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I get anxiety when I smoke and am way too young to attribute it to any sort of “reeder madness” - so it’s definitely a thing. I don’t smoke super often, and don’t always get anxiety when I do, but it definitely gave me terrible anxiety when I was younger.

If anyone else gets anxiety when they smoke, I recommend smoking sativa instead of indica (nicknamed “in da couch” because of its anxiety effects). I was given the tip from a stoner friend, and it’s fsirly true in my experience.

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The same happens to me, but the next day I feel a significant decrease in anxiety. I wonder if the pro-anxiety effects of THC are overcome by the anti-anxiety effects of CBD over time (e.g. the anxiety effects of THC last for a few hours, the milder anti-anxiety effects of CBD last for a couple of days).

FWIW, I have the opposite reaction to different strains. Sativa gives me anxiety, while indica makes me want to relax and take a nap. Really hope researchers can start testing effects so we can figure out where this can help anxiety. So many people I know struggle with it; I'd love for them to have a way to treat it.

I hear this repeated a lot in different variations, some people say the exact opposite, but it's untrue.

There's no real definition of what a '100% sativa' or '100% indica' even is. All we have to go by are characteristic leaf patterns between indica/sativa. In short, the whole 'indica body buzz' thing is unfounded. In fact, I remember hearing the EXACT opposite of what you heard a few years ago. I was told that sativa caused anxiety and indica was more calming.

The reality is that the only differences between strains are in combinations of THC to CBD. Plants with higher CBD and lower THC will be more 'calming' and plants with higher THC and lower CBD will get you more high, which can produce more anxiety in people sensitive to THC.

In general the rule of thumb is sativa is a head high and indica is a body high.

woosh

This is a good first-order approximation, but there are other cannabinoids which influence the effects: CBN, THCV, and others [0]. Additionally, based on first-hand anecdata, I think there is good reason to believe that the terpene profile can have a big effect on the experience, as well as the flavor [1].

But, yeah, if THC causes anxiety for you, try to never go above a 1:1 THC:CBD ratio. For comparison, most sativas are around 200:1 (20% THC : .1% CBD). Since CBD is legal over the counter, you can usually enforce this ratio, regardless of the THC source.

[0] https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/list-major-cannabin... [1] https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/terpenes-the-flavor...

I agree I was oversimplifying, of course there are other cannabinoids in weed that can affect the high. What doesn't though, is how sativa or indica a strain is.

1) you got the 2 mixed up, it's indica that's the in-da-couch. Sativa is the brain-high.

2) there's little evidence to prove that sativa/indica strains affect your high. The curing, drying, growing of each individual plant alters the THC-CBD-CBG ratios way more than strain or species.

Point number 2 is utterly untrue as any experienced cannabis enthusiast could tell you. Even if people don't know the strain or what the effects are it's pretty reliable that it will either energize them or send them to sleep.

It's not untrue, there is no definition genetically of what a pure sativa/indica strain even is, see my other comment here.

What they were saying is anyone with experience in cannabis can tell you after a few minute of smoking if it's sativa or indica. Doesn't matter if there is no genetic definition, there are obvious differences.

There aren't, and those subjective reports can't tell us anything related to how 'sativa' or 'indica' some strain is. The only thing that affects high is CBD-THC ratios (and possibly other alkaloids) & those are independent of strain.

Interesting - I had assumed the opposite! I picked up a few different blends a while back hoping to address some (relatively mild) social anxiety and it worked well at first but later started giving me horrible anxiety (oddly only later that night - I'd take a small dose in the morning and be fine all day, then freak out from 1am to 4am.) Tried a bunch of different blends of thc:cbd with little luck, but I was sticking mostly to indica thinking sativa was more likely to cause anxiety.

I think they have this the wrong way round. Indica is known for its relaxation effects. Couch lock isn't due to anxiety but relaxed passivity, and sativa strains tend to promote overthinking and paranoia in those (inc. myself) prone to it.

No. It depends on the person entirely and if you start digging you will find about equal distribution of people who are calmed by a sativa and people who are calmed by an indica. I personally suspect that people who feel calm from a sativa are a little ADHD and it seems to make them think better and more calmly and indicas make them much more anxious because it exacerbates and existing condition.

This kind of matches my experience - the anxiety I get is from feeling like my mind is slowing down / not totally working properly and not knowing if it will ever come back. I think I am a bit ADHD, and caffeine has a kind of calming effect on me as well, so might be worth trying a sativa blend.

anecdotal, but i am certainly an individual with adhd and i personally find strains marketed as indica dominant to be far more effective for anxiety relief and just general functionality. it also may just be a random correlation, but i always recalled seeing higher levels of cbd in indica based strains when I lived in Washington and the actual levels of cbd and thc in the product was listed on the packaging. i certainly don't think this is strong evidence that such a thing is the case, in an overarching empirical sense, but i can at least say, with confidence, that for me, indica dominant is much less anxiety inducing

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