Science Cannabis

86 THE SCIENCE OF MARIJUANAFor a single instant, one telling and triumphant moment, I pierced whatBlake might have called "the Mundane Shell." I saw shapes swimming in afield of neon bands, surging with the colors of Africa. I saw the worldbefore my eyes through the alchemical crystal revealed, at once, in itssimultaneous complexity and simplicity. My third eye must have blinked.But only a glimpse — and then, a ripple, a slackening of intensity, and themoment was lost. . . . This was the most intense visionary experience Ihave ever had. And all from a humble green vegetable.(http://www.lycaeum.org/drug/trip.report)September 7, 1998The peak period of intoxication is also commonly associated withdaydreams and fantasies.Fantasies, your thoughts seem to run along on their own to the extent thatyou can relax and 'watch' them (rather like an intense day-dream). . . .Images come to mind that may be funny, curious, interesting in a storytellingsort of way, or sometimes horrific (according to mood). Also manyother variations.(Berke and Hernton, 1974)The nature of the fantasies varies according to personality andmood. One of the most common fantasies is that of power. The user feelsthat he is a god, a superman, that he is indestructible and that all hisdesires can be satisfied immediately. Not surprisingly people find suchfantasy states enjoyable and cite them as one of the reasons for theircontinued use of the drug. Ludlow described it as follows:My powers became superhuman; my knowledge covered the universe; myscope of sight was infinite. ... All strange things in mind, which hadbefore been my perplexity, were explained — all vexed questions solved.The springs of suffering and of joy, the action of the human will, memory,every complex fact of being, stood forth before me in a clarity of revealingwhich would have been the sublimity of happiness.A curious feature of the cannabis high is that its intensity may vary intermittentlyduring the period of intoxication, with periods of lucidity intervening.There is often the strange feeling of double consciousness. Subjectsspeak of watching themselves undergo the drug-induced delirium,