The misplaced step that results in a tumble. The shaking of a limb to focus a mind in motion. The quietness that follows after great expression. The eyes that look for reassurance.
These small tells of someone who has overindulged in any substance change not only the outcome of their night but also the outcome for the people with them. I have expressed these tells before, and several of the people reading this probably have as well.
As time has passed, I have appointed myself as the designated trip sitter; defined as “...when a sober person helps look after someone who’s taken a psychoactive drug, usually psychedelics,” by the Alcohol and Drug Foundation. Although I am usually not sober, and the people I’ve helped have only abused marijuana or alcohol (to my knowledge), I still use the term.
You don’t expect to hold back hair or attempt to breathe through your mouth or clutch onto limp arms as you're walking or fetch water from the bartender or stay awake all night to help prevent someone from choking on puke in their sleep on nights out.
These actions, despite straying from the intended plan, are the most important to take.
The people I’ve helped vary from friends to partners to relatives to people I have just met. The latter is who saddens me the most to help, because often their friend is more concerned with what the night has to offer than with another's well-being and safety. Do not be this “friend.”
I have heard many people excuse their indifference to another's state of mind because of the recurrence of that behavior. Anyone needs to learn their own limits and abide by them, but if they continually go past those limits, stop inviting that person into spaces where they can go too far. Make your boundaries clear, and don’t allow others or yourself to go over limits for a “good time.”
Moments are never worth more than the people you are sharing them with. A night tending to someone in need of help will be more fulfilling to your relationship with that person and to your ability to think beyond yourself.
The summer before sophomore year of high school, my best friend and I decided to walk in the middle of a cornfield, behind my house, and smoke (day in the life of hillbilly stoners).
It was my third time smoking; the first two, I had only taken a couple of hits. This time we both finished a joint together. This was the beginning of the worst night of my life.
At the time, I had been taking Prozac, a drug used to improve mood and decrease anxiety, which shouldn’t be combined with substances – a fact my friend was not aware of.
I had been having a great time until my mind began to race with depressive thoughts, and I couldn’t stop them. I told my friend what I was thinking, and she reassured me that everything was OK. We were walking to my room while my heart began to beat at a pace that I was unaware it could.
Whenever I lessened my focus on positive things, my eyes would roll back in my head, and my body would start to seize. The seizures would make me lose awareness completely, which felt to me as my body’s solution to my spiraling mind. It was easier for me to let go of my mind because of the hurtful thoughts; that's when I realized I was choosing between life and death.
I told my friend to pretend that everything was OK because her concern would make my body shake, and that's what she did. She talked to me for hours in between shaking me to consciousness. I have never felt more grateful for someone than I did that night for her.
After looking it up the next day, I found a possible drug reaction from combining drugs that both increase serotonin, called Serotonin syndrome. Mayo Clinic addresses symptoms including restlessness, rapid heart rate, heavy sweating, seizures and unconsciousness. All relating to the condition I was in that night after smoking.
That night taught me two crucial things: I became a “One-Hit-Wonder” while using marijuana and to never underestimate how substances can affect someone.
I don’t know what would have happened to me if my friend hadn’t believed my concern, and I’m so lucky to live in that ignorance. While using substances, be aware of the responsibility you have for the people with you, and don’t ignore it for a fleeting sense of euphoria.
BudPost is a cannabis opinion column that does not reflect the views of The Post.
