In addition to vaporizers, putting it in food, infusing it in oil, brewing it in tea are other alternatives to smoking it to avoid damaging the lungs.

In my case I don't like beer or the effect any alcoholic substance has on me. I might have a half a glass of wine with dinner on a special occassion but any more then that and the effect can trigger a mood swing. Usually depression. Go figure.

Using mj therapeutically vs recreationally is the key I think. I haven't opted (yet) to consider trying mj therapeutically because I think I like being stoned too much and I am not sure I would be able to limit my use to what would be considered a therapeutic level. I have the sense that the line between therapeutic and harmful is pretty thin. If someone has a history of abusing it... using too much for too long... then it would be hard to use it differently.

My history with mj goes like this. I score maybe 5 to 10 grams of pot every few months or so. Using after a few months it will have an immediate super relaxing, happy, creative, gabby, enlightening effect. It eliminates any feeling of anxiety, tension, worry, pain and sadness. I can literally feel the stress and heaviness leave my body. I feel every muscle in my body unwind and relax. It soothes pain away. Quick and easy. No amount of meditation, hot showers, yoga, walks in the woods, soothing music compares.

Relaxed and pain free I will enjoy the creative energy the new high gives me. I seldom just veg out unless my intention is to go to sleep. Otherwise I usually will buzz around in my studio or write, engage in some other sort of creative activity or even clean the house. If I am with other people I will enjoy stimulating conversations. When it is time for sleep I am out like a light and will sleep without interruption. I will awake refreshed with no hangover effect. Had I consumed enough alcohol to get anything close to a similar effect I would feel nausiated and have a blinding headache the next day.

Nothing compares to those first few euphoric highs after a long break from use. Because it stays in your system its anti anxiety and pain killing benefits continue to a lesser but still effective degree even after the stoned effects (heightened creativity, giddy, gabby, hungry lol... etc) have passed.

This is where I face the challenge of using it medicinally to release anxiety, relieve pain and promote sleep or to even stave off depression. I always want more. I go chasing the euphoric high. As I becomes accustomed to the high it is no longer much of a high but rather it becomes my new normal. I no longer feel any significant hieghtened awareness. Nevertheless I have historically just increased my consumption to stay as high as I can for as long as I can. I go way way past what might be considered a medicinal level.

This is when it can become problematic for me. I will over use to maintain some glimmer of a high and by the time my stash is completed I will have upped my use to a joint every couple of hours. I will have set aside sleeping and I will have cut myself off from the rest of the world because it is still so socially unexceptable and less and less do I feel like socializing. I will be on track towards a depressive state.

To stop the downward spiral I don't restock. I suffer no withdrawal effects but within a week the symptoms of anxiety, the pain, the insomnia return.

I admire those who can manage their use of mj to a level that is strictly medicinal and no more. I have a friend who like me will abuse if given the freedom so her husband administers it to her to prevent that from happening. Even if I were getting it prescribed I would have to keep it secret from my family so that couldn't work for me.

Researching this I was surprised to learn that the average amount people are taking for medicial use is 1 - 3 grams per day. The high end sounds like an aweful lot to me. My binging level is usually about 7 grams a week. A medicinal level for me would be closer to a half a gram a day at most I suspect. So clearly the dosage is very individual and very specific to symptoms. I would suspect the high users are those with very severe symptoms. I also suspect if not smoked but vapourized, put in food etc the effects are much less then when smoked. If I were to use it medicinally I would definately look for alternative ways of consumption to avoid the effects on my lungs.

I doubt that my long winded history is of much interest to anyone but I thought maybe it would show how, like with any medicine, it can be abused and thusly it can add to someone's problems. It can cause depression but in my opinion only if misused. Perhaps for some highly sensitive bi polar's the high triggers off a mania and the loss of the euphoric high trigger a depression. I think with my binging that could arguably be claimed.