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On Being Stoned
Charles T. Tart, Ph. D.
Chapter 21. "Desirable" and "Undesirable" Effects
BASIS OF CLASSIFICATION
Non-Objectivity of Classification
Classifying the 214 possible effect descriptions[1]
as "desirable" or "undesirable" is the least
objective analysis of the entire study, and probably represents
my personal values as much as or more than any general standards
of what is desirable and undesirable.
For example, are visual hallucinations—seeing things that aren't
there—(Chapter 6) per se undesirable? Many persons, especially
those influenced by traditional medical models of disease, would
say yes, yet my pilot subjects and informants indicated that this
was usually a pleasurable and interesting effect. To sit at home,
know that you are under the influence of marijuana, and see, for
example, a flowing, colored ball floating in the air is most interesting,
if not joyful.
What about emotional crises, "freaking out" (Chapter
16)? Again, comments by the users in describing their experiences
and comments of informants indicated that while this may have
been quite unpleasant at the time, it may also be highly valued
in retrospect as providing necessary catharsis and/or insights
into problem areas.
Criteria for "Undesirable" Effects
The criteria I finally chose for selecting what I hoped would
be unequivocally negative effects, i.e., effects which no one
would value, were that: (1) the effect is clearly unpleasant to
experience; and (2) it has no later redeeming value, other than
the user probably learns to avoid it in the future. Of the 214
effects, 19 met these criteria.
Others will include more or fewer in their own "undesirable"
list, depending on their own values.
LEVELS OF INTOXICATION FOR UNDESIRABLE EFFECTS
The 19 "undesirable" effects are plotted with respect
to level of intoxication in Figure 21-1. Descriptions will not
be repeated here as they have all been presented in other chapters.
Question numbers are given in the figure if the reader wishes
to refresh himself on the exact wording of the question. The overall
ordering of effects is highly significant (p <<<
.0005).
FIGURE 21-1. "UNDESIRABLE" EFFECTS AND LEVELS OF INTOXICATION
| Just | Fairly | Strongly | Very
Strongly | Maximum |
|
Type size code:
CHARACTERISTIC
COMMON
INFREQUENT
Rare |
|
| | | | Vomit (Q210) |
| | | | Feel dizzy, nauseated (Q74) |
| | | CAN'T COME DOWN (Q205) |
| | | Possessed, hostile force (Q180) |
| | | | | | | Sounds blurry (Q26) |
| | | | | | SENSE OF BALANCE ERRATIC (Q103) |
| | | | | | HARD TO ORGANIZE NEXT DAY (Q209) |
| | | | | | Worry about losing control (Q171) |
| | | | | | HARD TO FALL ASLEEP (Q196) |
| | | | | Vision blurry (Q11) |
| | | | | CAN'T THINK CLEARLY, THOUGHTS SLIP AWAY (Q134) |
| | | | | Sleep poor, restless (Q200) |
| | | | | FEEL PARANOID ABOUT COMPANIONS (Q108) |
| | | | MIND FEELS LESS EFFICIENT ON PROBLEMS (Q142) |
| | | | FEEL PHYSICALLY WEAKER (Q9H) |
| | | | EASILY SIDETRACKED (Q175) |
| | | MEMORY WORSE FOR FORGOTTEN EVENTS (Q152) |
| | | WORK LESS ACCURATELY ON PROBLEMS, LATER EVALUATION (Q144) |
| | Invariably feel bad when stoned (Q166) |
|
| Just | Fairly | Strongly | Very
Strongly | Maximum |
Undesirable effects are not frequent. Of the 19 effects, one was
characteristic, four were common, six were infrequent, and eight
were rare. For the other 184 effects, which could be rated for
frequency of occurrence and which were pleasant, emotionally interesting,
or equivocally undesirable, 29 were characteristic, 91
were common, 51 were infrequent, and 13 were rare. The clearly
undesirable effects thus occur much less frequently (p
<.0005) than the general run of effects. This is, of course,
not surprising, as selecting experienced marijuana users for the
present study assures getting a sample for whom pleasant effects
predominate over unpleasant ones.
As Figure 21-1 shows, the relatively frequent "undesirable"
effects, four dealing with decreased efficiency on problem solving[2]
and one with feeling physically weak, begin to occur around the
Strong level of intoxication. All the undesirable effects beginning
at Very Strong and higher are infrequent or rare.
MODULATING FACTORS
The relatively linear effects of various background factors[3]
are summarized in Table 21-1.
Moderate Total users indicated higher levels for not being able
to come down when necessary than either Light or Heavy Total users.
It is of interest to note that many of the undesirable effects
of intoxication in inexperienced users may be transitional ones
that fade out with greater experience. Of the 19 effects, almost
half are either significantly less frequent or occur at significantly
higher levels for more experienced drug users.
TABLE 21-1 EFFECTS OF BACKGROUND FACTORS ON
TABLE 21-1
EFFECTS OF BACKGROUND FACTORS ON "UNDESIRABLE"
EFFECTS
| BACKGROUND FACTORS | EFFECTS |
|---|
| More Drug Experience | More frequent:
Get sidetracked
More Intoxicated for:
Vision blurry
Invariably feel bad
Get sidetracked | Less frequent:
Feel paranoid
Thoughts slip away before fully grasped
Mind feels less efficient
Worry about losing control
Hard to organize next day
Can't come down when necessary
|
| Older | More frequent:
Hard to organize next day
More intoxicated for:
Sense of balance erratic | Less frequent:
Get sidetracked
|
| More Educated | | Less frequent:
Memory worse
Get sidetracked
Less intoxicated for:
Get sidetracked
Hard to organize next day |
| Males | | Less frequent:
Vision blurry
Sense of balance erratic
Can't come down when necessary |
| Meditators | | Less intoxicated for:
Feel paranoid |
SUMMARY
Less than 10 percent of the effects of intoxication investigated
in this study seemed unequivocally "undesirable" in
nature, and these effects were primarily infrequent and rare.
With greater drug experience, almost half of these became even
less frequent or were shifted to very high levels of intoxication.
The pleasures of intoxication far outweigh the drawbacks in reports
of experienced users.
Footnotes
1. This includes the regular 206 items plus
8 validity scale items which were reported on in the text because
of their inherent interest. (back)
2. 0ne of my more sophisticated informants
suggests that it is misleading to classify difficulty in problem
solving as an unequivocally "undesirable" effect. This
is so in a situation where the user is strongly intoxicated and
suddenly forced to work on conventional problems, but ordinarily
the user will not get intoxicated if he expects to have to work
on conventional problems. He may get moderately intoxicated to
work on a problem requiring much deliberate work and original
points of view, or very strongly intoxicated if originality of
solution but not sustained concentration on the problem is required.
(back)
3. For statistical reasons, the background
analyses are not very sensitive here. Since most of the "undesirable"
effects were infrequent or rare, only very large differences would
show up in the background analyses. (back)
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