Wee doses of weed can boost productivity and focus

By John Garvey

Falling into a state of timelessness, effortlessness, euphoria, and single-minded focus is never a bad thing. We experience these states — termed ecstasis or flow states — during activities we feel are deeply and inherently rewarding.

Microdosing cannabis isn’t a recipe for a flow state, but bear with me.

The allure of flow states is the reason that extreme athletes ignore the warnings from loved ones and push the envelope further and further, even to their doom. But a cup of coffee, a good conversation or, many are learning, a microdose of cannabis can help us commoners find our flow.

I had one very telling flow-state experience that was weird simply because of the mundane and unappealing nature of what I was doing. Not coincidentally, it was in the early days of my experimentation of cannabis microdosing.

And guess what riveting activity this was? Making a PowerPoint presentation. Yup. Not exactly playing a guitar solo at Madison Square Garden.

After briefly pondering why I felt so cheerfully focused and competent doing something I usually dislike, I remembered that I had taken 2.5mg of THC about an hour prior.

Perhaps eight days a month on average, I take ¼one fourth of a 10mg THC edible to get “un-stuck” or improve my performance along some dimension. I call it “The Quarter Gummy Solution.” When I do this, I ask more incisive questions in my work, find crowded events less grating, write more fluently, and take on mundane household tasks with less dread and fewer mistakes. It also helps me manage my raging ADD.

Enough people have figured this out about themselves that low-dose cannabis edibles are becoming increasingly available. But is microdosing right for you?

Microdosing 101

Although the concept of microdosing originated, and is generally associated, with psychedelic drugs like LSD and psilocybin (“magic”) mushrooms, we’ll stick with cannabis.

If you do it right, microdosing cannabis can help boost creativity, mood and productivity. But you have to honor your individual temperament, intuition, and experiences. Anything novel can be unpredictable, even if it’s far more likely than not to be benign. Just as caffeine can make you either anxious or cheerful depending on who you are and what you’re dealing with, so can weed.

Dosing range

Although some define anything below 10mg THC as a “microdose,” this is a lousy definition. If an average person takes 7.5mg of THC, their workday will likely come to a screeching halt within an hour. A much more reasonable range is 1mg – 5mg of THC.

There’s not a ton of research on the effects of microdosing weed. But studies on low-dose cannabis consumption and nanodosing suggest that “going low” can relieve anxiety and improve cognitive function under conditions where higher doses might do the opposite. But especially promising is research suggesting that low doses of cannabis can prevent cognitive decline.

The Quarter Gummy Solution

The quarter gummy solution is a reasonable starting point for most people who aren’t first-time users. Unless you’re an outlier, 2.5mg of THC won’t make you too high to feel comfortable carrying a conversation, nor will it be too little to have any effect whatsoever. If you’re inexperienced with cannabis, or have a naturally low tolerance to drugs in general, or have other reservations, start with 1.25mg THC.

(Cutting a 10mg weed gummy into equal 8ths is tedious, but lower-dose 2.5 – 5.0 mg edibles are becoming easier to find.)

Optimizing a microdosing practice requires honoring your intuition and checking in with yourself, rather than taking everything a budtender (or a 38-year-old man who writes about weed and draws T-Rexes riding on unicycles) says at face value. If you don’t honestly enjoy it – or if you enjoy it too much to walk the line – don’t do it.

Be consistent. Make small adjustments as needed. Be safe. Honor your own intuition and the uniqueness of your own experience.

You know what? I don’t care what you do. Just don’t tell my parents how much I know about weed.

John Garvey is the Chief Storytelling Officer at Garvington Creative, bringing together business impact and belly laughs through story-driven marketing.