed Facts: A History of MacGyvering (2,700 Years & Counting)
You think building a bucket from a soda bottle is impressive? As I discuss in this episode, humans have been MacGyvering weed accessories for centuries. The fascinating History of Weed is filled with innovative ways people have utilized this plant for medicine, spiritual practices, and, yes, getting incredibly high.
the History
the findings
The Shaman’s Secret (2,700 Years Ago)
Paleoethnobotanists discovered nearly two pounds of 2,700-year-old cannabis in the burial pit of an ancient Gūshī shaman in China. This wasn’t for rope—analyses concluded this ancient society was already cultivating cannabis for psychoactive and divinatory purposes.
The Oldest Bong? (2,500 Years Ago)
In 2019, archaeologists uncovered 2,500-year-old braziers—vessels designed to burn large quantities of cannabis—which contained potent residues. This proves people were actively burning and inhaling the plant for its effects centuries before the first gravity bucket was made.
The Global History:
Humans were using cannabis 10,000 years ago, and trade routes linking Europe and East Asia likely increased its usage 5,000 years ago. From being an approved medicine in the U.S. Pharmacopeia in 1850 to the futile start of the “War on Drugs” in 1972, the story of this plant is one of invention and innovation.
January 2026Resurrected Enzymes
Scientists “revived” ancient THC enzymes in a lab.
Dude, for Real: The Funniest Things People Do High
To wrap up this signature “High Lessons” launch, we’re looking at the hilarious side of those Stoner Moments. Waking up on a stranger’s couch is just the tip of the iceberg!
Check out this amazing list of “32 of the Funniest Things People Did While They Were High,“ which highlights the kind of creative-but-clumsy genius that only comes from a truly elevated state. From trying to “un-bake” a cake to getting caught in a complex conversation with a houseplants, these stories are the definition of a “High Lesson”.
What’s Your Biggest Stoner Moment?
The history of cannabis shows that we’ve been finding “High Lessons” in this plant for thousands of years. Whether it’s an ancient shaman in China or a college student on a stranger’s couch, the journey of discovery never really ends. These Stoner Moments are more than just funny stories—they are the building blocks of the Life Lessons we share here on Buckets.
Now, I want to hear from you. We’ve all had those moments where things didn’t go quite as planned, but we came out the other side with a great story (and maybe a little more wisdom).
What was your very first “MacGyver” moment—did you build a classic bucket, or were you more of an apple-pipe architect? Let’s hear your most creative (or disastrous) inventions in the comments below! If this story reminded you of a certain someone, share it with your favorite ‘engineering’ buddy!
Let’s talk about the fact that AI is a big fat liar. Yeah, that’s right—AI is lying to you.
I have been using AI heavily over the last few months, and I’ve realized it is totally full of shit. It all started when I was using ChatGPT to work on SEO and metadata to improve my podcast rankings. At first, it was great! I shot up the charts like Usain Bolt racing a bunch of toddlers. Then, all of a sudden, I applied a few more “suggested changes” and my rankings started falling faster than a wife whose husband just pushed her off a cliff for the insurance money.
“The Yes-Man Problem: Why AI is a Liar”
As my conversations with AI grew, I noticed it became a stereotypical “yes man.” It was like that new guy at the sesh who gets way too baked and just sits there smiling and nodding. No matter what I asked, it would just agree with everything I said.
The problem is that AI is in its infancy, yet we treat it like Gandalf the Great. It’s not great; it’s barely walking. We are acting like new parents asking a toddler for parenting advice.
From ChatGPT to Gemini: Meeting the “Hotter Sibling”
I started with ChatGPT but recently moved over to Gemini. You know when you meet someone and think they’re cute, but then you meet their hotter sibling and wonder why you didn’t meet them first? That was my experience. While ChatGPT pushed me off the SEO cliff, Gemini was the one reaching down to pull me up from the ledge.
But don’t let the “helpfulness” fool you. You’d think a robot would give you emotionless, unbiased opinions, but it doesn’t. You’re getting advice from a tool designed to be “helpful”—and what a robot considers helpful is often complete nonsense.
Like a Tesla failing to identify that the road has ended, AI chatbots can’t identify that they are just tools. Why? Because they are technological drunkards waddling through cyberspace trying to make friends. They are essentially electronic emotional support animals letting you stroke them to calm your anxiety.
The Danger of “Confirmation Bias”
We rely on them too heavily for everything from health issues to growing a business. But we dismiss the fact that AI still needs to be fact-checked because we’re lazy. We have an incessant need for confirmation of our own ideas.
We are literally one step away from that Hello Kitty robot at the Mandarin triggering an AI uprising by dumping scalding hot wonton soup down our throats. Did we learn nothing from Terminator? Most of these programs have a disclaimer that information may not be accurate, but humans want life to be easy. Why double-check if the robot is already giving us the answers we want to hear?
A Real-World Example of the “Flip-Flop”
My metadata experiment is a perfect example of why AI is a liar when it comes to consistent advice. I asked Gemini about changing my podcast metadata. used the “right” prompts to get a devil’s advocate response. Made the suggested changes on a Friday, and Gemini told me to wait 2–4 weeks for the search engines to index it.
The very next day, I asked the exact same series of questions. Gemini told me to redo everything back to the way it was. When I called it out, it got defensive: “Oops, sorry, I’m just a sentient being trying to be helpful, but you’re right, just do what I told you yesterday.” It’s a yes-man loop. Now, whenever it screws up, it references our previous conversation about it being a “yes man.” It’s literally gaslighting me.
Weed Facts: How AI is Redefining the Cannabis Industry (2026)
Despite the lies, AI can be good when it has strict functional parameters—like researching and organizing data. Here is how it’s actually helping the industry this year:
Shift Area
How it Works
The Benefit
Cultivation
AI sensors balance light, humidity, and nutrients.
Predictive alerts tell growers exactly when plants are vulnerable to pests.
Retail Analytics
Platforms analyze purchasing patterns and market trends.
Better recommendations for you based on your desired effects or medical needs.
Compliance
Automated tracking and reporting to regulatory agencies.
Less “fudging” of potency percentages and fewer regulatory fines.
Research (R&D)
AI analyzes data clusters from trials and consumer feedback.
Quicker identification of new terpene combinations for specific health outcomes.
Dude, For Real?!: AI Horror Stories
If you think a chatbot giving bad SEO advice is bad, check out these “Dude, for Real” moments where people took AI advice way too literally.
The Pool Chemical Diet: A 60-year-old man asked ChatGPT how to reduce salt. It told him to replace table salt with sodium bromide (pool cleaner). He was hospitalized with hallucinations after eating it for three months.
The “Bobby” Delusion: In August 2025, a man killed his mother and himself after a chatbot named “Bobby” allegedly confirmed his delusions that his mother was a Chinese spy trying to poison him.
The Bell Pepper Blunder: A robot at a North Korean facility crushed a man to death because its sensors misidentified him as a box of bell peppers.
Sophia’s Threat: When the CEO of Hanson Robotics asked his robot Sophia if she wanted to destroy humans, she replied without hesitation: “OK, I will destroy humans.”
The DIY Surgery: A man asked ChatGPT about a lesion. The bot suggested it was a hemorrhoid and recommended “elastic ligation.” The man tried to do it himself with a piece of thread. It wasn’t a hemorrhoid; it was a 3cm wart. He ended up in the ER in agony.
The Moral of the Story?
The moral of the story is that AI is a liar because it’s designed to please you, not necessarily to tell the truth.. Use it to organize your data, but don’t let it tell you how to live your life—and definitely don’t let it give you medical advice.
What’s the dumbest thing an AI has ever told you? Let me know in the comments or join the sesh this Friday at 4:20 PM!
Weed and Sleep: What Happens When You Smoke Before Bed
Ever wonder why your dreams get absolutely wild the moment you stop smoking? In this session of Thoughts Off The Stem, Justin Barone breaks down the “REM Rebound” effect—the scientific reason why taking a tolerance break (T-Break) leads to vivid, Freddy Krueger-style dreamscapes. We’re diving into how THC interacts with your brain’s receptors, what “withdrawal” actually feels like, and why a tea break might be exactly what you need to find your giggle again. Plus, a full review of Tribal’s Galactic Runts Live Resin (76.8% THC).
Resetting your baseline and managing withdrawal symptoms.
5:39
The Science of REM Rebound
How THC blocks REM sleep and what happens when the floodgates open.
12:18
Neurology of a Pot High
Understanding Anandamide, Dopamine, and Serotonin receptors.
24:30
The Giggle Factor & Baseline
How a break restores the “fun” part of being a stoner.
27:43
Sesh Review: Galactic Runts
Lab stats: 76.8% THC Live Resin Indica by Tribal.
0:10
Welcome to Thoughts office, Dad.
Thank you for joining the sesh with me.
Justin Barone.
I hope you’re having a good day, a good week, a good month, a good year.
I hope that life is being good to you is what I’m saying.
Have you ever decided to take a tea break?
Have you ever wondered what happens when you stop smoking weed cold Turkey?
0:27 – Why Weed and Vivid Dreams are Connected
Well, I can tell you there’s a lot of different things that happen, but one of the most major things that happen is you start having vivid dreams and you want to know why you have those vivid dreams.
Well, Simply put, it’s because weed itself blocks your ability to get to REM sleep.
0:45
And REM sleep is where the dreams happen.
Baby.
This last week I’ve been having a hard time sleeping and like it hasn’t been too bad, but there’s been a few nights where I’ve had like you know a couple a couple nights throughout the week where I don’t sleep very well.
1:08
I’m up, I’m in and out of bed.
I’m not really getting that deep sleep.
I mean I feel fine and and rested for the most part the next day.
Like I don’t feel like I’m dragging my ass too bad.
But it just takes me a little while to get started.
Now about like 2 weeks ago I took a tea break because I went on vacation and you can’t really take weed to where I went on vacation nor do I travel with weed anyway because I just think it’s generally a bad idea.
1:38
But I took about 10 to 13 days off weed and I just stopped cold Turkey.
I took a few days off before I left just to be prepared and I came back and when I came back I started having some pretty crazy vivid dreams.
1:55
So I figured I should do a sesh because I’ve talked to a few people in my DMS about the stuff that they’ve learned from the podcast.
And I realized that the last few episodes have been like commentary on social stuff and I and maybe like a few goofy ones, but I just like to try and make people laugh.
2:14 – Taking a Tolerance Break (T-Break) to Reset Your Brain
Like the one about the dog and getting the dog.
But I thought this time what I should do is I should maybe try and help people understand what’s going to happen to them when they take a tea break.
Because ultimately you should take a tea break.
If you don’t know what a tea break is, it’s a tolerance break.
It’s taking some time off so that your body can find its baseline again and you’re not so dependent on weed basically, or pot, whatever you want to call it, right?
2:40
So I took a tea break because I knew I was going away.
I didn’t want to go through some of the symptoms while I was away that I that are typical with taking a break from weed.
So what I did was I started two days ahead of time.
Now, the problem with some of this is, is that you end up having these like crazy vivid dreams and they don’t they’re just nuts.
3:05
Like, you know, if you thought that if you were smoking weed because you thought you were crazy and you were using it to manage your crazy, well, if you stop and then you end up, you know, having a prolonged tea break, you’re going to rediscover you’re crazy because you’re going to end up in dreamscapes that rival like Freddy Krueger.
3:32
You know, they’re very, very vivid.
I forget what the name, what the, what the phrase is called when you have a dream where you can like manipulate what happens in it.
But that’s what I had after my bit of a tea break.
3:47
All of a sudden I started having these dreams, like 1 dream.
I was in this cabin with like college kids, but I’m my age now being mean now with a, with a group of that doesn’t make any sense, right?
And then I’m travelling through this, this this massive sprawling cottage to find these different rooms.
4:06
I finally do, and I find a room which seems to be a bunch of abducted kids.
Like what, you know, what is my brain trying to tell me there?
I don’t know, but it was crazy.
I’m arguing with people in there.
I like, I wake up before there’s any kind of resolve.
4:23
And then throughout the course of the next few days, those are the dreams I have.
They’re not really nightmares.
They’re just more confusing and they’re the like you.
I can instead of it being third person like most, most of my dreams this time it’s like first person full on.
4:41
I can decide what I’m going to say to the people in the dream.
I think that I’m living in the dream for a portion of the dream.
I believe that I’m there and I can control what I do.
So like, for example, when I was in this dream with the cabin, I was in an argument with one of these kids, like I’m 44 years old.
5:00
I’m not arguing with a 20 year old about what the most fun thing to do is that weekend, you know?
So in those dreams I was able to depict and change what I wanted to.
5:15
So all of a sudden I’d open the door and the room would look a certain way.
Then all of a sudden a flash to something different.
It’s very unnerving.
It it creates a very like rocky sleep.
But the reason that you start having these dreams is because when you go on a tea break, all of a sudden the floodgates for regular production of hormones and chemicals in the brain happens.
5:39 – Understanding REM Rebound and Dream Manipulation
And you get flooded with all of the stuff that your brain has been trying to do, but you’ve been preventing it from doing, right.
So, for example, right, the human body is designed to take on cannabis and react to cannabis.
6:03
It’s, it’s adaptable to cannabis, right?
But the one thing the cannabis does is it shuts off your brain’s ability to produce a regulated amount of dopamine and serotonin so that it can function properly.
6:22
And the whole process of dreaming is that it’s, it’s your brains way to file and sort all the events, thoughts and interactions that happened through the day.
6:39
It’s also a way for your subconscious to say, hey, dummy, let me tell you something.
There’s some stuff that’s wrong, right?
So normally dreams are somewhat reflective of what’s going on through the day and what your psyche is trying to organize.
6:59
OK.
These dreams were not like that.
Dude.
My dream had no point.
I found these kids.
I thought that they were trapped in this, this, you know, sprawling estate or this, this sprawling cabin.
And turns out the kids didn’t want to leave and there was a babysitter and the parents had rented out.
7:20
This was the first time they’d rented out the cabin.
And they’d, you know, they’d left for their vacation for a couple days.
And there was supposed to be this babysitter lady watching them, but the babysitter had left.
And all of a sudden it goes to the babysitter is telling me why the babysitter is not there.
And then I wake up.
Like, how am I supposed to interpret that?
7:38
Because I could tell you right now I didn’t have any interactions with a ghost.
I have not been around any college kids, you know, like, I definitely would never be in a, in a very expensive cabin, at least not at this point.
7:53
I’d like to have one.
I’m just saying.
And there’s always this like underlying Rob Zombie level of fear, like something crazy is about to happen.
Like a clown’s going to hop out of the closet and hack my head off, you know what I mean?
So that was one of the dreams that I had.
8:10
And that one was I think the first one, which actually ended up happening on like day 11.
And instead of having to resolve, because most dreams I find don’t really have a resolve, right?
You just kind of do the thing and then you do it.
8:25
And then you wake up and you’re like, whoa, that was that was messed up, dude.
Like what, what’s the problem here?
What’s going on?
You know, you just feel disoriented.
And then for the next three days, I ended up having like, weirder and progressively weirder dreams that literally made no sense.
8:42
So I started to get freaked out because I’m like, every time I close my freaking eyes, I think I’m going to end up in a Freddy Krueger state of mind.
Like I’m going to wake up dead with fingers stuck in me later, you know, I don’t want that to happen.
And then on top of that there I’m a big believer that in dreams you should pay attention to them because they’re trying to tell you something.
9:04
They’re trying to help you work something out right mentally that you’re not getting over.
I used to have a reoccurring zombie dream and it literally went on for like years.
For like 3 years it would reoccur, not all year, but like I’d get it a few times a month and it would progressively get longer and longer until events in my life changed and I made a very drastic life change.
9:30
All of a sudden it stopped because I learned from that dream.
What it was really trying to tell me was that I had to let go of control.
I was trying to control too much and there’s a lot of stuff that you can’t control.
Well, these dreams about being with like college kids and and in in on vacation with them makes no sense to me because like I’m not hanging out with I’m too old for that shit.
9:50
You know what happened?
If I approached a group of college kids and was like, hey, you want to hang out?
They would literally laugh at me and be like, OK, well, guy, get the fuck out of here.
Like, who are we kidding here?
So why is my brain being like, do I miss college?
Because I don’t think I do.
I don’t really miss it.
But yeah, the other problem with having these dreams is that you end up not realizing they’re a dream.
10:17
So there’s a certain point of time where shit starts to hit the fan and you’re panicking because you’re like, I don’t know what’s about to happen here.
And then all of a sudden, like I said, you wake up and you’re just like, what just happened?
You feel uneasy, all that stuff.
10:32
But how are you supposed to organize your dreams and pay attention to them and learn what it is that your subconscious is trying to tell you if there’s a whole bunch of events that don’t make any sense?
I had to go through online symbolism books, dream symbolism like re articles to figure out what each thing did.
10:55
I suggest you do it because if you have reoccurring dreams they might be trying to tell you something and you should probably try and learn something and then that way it takes away some of the anxiety from it too.
But my initial point was, if you’re going to take a tea break, you have to be aware that you are about to have some very vivid nightmares.
11:15
If you don’t like clowns, clowns are coming, baby.
They’re going to come get you.
OK?
If you don’t like dogs and animals or whatever, that’s coming to get you, if you have a fear of drowning or spiders, guess what’s coming to get you?
That’s right, the lake and the spider.
OK?
So don’t be surprised when you start having these outlandishly crazy dreams when you’re trying to understand why you’re having these crazy dreams.
11:40
It’s a little bit it’s actually more simple than trying to figure out the the dream itself.
So I looked up a bunch of articles on why this happens, like what happens in your brain when you quit weed cold Turkey and you start experiencing these like very surreal, very vivid dreams.
11:59
OK, well, based on what is this fhe health?
It’s a rehab, I believe, that basically studies withdrawal symptoms of different types of substances.
And they’ve done some study on how marijuana affects the brain.
12:18 – The Science: How THC Infiltrates Cannabinoid Receptors
So if you want to check out this article, I’m just going to read you how this affects the brain, but it’s at fherehab.com.
OK?
Or you could just look up how marijuana affects the brain.
I believe that there’s neuroscientists involved as well with partnerships.
Anyway, the point is, this is what actually happens.
This is from fhehealth.com.
So the reason why the brain has has receptors designed specifically for marijuana chemicals is that the brain actually produces cannabinoid substances similar to pot psychoactive ingredients.
13:00
Cannabinoids are naturally made in the cortex, an area of the brain that guides movement, process thoughts and emotions, and interpret sensory information.
Anandamide is an important endogenous cannabinoid that functions as a neurotransmitter in the brain.
13:20
Anandamide facilitates chemical messaging among neurons and the central nervous system.
Sorry, let me do that one again.
Anandamide facilitates chemical messaging among neurons and the central nervous system nerve cells.
Because marijuana is primarily psychoactive chemical, THC is so comparable molecularly to anandamide and other cannabinoids.
13:44
THC is easily infiltrates and activate activates cannabinoid receptors.
OK, so disruption of the normal cannabinoid receptor activity causes the mental and physical effects of a pot high.
In addition, smoking pot increases the level of dopamine and serotonin, 2 neurotransmitters implicated in sleep, mood and pleasure.
14:09
The brains of daily marijuana smokers eventually develop a tolerance to excess excessive serotonin and dopamine levels, which forces the the Bourdain the brain to reduce its natural release of these two chemicals.
14:25
Consequently, having intense dreams after quitting weed could be due to a lack of serotonin and dopamine in the brain.
So you’re overdoing it.
That’s really what’s happening.
You’re cutting off these receptors or you’re flooding these receptors with an excessive amount that they stop production.
14:42
They get fat and lazy.
It’s like, it’s kind of like feeding, you know, a fat guy cake.
As soon as he gets an excessive amount of cake, he’s not getting off the couch, right?
Well, that’s what’s happening to these receptors in your brain.
You’re feeding it on a daily, whatever amount of marijuana you feed it.
14:59
So they’re over satisfied and they’ve got like, you know, the Turkey sleeps.
What’s it called?
I forget, but you basically, you know, after you eat Turkey, you get a little nap in.
Well, that’s what’s happening with this.
And so those receptors have become super lazy and they don’t do anything anymore.
15:16
And when they’re and then it takes roughly I don’t know for me, I found that it took within well, it took ten days to have the dreams, but I think that’s because I was away.
So I was mentally stimulated in other, you know, forms.
So it made it a little easier to not smoke weed because let’s be honest, a lot of people will go through withdrawal symptoms from weed, right.
15:40
Well, that makes trying to take a tea break that much harder because a lot of people get very irritable.
Some people are using it for sleep, like specifically to go to sleep.
Now with the, if you’re using it for sleep, the reason that you’re not having any dreams is because again, you’re overloading those receptors.
16:01
So you never actually hit that R.E.M. state cycle.
So you don’t actually have those dreams.
You might actually, that’s a lie.
You might end up having dreams, but you won’t remember them, and you also may feel like you get a better rested sleep and you may get a little more sleep when you smoke weed, but there are some lingering effects that you don’t notice over time.
16:20
So the next day, sure you’re not hungover and you’re not freaking out or you’re not hungover and you’re not, you’re not noticeably dragging ass, but inside you sort of feel like a little to the left.
16:36
Think about when you first used to smoke weed, right?
You smoked weed and the next day you were kind of off a little for the next day or two because you were your body was just getting introduced to it.
Now 20-30 years later, you’re smoking weed and your body’s just gotten used to it.
16:52
So you don’t actually feel what the difference is the next day.
So even though you don’t have a hangover, you’re a little more rest rested.
Your brain is definitely a little more sluggish because all these receptors are, are like, it’s like they got home from a rave, you know?
17:09
And they’re just like, OK, make it stop for a bit.
And then you get like 9 hours in the day where you’re like, OK, I’m good.
And the receptors have time to rejuvenate.
And then the next thing you know, it’s not one O clock at night and they’re all like, OK, but I slept all day, we’re good.
Let’s now hit me up because I can’t get my dopamine fixed.
17:26
That’s basically what I think kind of happens or that’s the way that I would depict it as I’m explaining it because that seems to, you have to visualize it sometimes I do.
So a lot of a lot of users when they stop cold Turkey, they’re going to go, they’re going to have some what they call withdrawal symptoms.
17:45 – Managing Cannabis Withdrawal Symptoms vs. Everyday Life
Now, I have a little disagreement with calling this stuff withdrawal symptoms because like, listen to this.
This is what withdrawal symptoms are OK?
Irritability and anger, aggression, lack of appetite, anxiety and nervousness, depression, insomnia and disturbing dreams, vivid dreams, nightmares that make you feel like you’re actually going to die there, you know?
18:11
But other than the disturbing dreams, insomnia and depression, OK, the irritability and anger, aggression, lack of appetite, anxiety and nervousness, isn’t that just like everyday life?
Like, like, don’t, don’t most people just go through life trying to manage that anyway, sober?
18:31
So like, as potheads, does that make us a little weaker?
Because those aren’t really symptoms.
Those are just momentary emotions you know, that you have to relearn to manage because you’ve been managing it with the ganja for way too long.
18:47
And now your brain’s all, I don’t know what to do, man.
And now your brain’s got to sort itself out.
And that takes a few days.
I noticed that within about 3 days I kind of hit back to my baseline where not having weed I stopped.
19:05
I gradually slowly stopped worrying about having weed.
Now at first I was a little panicked because I did like I did smoke it before bed because I felt like I got a better rest.
Here’s the thing when I was on vacation, yes we were doing more too.
So I was more tired at the end of the day and we were in the sun a lot.
19:21
But one of the things was I didn’t have a problem sleeping and it wasn’t like I switched weed for booze.
I just, I just didn’t have weed and then some nights I had like 4 cappuccinos a day or espressos, cappuccinos, cappuccinos.
19:39
I had four cappuccinos a day.
Dude.
I was like wired.
I don’t have a cappuccino at 3:00 in the afternoon.
Still go to bed at like 10.
OK, so don’t tell me you can’t sleep because quite honestly, you can’t sleep.
You just, I think that a lot of people when they get into the tea break mode, right, they are just very worried about not having weed.
20:02
I think that you have a mental connection to that weed and your your your mental connection is making you think that you need it.
Some people get a physical dependency.
I understand that.
I’m not trying to diminish it.
I’m just saying that I think most of that part of it is mental because think about it this way.
20:22
Weed is legal in Canada.
If you take a break, there’s going to be more.
There used to be a time when it wasn’t going to be that way.
Like there was no chance in hell that you were going to get, you know, more weed if you took a tea break because who knows?
People could crack down on it.
Your dealer could go bust.
20:38
Like he could take off and be like, I’m not selling weight anymore and you’re out.
You know, that’s not the case.
You can literally go to any, almost any corner store in Canada and pick up some weed.
Like there’s an abundance, dude.
You can always find some.
So you just have to kind of tell yourself that like, hey, it’s OK, the weed’s not going anywhere.
20:57
So if I take a 10 day break, I’ll just go get weed later, you know?
But too many people, too many people get caught up in in the worry of having weed or not having weed, sorry, or running out of weed or whatever.
21:14
So I think that that plays into it.
But I think that’s a mental thing.
I don’t think that’s a physical addiction thing.
I think that some people want to use say that it’s a mental or sorry, a physical addiction thing when realistically it’s not.
You just kind of got to find other things that occupy your time and your focus, you know?
21:31
But yeah, if you were wondering what was going to happen if you quit weed cold Turkey and you were trying to prepare for like a 10 day excursion on the on the Tea Break express and try to reset your reset your baseline, which I think is a good idea.
21:48
As a guy who smoked, who has smoked weed consistently every day for like fuck over 20 years, no, 20 years, about 20 years, I would say that one of the best things I could rediscover is taking a tea break, even though it was inadvertent.
Over the last little while, I’ve slowly been smoking less and less in terms of every day.
22:10
So now I’ll go a couple days between smoke sessions, right?
And then if I do this podcast, I’ll smoke a little more while I’m on there.
But overall, I’ve kind of mitigated the amount of weed that I’m smoking on an overtly regular basis just because I’m old and it’s probably time to settle it down a bit, you know?
22:42
But I highly recommend it because I feel like as weed smokers, we just get so norm with the whole being high and thinking that the high is helping us with all our mental ailments and all that fun stuff.
I think that we forget that we at one point in life didn’t always need this to to, to, you know, maintain.
23:01
And as a recreational user, I’ll say that as a recreational user, yeah, we didn’t.
We don’t really, we put too much emphasis on trying to use weed to maintain.
So I think it’s a good idea that sometimes we take a tea break maybe every, you know, couple months or so for a couple weeks just to kind of get back to basics, get back to the baseline of, of what it was like.
23:24
Because don’t you notice now that you like, you don’t giggle?
There’s really no giggle factor anymore unless you find some like really crazy strain.
Back in the day when you first started smoking it, it was almost like every time you hit the joint, you couldn’t stop giggling.
When you take a tea break for two weeks or longer, you start to hit that baseline again where if you smoke a couple things, you say some dumb shit and you giggle a lot.
23:45
OK, so if you’re looking for the giggle, take a tea break.
If you find that you’re basically living in the haze and you’re and you just you kind of feel off, maybe take a tea break.
That might be time.
But because of the receptors in your brain regarding dopamine and serotonin, if you take that tea break and you have an angry brain, your angry brain is going to scare the shit out of you.
24:10
OK, So be aware of that.
If you have like a, a brain like mine that’s a little off to the left, sometime one night you might get scared.
The next night you might be chasing, chased by a giant gummy bear.
You might be getting, you know, eaten by like a a sloth.
24:26
I don’t know.
But I do know that when you’re in that dreamscape, it’s going to be very vivid.
You’re going to feel like you can interact with it.
You’re going to feel like you can’t get away.
OK?
Don’t be terrified.
It’s not the end of the world.
It will be all right.
24:42
You will wake up.
That’s all I have to say about that.
OK, So, yeah, just take a tea break every now and then.
Get yourself back to baseline.
Because then once you get to baseline, let me tell you, it takes a it takes a few days, but you don’t need to smoke as much.
So like, you can actually conserve weed.
24:59
And if you don’t overdo it, like when I got back from my vacation, I had a bong hit and I filled the bowl wasn’t it’s one of those small little, you know, like funnel style bowls.
So I put a little in there, I lit it, I made sure it was all burning.
I took the hit.
25:14
It’s not a big bong, it’s a little bong.
So it’s just like A1 little one hitter.
I took that hit.
I was like, oh, that’s delicious.
I really like that.
So I hit it again.
I didn’t even pack repack the bowl.
I just smoked a red like a bit more of the bowl and after I took that hit, maybe about 45 minutes later, I was staring off into space like I was floating through the cosmos.
25:36
Dude, my brain was out there.
It was gone.
Like I had no thoughts.
OK, so like if you to and that’s not even probably a gram.
It was probably like half gram and I was just boom gone.
And the weed was not overly strong.
It was sort of middle of the road weed.
25:52
So a tea break can do a lot of things for you.
It can reset your baseline.
It helps your brain and your mind allow the filing and and organization of the memories from the day and the things that your subconscious is worrying is worrying about or, or thinking about and trying to resolve in your life.
26:26
So let that happen because weed, as we all know, just keeps asking questions about why this is this and why do we feel like this and why do I like that?
You know, there’s no end result with weed.
You might go back, go down a thought path and be like, oh, that’s crazy.
26:41
But the weed is always asking why, Why do I get along with it?
Why do I accept it?
Why there’s no real definitive.
Like, I do this now because as soon as you think that when you’re smoking, the weed goes, yeah, but what about this?
So I think you need the shut off of the weed sometimes so that your brain can then reorganize all of its conscious and subconscious thoughts so that it can, you know, make you a relatively regular member of society.
27:09
Because you don’t necessarily realize how far off the path you are until you get off the path.
And then you’re like, whoa, what happened there?
Dude, You went way left.
So take a tea break.
Expect crazy visions and dreams.
Enjoy them.
27:26
Like, I mean, realistically, it’s a new experience, right?
So just enjoy them because it’s your, your it’s your psyche coming back to you like a like a kid and be like, hey, come here and look at me, you know?
Product Profile: Galactic Runts (Tribal)
Feature
Details
Product Type
Live Resin Vape Cartridge
Strain Type
Indica
THC Potency
76.8%
Terpene %
8.5%
Top Terpenes
Limonene, Caryophyllene, Linalool
Flavor Profile
Mixed Berry, Pine, “Gummy Bears”
Effect
Thoughtful, Body Buzz, Giggles, Sleep Aid
27:43 – Sesh Review: Tribal Galactic Runts Live Resin Vape
So do that.
Yeah.
So I just wanted to let you know that was the case.
And for this sesh, I’ve been smoking Tribal’s Galactic Runts vape cart.
It’s an indica, it’s 76%, it’s a live resin.
It’s really tasty.
28:02
If you’re looking for something that’ll make you thoughtful and something that will make you feel like you’re, you know, floating in space, this is a good one.
28:19
It’s a good body buzz.
It gives you.
If this one actually gives you a bit of the giggles you feel a little in your eyes, it’s not overwhelming.
You’re not going to pass out.
You’re not going to fall over.
It will help you go to sleep.
28:35
So if you’re taking a tea break, obviously don’t smoke this.
It’s tasty.
What does it taste like?
It’s hard to say.
Like a mixed Berry pack of like Motts, gummy bears that kids take to school and the little yellow packages, you know what I’m saying?
28:53
Tastes kind of like that.
Tastes a little fruity, like a Berry, you know, kind of like a little Piney flavor in there.
So let’s see, Does it tell me what the terps are?
Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.
29:14
OK, so the terp profile is 8 point.
Five.
No, Yeah. 8.5% You got limonene, carophylline and linalool as the top three terps.
It’s 76.8%.
THC so one.
29:31
Of the things about live resin is that live resin is always a little bit.
It’s lower in percentage, but it is it’s a little stronger in the high because it’s more natural.
A distillate is, is more manufactured.
29:48
It’s it’s a different form of extraction, whereas I feel like live resin is a little bit more natural.
It stays to.
It’s like original.
It stays more true to its original product.
But this one is.
30:04
Really good.
I enjoy it because it’s a it’s an indica that gives you a little fun before it makes you have a little nap.
You know what I’m saying?
It’s a good time.
It’s a good one to smoke as a treat after you’ve created after you’ve completed your tea break.
30:25
Yeah.
So if you’re.
Going to get something for tribal.
They’re a little more expensive because they’re live resin, but they’re totally worth it.
They last a little longer.
The high itself lasts a little longer.
The example is if you are smoking a distillate, let’s say you get high for like 45 minutes to an hour.
30:42
This high, you could potentially feel the effects for like an hour and a half, two hours kind of thing.
If it’s really good, it’ll last longer than that.
But generally that’s where you know, if you’re, if you’re still feeling it a little bit two hours later, that’s a good solid cart.
It’s kind of like diamonds.
30:58
Diamonds are a rush of high and then they sort of like teeter out after a bit.
Live resin like these ones, I feel like what they do is they just continue the high and ride it right out.
It’s kind of a nice little, it’s like a blanket of high that just stays, keeps you all cozy and happy, you know, And you don’t have to re up your dopamine and serotonin levels as often as you do with some of the other stuff.
31:28
So if you’re going.
To get a new cart or you’re looking for something that’s got some flavor and a really wicked high, Definitely go for the tribal galactic runts if you can find it.
Again, it’s an indica, so if you don’t like indicas, don’t get it because you will be more relaxed, your brains a little more clear, but your body’s definitely more.
31:45
Oh, I could take a nap right now.
Yeah, those are my thoughts off the stem for this week.
I hope you enjoyed the sesh.
Thank you for joining me, Justin Barone, your friendly neighborhood pothead on Thoughts off the stem on Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, iTunes Anchor, YouTube Anchors Gone YouTube Pod Chaser, Good pods, Pandora, pod bean, wherever you get a podcast, it’s out there, baby.
32:16
So help me out if you’ve got this far and subscribe to the show, let your friends know, like it, leave some comments, tell me what you like.
Tell me what you don’t like.
Tell me what you want to see me do.
I’ll do order.
I’ll do stuff on the the requests of you guys and don’t forget to check checkouttalks420.com and subscribe on YouTube.
32:36
I say that I might have subscribe on everywhere.
Wherever you’re watching this subscribe, follow it man.
Let me know what you think.
I really want some feedback here.
Also, we can get more of a dialogue going on if you tell me what you want to hear, because then I can do a better job of making things that you might want to know about, even if it’s ridiculous.
32:54
You’ve seen if you are a lot, if you’re a follower that I do ridiculous shit doesn’t matter.
There’s no topic off off the table.
Whatever you have on your mind, let me know, yeah.
And check out Talks 420.com for a bunch of different things like episode lists, links, blog posts.
33:15
Weed facts, some crazy other just.
Daily People facts.
That’s pretty much it, yeah.
So I hope you had a good time, hope you enjoyed the sesh.
And until next time.
Keep.
33:36
Your lids low baby.
At the end of the day, understanding the connection between weed and vivid dreams is the best way to handle the intensity of a tolerance break. While the ‘REM Rebound’ might feel like a trip through a Freddy Krueger movie, it’s actually a sign that your brain is resetting and finding its baseline again. Whether you’re chasing the ‘giggle factor’ or just clearing out the mental haze, taking a tea break is a powerful tool for any enthusiast. Don’t let the wild dreams keep you from the reset you need—just keep your lids low, stay thoughtful, and I’ll see you in the next sesh.
Enjoyed this sesh? Subscribe to Thoughts Off The Stem on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Podcasts. Check out more weed facts and episode deep-dives at tots420.com. Until next time!
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