You might think that marijuana is a relatively harmless drug, but there is a strong new variant that is much more dangerous. Dabs involve doing highly concentrated THC, allowing users to get higher than normal. It’s important that you’re aware of the risks and dangers of this new trend.
This article lists some common dab drug side effects and tells you about some of the other hazards dab users face.
What Are Dabs
Dabs are when you take a form of concentrated marijuana, heat it up on a flat metal surface, and inhale it. Many users achieve this through specialized “dabbing” devices.
These devices may be sold individually, or they might come in the form of an attachment for a bong. People might also put concentrated marijuana into a vape cartridge.
This method of consuming marijuana has been around for at least 20 years, but it has recently exploded in popularity. This is due to the legalization and commercialization of marijuana and related products in recent years. Dabs are particularly popular amongst teens and young adults.
Physical Symptoms of Smoking Dabs
While the physical symptoms of smoking dabs are similar to smoking conventional cannabis, dabs are much stronger. This means that the negative effects of the drug are greatly exaggerated.
For example, some marijuana users may experience blackouts, but generally, this is rare as it takes a lot of THC to achieve this effect. With dabs, on the other hand, users report that blackouts are common.
Users may also experience high blood pressure and rapid heartbeat. When smoking normally, this can happen, but usually, it comes on so slowly that the user can stop before the effects get serious. Dabbing involves getting a huge, instant hit of THC, so these kinds of side effects are much more common.
In some cases, dabbers might experience vomiting. Generally, this will happen immediately after taking a hit. Users are sometimes not prepared for just how strong this version of marijuana can be.
Mental Dab Drug Side Effects
There are also many unwanted mental symptoms associated with smoking dabs. You probably know that marijuana can cause uncontrollable anxiety and paranoia. These effects can be even more serious when smoking dabs.
Many users report feeling extreme anxiety and paranoia. In some cases, this can also lead to hallucinations, psychosis, or panic attacks. It’s no exaggeration to say that dabs can result in a “bad trip” like stronger substances like LSD.
Another common mental effect is poor memory. Taking such a high dose in such a short amount of time can have a very negative impact on your short-term memory. This can persist for days or even weeks after you stop smoking.
High Potency
The main issue with dabs is that you’re taking a huge dose of THC in a short amount of time. When consuming marijuana using traditional methods, it’s more difficult to reach the highest levels of intoxication. After all, there comes a point where you can physically smoke anymore.
With dabs, this isn’t the case. You can ingest several joints worth of THC within a few seconds. This is problematic as users don’t have the opportunity to slow down if they start to experience bad side effects.
It’s not uncommon to feel extreme paranoia the instant you take a dab hit because of its sheer strength.
Increased Tolerance
This leads to the problem of increased tolerance. When you have a tolerance to marijuana, it means you need to ingest more and more to experience the desirable effects.
Unfortrionatly, this also means that you’ll experience more negative side effects. This means that the more you use dabs, the more you’ll experience things like paranoia and memory loss.
On top of that, it also means that regular dab users end up spending more and more. Despite spending more, they’ll end up getting less high than a casual user. This means that dab users can spend an insane amount of money per week on getting their fix.
A Dangerous Manufacturing Process
One of the most dangerous things about dabs is the manufacturing process. The harvesting of conventional marijuana is a relatively safe activity. Creating concentrated marijuana, on the other hand, can be a very dangerous activity.
Making these concentrates requires the use of butane, which is a highly flammable liquid. Because of the volatility of the manufacturing process, it’s not uncommon for producing dabs to cause fires or even explosions.
This is a big risk in home setups in which people may not necessarily know what they’re doing. It’s not an exaggeration to say that trying to make marijuana concentrates at home is just as dangerous as making methamphetamine.
May Contain Toxic Chemicals
There have also been reports that some of the marijuana concentrates available on the market today contain toxic chemicals. The process of creating these concentrates isn’t easy, and if you buy on the black market, you never know what adulterants they may contain.
In some cases smoking these contaminated products can have serious health consequences.
Dab Addiction
While marijuana is certainly not one of the most addictive drugs, doing dabs is much riskier. It’s much easier to become dependant on dabs than conventional marijuana due to the high THC content.
Regular dab users might find that they feel depressed and lethargic if they try to stop. If this has happened to you, you need to seek treatment.
Dabs Are Not Harmless
As you can see from this article, dabs are far from harmless. It’s much stronger than smoking marijuana buds. This can cause more serious dab drug side effects such as anxiety and paranoia.
It can also lead to increased tolerance, meaning that dab users need to spend a lot more money than people who smoke normally. The manufacturing process for dabs is also much more dangerous. If you have a problem with dabs or any other kind of addiction, take a look at our addiction services page. There is help available to beat any kind of addiction.
