DOSE:		oral	Melatonin	(pill / tablet)
		smoked	Cannabis	(plant material)

BODY WEIGHT:

240 lb

I am a 19-year-old daily cannabis user. I started smoking at age 13 and my use has steadily increased. From occasional use on a monthly basis to presently several times a day, my experience with pot has become more of a lifestyle than recreation.

I started smoking as a social activity and it remained that way until I turned 16. I started hanging out with a group of kids a year older than me. They were the group at school that everyone knew for their insane and excessive drug use. I began to smoke on a daily basis with my new group. Things continued this way for a while, probably about a year. While this groups use of “harder” drugs like ecstasy and acid (and eventually oxycotin) increased so did my love and use of ganja.

I believe that it was about six months before my 18th birthday when I realized that I was more than just “in love” with weed. I was a habitual smoker. The day started becoming harder and harder to approach without the use or known future use of marijuana. I labeled myself an “addict,” and began to attend meetings of Narcotics Anonymous.

NA really started to help my self-esteem and provided me with the structure I felt I needed in my life. Marijuana consumed my life, so in its absence, NA became the part of life I looked forward to. But slowly as I came closer and closer to legal voting age, I realized that I was not an addict in the sense that others in NA were. In fact, I discarded the label completely after the realization that my whole sense of what drugs were and weren’t, was merely a product of the drug education I had received. Public schools are tools of the government in the sense that they promote all kinds of drug information that is biased and exaggerated. I now understand that my perception of my “problems” with weed stemmed from a government propaganda machine. The information provided in school says, “don’t do drugs, because they’ll do you.” The information is not presented in an unbiased manner in order to lead students to their own conclusions. Yes, we know that some drugs can cause serious health risks and can pose problems to our society, but the scale of impact that drugs have on society is very small.

The only life that is truly affected by my marijuana use is my own. I realized since my lifestyle was my choice and I wasn’t completely satisfied I must be the one to take action to put it in the direction I want. I did some searching on the web and found my answer.

Melatonin is a wonder hormone (classified on Erowid as a “Smart Drug,”). To put it in simple terms, melatonin is the answer to the negative or unwanted affects of marijuana (i.e. loss of memory, loss of concentration, loss of motivation, sleep problems, lack of dreams, and depression). I found that taking a regimented dose of melatonin each night has reset my circadian rhythm and renewed my love of weed. I no longer lack motivation to get out of bed, I’m started to have and remember more dreams, and I can concentrate better in school.

I take between 1.5 and 3mg about an hour before I go to bed each night at about the same time (a schedule is best as not to disrupt regular sleep patterns if you are lucky enough to have them). Whether you smoke or not after you take the melatonin is up to you since I have noticed no major difference either way. The only small difference is a good one. If you smoke about twenty minutes after you take your dose, then as you fall asleep you will have the most wonderful feelings. Sometimes you feel a little floating sensation or other euphoria; it’s like your starting on a magic carpet ride to sleepy land. But if you don’t smoke the benefits of melatonin are not reduced. I think that even if you don’t smoke or use other drugs melatonin may add some benefits to your sleeping and waking hours.

Melatonin restored my motivation, alertness, and reduced my depression caused by habitual cannabis use. I have been taking the dose for about three weeks so it may be difficult to say whether these results are long-term, but as of now there is no sign of relenting.

I recommend that you read the label on the bottle of melatonin. Some people should not use it. It is a naturally occurring hormone, however depending on your age and health (especially of your endocrine system, or hormonal system) melatonin use may not be an option. Children or teenagers should definitely not use melatonin. If you are not done with puberty, according to my research of biology texts, melatonin may not be the only hormone playing a part in your sleep patterns. It is difficult to say what kind of effect melatonin my have on teens, but I conjecture that it may cause depression and difficulty falling asleep or waking up. Don’t think that just because you have body hair that you can take melatonin. Be honest with yourself, if you think that you may not have an average adult hormonal balance do not use melatonin.

One other point to note is that melatonin may make you groggy when you first start taking your dose. In the morning, melatonin is still swimming about your brain and it will not go through the process of reuptake until you get moving. In simpler terms, you will only be groggy for a short time if you get up and get going. For me it takes about 15 minutes to realize that I just had an extremely fitful night of sleep and that I am not fatigued or at all ready to return to bed. If it lasts more than 30 minutes or an hour you are probably taking too much or dosing too close to the time you wake. Giving about six hours between when I dose and wake does it. I recommend knowing about how many hours of sleep you need to feel good in order to assess how much time you need for the dose to wear off.

Also, don’t take any melatonin if you’ve been consuming alcohol especially in large quantities. Alcohol is known to disrupt sleep patterns, but don’t think that melatonin will reset a circadian rhythm disrupted by alcohol. A dose of melatonin will react adversely with alcohol causing a long but unfit sleep. Lactic acid will build up in your muscles from this artificially long sleep and you will wake up with body aches and possibly a worse headache than any regular hangover. You may also experience nightmares because the melatonin reacts with the psychoactive effects of alcohol. Just don’t mess with melatonin and alcohol, besides, if you’ve had enough to drink you’ll pass out soon enough anyway. Good luck. You may want to consult a doctor about taking melatonin especially if you are under 18 or over 50.

P.S.
I only smoke the good shit, so I don't know if melatonin will fix the ills of smoking dirt.

Exp Year: 2002	ExpID: 12521
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Feb 17, 2002	Views: 142,036
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Cannabis (1), Melatonin (94) : Alone (16), Health Benefits (32), Addiction & Habituation (10), Combinations (3)