DOSE:		smoked	Tobacco	(plant material)
		smoked	Calea zacatechichi	(extract - 5x)
		smoked	Lactuca - L. virosa	(plant material)

BODY WEIGHT:

155 lb

Recently I've been trying out a number of rare, legal and herbal highs. It started off as a spiritual endeavor but if I'm realistic about it, I'm a chronic cannabis user and I'm really looking for something new to alleviate the boredom of years of casual joint smoking.

I've had some life-changing and spiritual revelations years ago with a number of substances, but I believe that these are personal experiences in which there is no value sharing. I'm also more cynical about the cosmic significance of these experiences than I once was and my present mind-set is one of scorn for any trip that is accompanied with ceremonial trappings or a pretentious spiritual setting or purpose.

That's just so you know where I stand on 'entheogenic experiences.'

I recently got hold of some 5x Calea extract a large bag of dried opium lettuce. I had heard that there was a good synergy between the two.

I started the experience sober; no cannabis or alcohol after a day of meaningful employment. Neither stressed nor particularly relaxed.

I rolled a joint (the UK way, with a small amount of cigarette tobacco to aid burning) with a very small amount of Calea extract. I can't give a weight as I have no scale, but it was much less than a gram. By volume, if I were using hash, it would have been a very light joint.

Within a couple of minutes of smoking just over half, I felt a light-headed stoned feeling. Subtle, but noticeable. I gave my partner the other half but he said he could only just feel something. I felt a child-like sense of fun and found myself talking in a baby-ish voice and my light-headed feeling continued for maybe half an hour or slightly more. One notable difference between us is that he is a 20 cigarettes per day smoker. I smoke a small amount of tobacco in cannabis joints. Even so, I don't think the tobacco would have caused any of the effects I felt.

We went to bed shortly after this and I prepared another (UK) joint, this time with about twice as much Calea and a small amount of wild lettuce (enough to make a fat joint). We smoked this together and my stoned feeling returned and my partner also felt a pleasant stoned feeling this time. It was the equivalent of a strong cannabis joint, although I would say it was somewhat different from a casual cannabis high, more light-headed and childish. We finished off a roach-end of a cannabis joint that was left lying around from the weekend (a couple of draws only...).

We had very enjoyable sex while this feeling lasted. This was not because of any sensory changes. But I felt a slight lowering of inhibition, as with alcohol and a sense of fun and pleasure. I still felt stoned afterwards as we drifted off to sleep. My partner has trouble sleeping and so took a tablet of 5-HTP to induce drowsiness. I did not have anything because I have heard the reported dream-inducing effects and I did not want to adulterate this experience.

I woke up having had a long, unusually detailed dream sequence with a complex but unusually meaningful and coherent plot/story. It was disturbing, though not frightening, because the part I played in it was very out of character for me. It seemed to be a dream rooted in anxiety, but I felt empowered by it on this occasion. I intend to think a little more about the symbolism, in case there is a subconscious message. At no point did I feel that this was a message from a spiritual/supernatural source. My partner did not remember any dreams.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that this really worked, and I will use this combination again as an alternative to a casual cannabis joint. The effects are not profound enough for me to get really wild about, but they are real. The dream inducing effect also makes this a bit more interesting than casual cannabis use.

I'd agree that there's a good synergy between lettuce and Calea. Unanswered questions are:

Possible synergy/antagony between tobacco/nicoteine addiction and the above?

Possible synergy with cannabis/chronic cannabis use?

Possible reduction in dream inducing effects if any sleep inducing medication is taken aswell?

Two final points - bear in mind the concentration of my Calea extract. You might have to take quite a lot of unenhanced Calea to get a good effect.

Both joints were pleasant to smoke, with a mellower taste than a normal cannabis joint and less dry mouth.

Hope that's helpful to someone out there.

Exp Year: 2000	ExpID: 3680
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Nov 20, 2000	Views: 53,658
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Lactuca spp. (153), Calea zacatechichi (97) : Small Group (2-9) (17), First Times (2), General (1)