# Sleep and Dreams > Beyond Dreaming >  >  marijuana - pineal gland

## Despierto

First of all, I know nothing about this but I once read a post about people talking and saying when you're stimulating the "third eye" and it's easy to open it through the use of marijuana and that it is somewhat opening during a high.

So when I do this, it's either placebo or it is actually happening, because it feels like I enter another state of conciousness where I notice and understand things entirely different and in a more superior way. If I'm watching a movie, I would think of things that I usually wouldn't and it's like everything that happens in the movie is comprehended and worked out in my brain. 

I also feel a lot more things, it sometimes feels like I can sense what other people are feeling/thinking/intending. Overall I feel a lot smarter but still disabled by the other effect.

So either I'm imagining things or I actually get much higher awareness when high

I'd like to hear any knowledge you have in the matter and if you experience this too.

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## Tipharot

Having experience with numerous (in the high 30s) drugs and psychoactive plants I can say that I don't think the Cannabis/"Marijuana" plant comes anything close to those sorts of religious experiences people associate with the "third eye".

I have had such experiences, including ego death/Buddhist nirvana and similar experiences of transcendence under the influence of Psychedelics (5HT2A agonist hallucinogens, e.g. LSD, Psilocybin Mushrooms, Ayahuasca, Mescaline. Don't get these confused with other hallucinogens like dissociatives e.g. Ketamine, PCP etc, or Deliriants, e.g. Datura, Diphenhydramine.) and also while sober and practising meditation and yoga. 

I have not had anything remotely similar though under the influence of Cannabis and find it actually makes these sorts of states a lot harder to reach.

For me Cannabis has the following benefits:
- Good for thinking about one's own life and how to improve it
- Improves creativity
- Stimulates appetite
- A great social drug with far fewer negative side-effects than others such as caffeine or alcohol

It isn't some spiritual wonder drug though, and for that area you're better off looking at psychedelic plants like Psilocybin Mushrooms and the Ayahuasca brew  :smiley: 

Also, be careful with Cannabis, as smoking it regularly in large amounts interferes with dreaming, something I'm sure no-one on this site would want! (on a side-note, sub-threshold doses of deliriants that do not produce any noticeable effects will give lasting dream recall and enhancement for as much as a week after a single dose)

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## Alyzarin

THC does indeed "open" the third eye, through its effects on D2 which deactivate the pineal gland (take note of the somewhat confusing terminology here; open = deactivated, closed = activated). The pineal gland's job is to produce melatonin, which inhibits REM and REM-like states (which are generally required for legitimate spiritual experiences, like the ones psychedelics can provide). Through increasing the effect of dopamine and other agonists at D2, THC increases the activity of photosensitive ganglion cells in the retina which are normally activated by melanopsin, a photopigment, which in turn lowers the activity of the pineal gland and suppresses melatonin production, thus allowing for these REM-like states to emerge. However, the downside is that high levels of acetylcholine also seem to at least preferred, if not required, for these truly spiritual experiences. Cholinergic drugs drastically increase such effects in psychedelics, and the 5-HT2A receptor, which classical psychedelics activate, increases the release of acetylcholine. Cannabinoids, like THC, on the other hand, have actions directly opposite to those of acetylcholine, and will cause concentrations of it to drop. So in other words, the reason it feels like it "opens" the pineal gland is because it does, however it also lowers your ability to achieve the more astral experiences; basically, it puts you in that pineal mood but doesn't give you the full experience. This is largely why THC feels psychedelic, but isn't exactly the same.

I hope that helps.  :smiley:

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## Despierto

Thanks for both of your replies!
Cleared up a lot and gave great insight  :smiley:

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## Qwer

yesterday i ate a weed biscuit for my first time, and it was a pretty strong one to.
anyway after a while i decided to meditate, i just started focusing on my breath. and i dont know how long after i started (it only felt like 30 seconds to a minute) i was suddenly a teddy bear in a locker room somewere completely differant from were i was. after about 30 seconds of being a teddy bear my friend started talking to me and snapped me out of it.
i dont know what it was, maybe a vision or some sort of obe, but i didnt have any sp or experience an exit.
but it was pretty cool and im going to try smoke it and meditate soon and see what happens.

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## Despierto

> yesterday i ate a weed biscuit for my first time, and it was a pretty strong one to.
> anyway after a while i decided to meditate, i just started focusing on my breath. and i dont know how long after i started (it only felt like 30 seconds to a minute) i was suddenly a teddy bear in a locker room somewere completely differant from were i was. after about 30 seconds of being a teddy bear my friend started talking to me and snapped me out of it.
> i dont know what it was, maybe a vision or some sort of obe, but i didnt have any sp or experience an exit.
> but it was pretty cool and im going to try smoke it and meditate soon and see what happens.



Awesome XD maybe it was some HH stuff.

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## Alyzarin

> yesterday i ate a weed biscuit for my first time, and it was a pretty strong one to.
> anyway after a while i decided to meditate, i just started focusing on my breath. and i dont know how long after i started (it only felt like 30 seconds to a minute) i was suddenly a teddy bear in a locker room somewere completely differant from were i was. after about 30 seconds of being a teddy bear my friend started talking to me and snapped me out of it.
> i dont know what it was, maybe a vision or some sort of obe, but i didnt have any sp or experience an exit.
> but it was pretty cool and im going to try smoke it and meditate soon and see what happens.



Sounds like a good edible.  :tongue2:  Experiences such as that are much more common with edibles than with smoking. It's very possible to get OBEs from them, though they will be much more like very random or bizarre dream sequences than anything truly meaningful or spiritual-feeling. Still, cool nonetheless.  ::rolleyes::

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