DOSE:		smoked	Unknown
		smoked	Tobacco

BODY WEIGHT:

135 lb

It has been about one week since I smoked an unknown substance, sold as cannabis. I currently have an infection in my upper respiratory area, diagnosed by a PA at an urgent care facility. I'm concerned that my throat has been burned in some way, though when I was seen, I was too ashamed to admit my stupidity to the PA. Mainly because I was also promoting a new restaurant opening tomorrow. One which prides itself on local, quality, healthy ingredients and the surrounding lifestyle.

I am a 28 year old white male, experienced mostly with cannabis. Tobacco does not agree with me. Alcohol neither, though I do imbibe approximately on monthly occasion. I have used psilocybin mushrooms a few times, LSD twice, opioids a handful of times, opium twice, and cocaine on and off for two months. With my experience, I still am kicking myself for doing something this stupid. I always thought I was smarter than that. Normally I am distrustful to a fault.

My friend Tre and I went out to smoke one night, as we did fairly often for the couple of months since I moved here. I am new to this area, and Tre has been here for 7 years. The city is known for being a bit sketchy in places. I met Tre after he sold me some bud on the street. We eventually hung out and smoked together and built a friendship. I trust him. He of Haitian descent, is four years younger than me and only smokes pot. He has the connections to get bud safely, whereas I have to really watch who I'm dealing with. Race is a real issue, but not an issue for this report.

On the evening of April 28th, his usual connects were out. We didn't really need to smoke, but felt like trying to cop some anyway. Tre was leaving the city soon for the west coast, so we knew our time together was running out. We went down a couple of known streets to see if anyone is outside looking to sell, to no avail. On a last-ditch effort, I drove past a low-income housing place and was flagged down. Looking back on this, it was so stupid on our parts, but I mostly feel like it is my fault. I am older and should have been wiser.

Tre asks if he's got bud. He confirms, and gets in the back seat. After a little conversing about where we're from and the amounts we're looking for, I drive around to the inside parking lot. We're both a little on edge since we don't know this guy. He goes into the building for a few minutes and comes back to Tre's window.

'Smell this shit.'

Tre does, gives me the nod, and I give him ten bucks for what looks like a nickel or dime. He tries to sell us another container of plant material for ten, then five. We decline.

After he leaves, I smell the bag. It smells like bubblegum-flavored stuff, and that's what I said. I don't know why it didn't register to me then that this guy was selling us some other shit. Neither of us caught on to the fact that it was clearly not pot. I didn't even look at the bag in the light. What an idiot I am. Seriously, I've been hating myself every day since then for being this oblivious at that time. It could have been much worse, but what happened was bad enough.

We get a blunt and roll it. This is around 11pm, I'll estimate. We're both happy to have finally scored tonight. Little did we know..

Immediately after smoking, I feel kind of manic. I can relate it to (insufflated) cocaine. It still hasn't hit me that this isn't pot. I started talking a lot, which is uncommon for me when I smoke the real stuff. It did feel like weed at first.

We continued to drive around, but I didn't feel comfortable. More uncomfortable than normal - I usually want to go home after I smoke, because driving around the city at night isn't really fun. Shortly before I get a few blocks from Tre's crib, is when it hit us.

'I'm feeling something I've never felt before,' says Tre.

Oh shit. Fuck. What is this that we just smoked a whole blunt of (approximately half the bag, maybe .5g in weight though I cannot confirm this), without knowing what it was. Tre says he is getting anxious, and his stomach is hurting. It could be because he didn't eat much today. He doesn't eat that well anyway (fast food, gummy worms etc). My stomach wasn't bothering me, but the pieces started falling into place. My heart was racing. I became hyper-aware of my body. I became extremely nervous and worried mostly for Tre, but also for myself. I am the one driving after all. I tried to differentiate my anxiety from placebo. Am I nervous because he is nervous? Am I thinking only the worst (will I die? Will I start tripping?), and not being in the moment?

After dropping him off, which I didn't want to do but had to, I tell him to keep in touch via text. I kept the bag of whatever-it-was. I drove 20 minutes home in the same state as before. Extremely nervous (maybe I was shaking, not sure if it was in my head) and at heightened awareness of my surroundings. I should also note that I was really tired after a long day of work without much sleep the night before. I was not tired again until much later - around 2:30am on the 29th, approximately.

When I got home, I noticed I couldn't sit down easily. My appetite was nil. I had told Tre via text I thought it may have been laced with uppers of some sort, because that is all I could relate it to. He told me he threw up three times (which was in about 30 minutes time). I kept pacing around the house, trying to get my heart rate down. It was well over 100, though I couldn't concentrate for long enough to count for a whole minute. I tried to type out what I was feeling at the moment, but again, couldn't concentrate and sit down for that long. I noticed by body shook with every heart beat. My fingertips were not purple, but I knew my blood pressure was very high. I had done enough cocaine to the point of purple fingertips before, and I was very scared. I did a nystagmus test on myself with my cell phone, and it was positive at full deviation.

After finally inspecting the contents of the bag (a little late, I know), I immediately realized it wasn't weed. I thought it may have been laced weed, but it was not weed at all. The material was green and brown flakes of assumed plant material with a strong bubblegum scent. Damn I am stupid for smoking this. I wouldn't eat anything that smelled like that. I try to stay away from artificial anything and generally eat well. I had to remove the bag from sight, because it instantly brought on feelings of self-hatred and shame.

I did what I could to stay calm. I wasn't keeping track of time very well. I contemplated taking myself to the hospital after some time, because I wasn't sure if it was going to end. I was concerned for Tre too. He said via text that all he could do is sit in one spot on the couch with his arms and legs crossed. I decided to play a game of Dota to try to stay in one spot, calm down and pass time. Somewhere during this time, I was sure that I had peaked and was since coming down. Heart rate was slowing, and I could actually remain seated comfortably.

I am providing what I wrote that night, only edited Tre's name (saved 4/29/15 1:19am):
what a night. i'm flying. tre and i are too desperate for herb. we wind up copping from a dude who called himself [ ]. shit smelled like bubblegum and upon inspection (for some reason this takes place after we smoke it), is certainly not cannabis. it's some flaky green and brown stuff sparingly dotted with white hair. i can't even keep it in my sight because it brings immediate shame and fear to my psyche. i kept it in case i do go to a hospital so i can provide a sample.

i brushed my teeth and showered, which was good. my mouth and throat feel funny. kind of numb but minty. i feel unsettled, worried for my friend. i am closing my eyes to type as to lessen stimuli and enhance the feeling. it's an odd feeling of upness. i do not like it. i would not do this if i knew what it was. my thoughts wander to being monitored at a hospital because i am worried.

although i do feel i can ride this out. i am concerned for the capacity of my body. i am not one to be full throttle, and now i feel such. hell. i have not written this much in months. i was tired as hell before i went out, yawning.

now, not at all.

very worried for my friend
(End text)

In the days following, we conversed about the event we both experienced. I had felt off-baseline for about two days afterwards. I had strong feelings of anger (unusual for me) and even thought about setting up the guy who sold to us and hitting him with my car. I wouldn't do that, but I wanted to mostly because of what happened to Tre. My throat was dry for days afterwards, probably culminating in an infection confirmed by a PA. Tre also related his dry throat feeling to me.

Here I am, almost a week later. I'm hoping this soreness in my throat goes away. I do think it is related to what I smoked that night, and probably why I have an infection. I did a quick search and found that there has been some synthetic weed that is 'bubblegum flavor,' and has caused serious problems to others before. Since I don't know what it is, I can't say it is that, but I highly suspect it was. Tre had told me that 'spike' is a thing around here -- spike being fake/synthetic weed. For ten bucks, it couldn't have cost the guy too much. I would have given him ten for nothing if I knew he was going to give me that shit. I just wonder what else he was trying to sell us for five more bucks, and what could have happened if it was something else. Something that severely affected my driving ability -- I could have hurt others and myself that way.

This is a report to bring awareness of the dangers of copping weed from strangers in a sketchy city. It seems painfully obvious when written that way, but it can happen. It only takes once to let a punch through when you drop your guard. Be careful.

Exp Year: 2015	ExpID: 106130
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 28
Published: Dec 10, 2022	Views: 392
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Cannabis (1), Unknown (120) : Small Group (2-9) (17), Hangover / Days After (46), What Was in That? (26), Difficult Experiences (5)