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Spice Experience Report Excerpts
by Various Authors
Jun 2009
Citation:   Various. "Spice Experience Report Excerpts." Erowid Extracts. Jun 2009;16:17.
Spiced Up My Life!#
by Shruming Human
I have smoked Spice Gold at least 100 times in the last eight months. I worry about the health risks, as well as aspects of psychological addiction that arise, and I will limit my smoking in the coming year.

I find Spice Gold quite similar to marijuana, with maybe 70 percent overlapping effects. It definitely doesn't give me the energy that I used to get from marijuana. Like pot, it's a bit cloudy, and I even get a similar feeling in my body. Spice provides good mental energy, focused and creative, but doesn't seem to provide much of a mood lift. I don't feel bad, but I'm certainly not blowing smoke rings of happiness as I experienced at times with pot. In some way, I feel immune to depressed feelings, but I also feel resistant to ecstatic feelings, as if Spice heightens my mood but also limits the possibilities.

I can take three to four hits and get the full experience. When I have smoked almost double this amount, the effects were only slightly stronger, but lasted a long time. It took me hours to fall asleep after smoking it. Just like when I used to get very high on marijuana, my mind raced uncontrollably, forbidding sleep, and it wasn't especially fun. The lethargy the following day was nasty.

Similarities to Marijuana: "Stony" effect, dreamy/wavy feelings, impairment of short-term memory, change in subjective experience of time duration, mental energy, creativity enhanced, music enhanced, some tactile enhancement, anti-nausea (though not as strong as pot), inability to sleep.

Differences from Marijuana: Longer duration, less mood enhancement, less physical energy, slightly less distance from consensus reality, less obviously altered; a lazier overall feeling.

Marijuana tears me open, emotionally and spiritually, in some ways that Spice doesn't touch. But Spice may touch some areas that marijuana doesn't touch. It certainly seems worth exploring in an effort to reap some deeper rewards.



Spiced Out in a Drought#
by PippUK
I had found Spice Gold too mild, so I ordered the strongest formulation of the product line that I could find. Assuming that the chemical(s) in Spice must be weaker than THC, and thus with a measure of bravado, I rolled a couple of big joints one night and proceeded to smoke them while reading before bed.

I was three-quarters through the second joint when I had to acknowledge that I was extremely stoned. It was not the familiar ground of THC that I found myself in, though. It was a colder and less welcoming vista. Minor hallucinatory visuals seemed to give things a shimmer, but in a naturalistic way, rather than a phosphorescent way. All euphoric properties of THC seemed to be suppressed, and the dysphoria seemed intensified, though I had some interesting trains of thought.

I have never experienced intrusive paranoid thoughts on cannabis. But this substance gave me a dose of paranoia, and my mouth was as dry as the inside of Ghandi's flip-flop. As I lay in bed, I had a full-on panic attack. I took control of my breathing and calmed myself. But this conscious control was not connected directly to my autonomic nervous system, whose response lagged by 30 seconds. My heartbeat began to ramp up frighteningly, I could feel the sudden strong jerks of that poor muscle in my chest, and I felt that each breath was scarcely enough to deliver the oxygen I needed. I was really quite scared. I was able to eventually get some sleep, but not great sleep.

There is a connection between the feel of this and good old herb, but the duration of effects seem drawn out. Like it hits me mentally full-on half an hour after smoking, and then leaves me in a state of mild confusion and anxiety for up to eight hours afterwards.

I can't say that I will never re-order Spice, because during a drought I have a tendency to clutch at straws. However, it did well and truly whup this hardened weed smoker most surprisingly.



More Potent Than Mary Jane#
by Dude 5ht2c
I am a 30-year-old male, slightly overweight. I quit smoking cannabis in college, primarily because of the rapid heartbeat and chest pains I developed. It was no longer a "kind buzz" for me.

13:15—Loaded a very small bowl of Spice Diamond. Took one medium hit and held it in for 20 seconds before exhaling. Unlit, it has a vanilla scent, but lit, it smells like burnt herbs, not a pleasant smell.

13:17—Began to feel the altered consciousness, almost identical to the feeling that cannabis initially produces.

13:25—Realized that this stuff really works, and was excited that I didn't yet feel any panic.

13:40—Started having problems concentrating. I was zoning in and out like I do on cannabis, but more pronounced.

13:50—My heart started beating rapidly: I mean, freaking light speed. Panic set in and I started pacing. I'm guessing that my heart rate was 140 to 160 bpm. All physical sensation was enhanced, but delayed.

14:00—Contemplated calling 911. For a moment, I felt as if I was waiting to die and that my heart would pop at any moment.

14:15—I decided to take a shower and try to sober up. After a while, I finally was at a good place mentally.

14:35—I was still having uncomfort-able sensations in my chest and rapid heartbeat, which came and went.

15:00 to 18:00—Maintained cannabis-like high. Felt LSD-like coldness, a little psychedelic feeling. Heartbeat still fairly erratic, but not at a dangerous level.18:00 to 21:00—Very gradual come-down. I was able to sleep around 22:30 or so.

The Next Day—No major fatigue. Still a little spacey.

Conclusion & Opinion This level of panic and heart rate trumped any cannabis effects I've ever had. The "high" feelings were the same as those from cannabis, other than the lack of warm/fuzzy feeling.