The science behind the weed whitey

The term “whitey” seems to be most frequently used in the UK, but anyone familiar with cannabis use will probably know the term “white out” or at least the concept. Basically, it covers a specific form of negative reaction to cannabis, which can vary from relatively mild dizziness and a feeling of weakness to severe nausea and occasional loss of consciousness.  Sufferers generally go pale, hence the term. Although, in principle, any cannabis user can experience a whitey, sufferers tend to be people new to weed or sometimes people making a change, for example trying a different strain or dose.

What is happening in the body when a first-time cannabis user pulls a whitey?

The whitey itself is actually caused by hypotension, in other words excessively low blood pressure.  As blood is essentially the body’s source of fuel, any issues with delivering it where it needs to go typically result in a negative impact to the body.  In the case of low blood pressure, the body is unable to deliver vital nutrients to key organs, such as the brain, with the result that their function is impaired, leading to the symptoms described above.

  Hence, the first point to note is that anyone with a medical history of hypotension should ideally consult their doctor before using weed, especially for the first time, or, at the very least, proceed with particular caution.  Even users without any pre-existing issues with hypotension, should be aware that temporary low blood pressure can be caused in a number of ways, two of which have particular relevance to weed users.  The first is by changing suddenly from a sitting or lying position (especially the latter) to a standing position.  Most people will probably have done this at some point in their life and are likely to have experienced mild to severe dizziness as a result.  This is due to a sudden drop in blood pressure.

As you may have realized, moving suddenly from a standing position to sitting or lying down is perfectly safe so you may find that your best approach to avoiding a whitey is to consume your favourite weed standing up and then decide whether or not you want to sit or lie down, rather than trying to remember to get up nice and slowly when you’ve been enjoying a joint sitting on your couch or lying on your bed.  The second is lack of fluid, which may be at least part of the reason why weed can trigger feelings of thirst, hence it helps to ensure that you have something healthy to drink on hand (i.e. a soft drink, preferably water, fruit juice, milk or similar).

How to avoid pulling a whitey

Start low and go slow – it’s advice you’ll hear over and over again when it comes to weed and there’s a very good reason for this.  These days, the popularity of medical marijuana is such that you can easily go online and research the properties of any given weed strain, or look up your symptoms and see which strains are recommended for it, but you’re only going to know how any given strain affects you and your mind and your body when you actually try it for yourself. 

Even if you’ve been using weed for a while, if you make a change, do it slowly.

Use the lowest possible dose – once you’ve worked out how your body responds to your preferred weed strains, keep to the minimum effective dose unless your symptoms change and you feel you need to increase it.