Hi everybody. I'm going to Amsterdam for the first time next month. As well as going for the trip and a small holiday, I'm also going to sample some of the goods from the coffee shops.
Quite simply, I could do with some advice please. I'm in the later stages of MS. I'm in a wheelchair and in a lot of pain. I'm hoping that sampling some of the coffee shop pleasures will help whereas prescription meds seem to be failing. I've never smoked anything before, but I believe I'll need something strong to relieve the pain. I've done some online research into what's available and it appears that iceolater is the way to go. I've read that the max I can buy at once is five grams, would five grams a day be enough, or do I need to go to multiple coffeeshops to buy 10, 15, 20 etc grams a day I might need? Secondly, this may seem like a silly question, but are there any wheelchair friendly places in Amsterdam?
Thanks everybody.
New to smoking, what to try?
Re: New to smoking, what to try?
Hi and first of all welcome to ACD!
I'm not the best person to advise you, especially on the MS side of things but i'll get the ball rolling at least and hopefully some people with pain relief can give you some more advice.
I understand you want something strong to help with the pain and I can't even begin to imagine how painful your condition must be, however, as this is your first time smoking i'd advise going for something a little weaker at first then if you like then go onto the stronger stuff. The last thing you want is to try something too strong that it makes you feel sick and puts you off the medical pain relief benefits of cannabis altogether. Don't underestimate how strong even weak weed in the dam can feel to someone unaccustomed to smoking regular. The first time I went, I bought a relatively week weed for my first purchase (Jamaican outdoor) and my then girlfriend although not a heavy smoker did have some experience, spent about 20mins feeling quite sick in the toilets off just a couple of tokes. So why not start of with a gram of green and a gram of hash, see which taste/effect you prefer or then move onto something stronger. Personally I think 5 grams is quite a lot of weed and more than i'd smoke in a day even when I was smoking quite heavily so I wouldn't worry about that.
I think wheelchair accessibility would be fine for most coffeeshops, the entrances on some of them can be a little small and awkward I guess but most stoners are friendly and would be more than happy to help i'm sure. Can't really think of many places that i'd say you definitely couldn't get in, think the smoking area in grasshopper is on the 2nd floor but that place is shit anyway and I think dutch flowers has a couple of steps. Is there anywhere special you'd like to go and people will probably be able to advise you on the accessibility there.
Have a great trip, hope it's everything you're hoping for.
I'm not the best person to advise you, especially on the MS side of things but i'll get the ball rolling at least and hopefully some people with pain relief can give you some more advice.
I understand you want something strong to help with the pain and I can't even begin to imagine how painful your condition must be, however, as this is your first time smoking i'd advise going for something a little weaker at first then if you like then go onto the stronger stuff. The last thing you want is to try something too strong that it makes you feel sick and puts you off the medical pain relief benefits of cannabis altogether. Don't underestimate how strong even weak weed in the dam can feel to someone unaccustomed to smoking regular. The first time I went, I bought a relatively week weed for my first purchase (Jamaican outdoor) and my then girlfriend although not a heavy smoker did have some experience, spent about 20mins feeling quite sick in the toilets off just a couple of tokes. So why not start of with a gram of green and a gram of hash, see which taste/effect you prefer or then move onto something stronger. Personally I think 5 grams is quite a lot of weed and more than i'd smoke in a day even when I was smoking quite heavily so I wouldn't worry about that.
I think wheelchair accessibility would be fine for most coffeeshops, the entrances on some of them can be a little small and awkward I guess but most stoners are friendly and would be more than happy to help i'm sure. Can't really think of many places that i'd say you definitely couldn't get in, think the smoking area in grasshopper is on the 2nd floor but that place is shit anyway and I think dutch flowers has a couple of steps. Is there anywhere special you'd like to go and people will probably be able to advise you on the accessibility there.
Have a great trip, hope it's everything you're hoping for.
Re: New to smoking, what to try?
Hi,
Instead of smoking, maybe try some edibles to get that pain-relieving body stone. Hopefully you can benefit from edibles. Some, like me, don't.
Unfortunately, A'dam is not a very accessible place for wheelchairs.
Good luck with your visit. Hope you can find some relief.
Instead of smoking, maybe try some edibles to get that pain-relieving body stone. Hopefully you can benefit from edibles. Some, like me, don't.
Unfortunately, A'dam is not a very accessible place for wheelchairs.
Good luck with your visit. Hope you can find some relief.
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notsofasteddie
- Posts: 1028
- Joined: Fri 1st Jul 2011 07:05 pm
- Location: S.E. USA
Re: New to smoking, what to try?
Hi,
Let us know where you are staying so that we can identify good coffeeshops that are close by.
Also with Google Maps Street View you might be able to make some estimate of accessibility. Here's a view of Softland on Spui that looks pretty accessible and there are outdoor seats. Here's a view of Dutch Flowers which does have outdoor seats, but is less accessible. Other street views for other coffeeshops will yield a lot of information.
As for what to smoke, edibles are a possibility, but you need to be careful as managing an appropriate dosage could be problematic. The potency of spacecakes in Amsterdam has a large variance. I've eaten some that had virtually no impact and others that had me totally flying! If you go this route, take small pieces of cake and wait to see what is happening. With edibles the effects come on slowly so a thirty minute wait would be a good thing.
You might consider trying a vaporizer. When you do, take it slowly! A hit and a pause, see how you're doing, then another hit and pause. What applied to the edibles also applies to vaping, but the effects come on much more quickly. The same is true with a joints. The slow and easy approach will help protect you and at the same time give you some sense of the dosage you require to get the effect you are looking for.
You should view this as an experiment that may yield great benefit and proceed with caution. You've probably already done a lot of homework on the issue, but there is a lot of good information on the "net!" Some examples: MS and Cannabis
Let us know where you are staying so that we can identify good coffeeshops that are close by.
Also with Google Maps Street View you might be able to make some estimate of accessibility. Here's a view of Softland on Spui that looks pretty accessible and there are outdoor seats. Here's a view of Dutch Flowers which does have outdoor seats, but is less accessible. Other street views for other coffeeshops will yield a lot of information.
As for what to smoke, edibles are a possibility, but you need to be careful as managing an appropriate dosage could be problematic. The potency of spacecakes in Amsterdam has a large variance. I've eaten some that had virtually no impact and others that had me totally flying! If you go this route, take small pieces of cake and wait to see what is happening. With edibles the effects come on slowly so a thirty minute wait would be a good thing.
You might consider trying a vaporizer. When you do, take it slowly! A hit and a pause, see how you're doing, then another hit and pause. What applied to the edibles also applies to vaping, but the effects come on much more quickly. The same is true with a joints. The slow and easy approach will help protect you and at the same time give you some sense of the dosage you require to get the effect you are looking for.
You should view this as an experiment that may yield great benefit and proceed with caution. You've probably already done a lot of homework on the issue, but there is a lot of good information on the "net!" Some examples: MS and Cannabis
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treetop
- Posts: 3174
- Joined: Mon 18th May 2009 12:48 am
- Location: with the sun occasionally on my back
Re: New to smoking, what to try?
welcome to ACDsonganddanceman wrote:Hi everybody. I'm going to Amsterdam for the first time next month. As well as going for the trip and a small holiday, I'm also going to sample some of the goods from the coffee shops.
Quite simply, I could do with some advice please. I'm in the later stages of MS. I'm in a wheelchair and in a lot of pain. I'm hoping that sampling some of the coffee shop pleasures will help whereas prescription meds seem to be failing. I've never smoked anything before, but I believe I'll need something strong to relieve the pain. I've done some online research into what's available and it appears that iceolater is the way to go. I've read that the max I can buy at once is five grams, would five grams a day be enough, or do I need to go to multiple coffeeshops to buy 10, 15, 20 etc grams a day I might need? Secondly, this may seem like a silly question, but are there any wheelchair friendly places in Amsterdam?
Thanks everybody.
prix d'ami is wheelchair friendly. I'd ask for something with a heavy body stone. Smoke in a secure place. Be prepared for falling asleep afterwards. Hash often produces a heavy body stone without drowsiness so that might be an option too.
How much did you produce?
Re: New to smoking, what to try?
Ftcarer's the person to ask, isn't he? He's been to the Dam with his wife, who's in a wheelchair, and has written some travelogues, as I recall.
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geekymonkey
- Posts: 1913
- Joined: Thu 16th Jul 2009 04:01 pm
- Location: Adrift
Re: New to smoking, what to try?
Definitely ft's a good person to help, hopefully he'll chime in here. There's also been another thread on shops with wheelchair accessibility. https://www.coffeeshopdirect.com/forum/viewt ... 11&t=18475
Honestly I would not recommend iceolator for pain control necessarily. There are a lot of ways that a marijuana product can be "strong". The most obvious one is thc, (which is very high in a icelator hash).
THC is the compound that makes a person feel "high". While fun, I don't find that it is very effective in pain control.
CBDs (cannabanoids) are the plant compound that makes people feel "stoned" in their body and are therefor more helpful for pain control in general. Cannabanoids vaporize at a much higher temperature than thc so if you do try to medicate by vaporizing, make sure you do it on a really high temperature or you will not get much pain control.
thc converts to cbd as it breaks down so you can usually find a higher cbd count in weeds that have been left to flower longer (have a more amber trichomes). Also in black hashes. Also there are a few medical strains like Harlequin and Cannatronic that are naturally high cbd, but they may be hard to find in Amsterdam.
Indicas in general provide more pain control than sativas for me.
I actually think a lot of the compounds that provide anti-inflammatory and other pain control effects are actually still separate from thc and cbd. I've never found a super concentrated hash (above about 50% thc) that has done much for me in terms of pain control. When I hurt I go for flowers/bud. There is a lot more plant matter in moroccan, afghan, indian and nepalese hashes and I've found those to be effective as well. Iso, icelator, or bho. concentrates just aren't effective for me for pain.
If you have any questions feel free to ask. While I've not been medicating anything as severe as ms I have been using it exclusively to treat migraines and pretty severe joint pain for awhile now. Also I'm in a medically-legal state and know some great caregivers, so I can probably pass your contact info onto someone who is helping ms patients.
Enjoy your trip!
The budtender at each shop should also be able to help you with recommendations. I suspect you will find "body stone" to be a good way to communicate the effect you are looking for. Also, sativas can be highly effective for some forms of nerve pain by the way, so don't let me scare you off them.
Honestly I would not recommend iceolator for pain control necessarily. There are a lot of ways that a marijuana product can be "strong". The most obvious one is thc, (which is very high in a icelator hash).
THC is the compound that makes a person feel "high". While fun, I don't find that it is very effective in pain control.
CBDs (cannabanoids) are the plant compound that makes people feel "stoned" in their body and are therefor more helpful for pain control in general. Cannabanoids vaporize at a much higher temperature than thc so if you do try to medicate by vaporizing, make sure you do it on a really high temperature or you will not get much pain control.
thc converts to cbd as it breaks down so you can usually find a higher cbd count in weeds that have been left to flower longer (have a more amber trichomes). Also in black hashes. Also there are a few medical strains like Harlequin and Cannatronic that are naturally high cbd, but they may be hard to find in Amsterdam.
Indicas in general provide more pain control than sativas for me.
I actually think a lot of the compounds that provide anti-inflammatory and other pain control effects are actually still separate from thc and cbd. I've never found a super concentrated hash (above about 50% thc) that has done much for me in terms of pain control. When I hurt I go for flowers/bud. There is a lot more plant matter in moroccan, afghan, indian and nepalese hashes and I've found those to be effective as well. Iso, icelator, or bho. concentrates just aren't effective for me for pain.
If you have any questions feel free to ask. While I've not been medicating anything as severe as ms I have been using it exclusively to treat migraines and pretty severe joint pain for awhile now. Also I'm in a medically-legal state and know some great caregivers, so I can probably pass your contact info onto someone who is helping ms patients.
Enjoy your trip!
The budtender at each shop should also be able to help you with recommendations. I suspect you will find "body stone" to be a good way to communicate the effect you are looking for. Also, sativas can be highly effective for some forms of nerve pain by the way, so don't let me scare you off them.
Because life is too short to smoke bad bud.
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LionofJudah
- Posts: 259
- Joined: Sat 4th Feb 2012 04:42 pm
- Location: B.C.
Re: New to smoking, what to try?
Hey there, welcome to the forum!
If you're new to weed I wouldn't recommend edibles since it's hard to gauge the dose and you may overdo it and get a little dizzy or nauseous (if this happens, drink something sweet with real sugar in it).
The best method might be a vaporizer if you have someone who can give you a hand wt the beginning, since it's not as obvious to use as a joint or pipe. If not, I'd just go for a nice joint, preferably not a pre-rolled one since they're usually not as nice or as fresh as self-rolled one. If you don't know how or can't, someone in the staff or another patron will almost certainly be able to help you out (especially if you visit one of the nicer places; see poll rankings for some idea...) hint: try VOYAGERS
Note: If you do get a pre-rolled joint, make sure you get a PURE joint, as the default in Amsterdam is tobacco-mixed joints...
As for strain, I'd recommend a heavy Indica for sure. Bear in mind that some of the more touristy places will say anything to make their stuff sound good, so if you want the descriptions to actually mean anything you would do well to, once again, avoid those.
Getting more specific, it would be great if you had some chance to try a high-CBD (cannabidiol) strain. Put shortly, this is a different psychoactive cannabinoid (beside THC) which seems to be responsible for most of the therapeutic effects of weed, and also of making the high more sedated ("couchlock"). These strains will usually be indicas or hybrids. Sadly, there's no real cannabinoid testing in the Dam so you'll have to do some guesswork and/or ask the staff... just don't expect California dispensary-style chemical analysis.
Examples of some of the high-CBD strains you might find in Voyagers (whose menu I'm most familiar with
) are OG-18 and Kosher, but usually relaxing strains will likely be the ones.
Some might say these are not good "beginner" strains, but it's all a matter of dosage. I wouldn't recommend that you smoke a half-gram at once of any strain, so whatever you pick, go slow, taking a deep puff or two and waiting five or ten minutes before repeating. Odds are you'll forget to keep smoking after one or two cycles
Final tips: expect cottonmouth. BAD cottonmouth. Sour candy, fizzy drinks, sweets, whatever. Get some.
Expect munchies afterwards
Edit:
So geekymonkey had already said half this stuff once I reloaded the page
If you're new to weed I wouldn't recommend edibles since it's hard to gauge the dose and you may overdo it and get a little dizzy or nauseous (if this happens, drink something sweet with real sugar in it).
The best method might be a vaporizer if you have someone who can give you a hand wt the beginning, since it's not as obvious to use as a joint or pipe. If not, I'd just go for a nice joint, preferably not a pre-rolled one since they're usually not as nice or as fresh as self-rolled one. If you don't know how or can't, someone in the staff or another patron will almost certainly be able to help you out (especially if you visit one of the nicer places; see poll rankings for some idea...) hint: try VOYAGERS
Note: If you do get a pre-rolled joint, make sure you get a PURE joint, as the default in Amsterdam is tobacco-mixed joints...
As for strain, I'd recommend a heavy Indica for sure. Bear in mind that some of the more touristy places will say anything to make their stuff sound good, so if you want the descriptions to actually mean anything you would do well to, once again, avoid those.
Getting more specific, it would be great if you had some chance to try a high-CBD (cannabidiol) strain. Put shortly, this is a different psychoactive cannabinoid (beside THC) which seems to be responsible for most of the therapeutic effects of weed, and also of making the high more sedated ("couchlock"). These strains will usually be indicas or hybrids. Sadly, there's no real cannabinoid testing in the Dam so you'll have to do some guesswork and/or ask the staff... just don't expect California dispensary-style chemical analysis.
Examples of some of the high-CBD strains you might find in Voyagers (whose menu I'm most familiar with
) are OG-18 and Kosher, but usually relaxing strains will likely be the ones. Some might say these are not good "beginner" strains, but it's all a matter of dosage. I wouldn't recommend that you smoke a half-gram at once of any strain, so whatever you pick, go slow, taking a deep puff or two and waiting five or ten minutes before repeating. Odds are you'll forget to keep smoking after one or two cycles
Final tips: expect cottonmouth. BAD cottonmouth. Sour candy, fizzy drinks, sweets, whatever. Get some.
Expect munchies afterwards
Edit:
So geekymonkey had already said half this stuff once I reloaded the page
Last edited by LionofJudah on Tue 25th Jun 2013 06:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: New to smoking, what to try?
+1 for edibles...
...Whilst they do vary in potency, a little research will point you in the right direction... I'm thinking Paradox.... Obviously, start slow... Have maybe a third of a cake and wait for at least an hour... If you still don't feel anything swallow the rest... If that's not enough then you'll have to go for a full one!
If you do choose to take the alternative I suggest you vape a bio-organic indica... Only a little will go a long way and it shouldn't result in the coughing fits I envisage if you try smoking for the first time! Hope that helps!
...Whilst they do vary in potency, a little research will point you in the right direction... I'm thinking Paradox.... Obviously, start slow... Have maybe a third of a cake and wait for at least an hour... If you still don't feel anything swallow the rest... If that's not enough then you'll have to go for a full one!
If you do choose to take the alternative I suggest you vape a bio-organic indica... Only a little will go a long way and it shouldn't result in the coughing fits I envisage if you try smoking for the first time! Hope that helps!