So your parents want to get high. Here are 8 YouTube videos that can help.

All the tips and assurances an aspiring adult stoner needs.
By Jack Morse  on 
So your parents want to get high. Here are 8 YouTube videos that can help.
When your parents ask about weed, these videos can help. Credit: Bob Al-Greene / Mashable

This post is part of our High-tech High series, which explores weed innovations, and our cultural relationship with cannabis, as legalization in several U.S. states, Canada, and Uruguay moves the market further out of the shadows.


So your parents want to get stoned. First of all, and let's all say it together, hell yeah.

However, and this is the tricky part, it's been a while since they've smoked marijuana — if they ever smoked at all — and the weed landscape has changed radically over the last few decades. Thankfully, you, their loving child, are 100 percent here for them. It's time to answer the call and help your parents get appropriately ripped.

But, where to start? You don't want to take it too fast and end up scaring them off. And there are some real, albeit manageable, concerns. Sure, recreational pot is legal in 10 states and the District of Columbia, but just because smoking a joint or eating an edible in one of those locales won't land someone in the slammer doesn't mean it doesn't come with its own set of pitfalls. You know, the Maureen Dowd effect.

Fortunately, we are presently in the golden age of green, and there's plenty of advice to be found on YouTube for the weed-curious parent.

Where to score

The first question that needs answering is the most basic: Where are your parents getting the weed? For the sake of this piece, let's assume they have legal means to acquire it. In addition to the states where recreational weed is legal, there are plenty of states that have legalized medical marijuana. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is a nonprofit group working to legalize marijuana in the U.S., and has a great state-by-state map showing you exactly what the laws are where your folks live.

Assuming they live in a state that's legalized recreational marijuana, your parents (who if you are reading this article are surely over the age of 21) can just walk into a shop and buy their bud of choice.

Dispensaries are a lot like high-end wine stores. They're fancy, well lit, and there is a so-called budtender on hand to help you make your choice. The above video takes your weed-curious parents inside MedMen, a weed dispensary in West Hollywood, California and makes it clear that there's nothing there to intimidate them. Keep in mind, while MedMen has been compared to Apple stores in the past, not all dispensaries are as fancy.

What to consume

That brings us to the next question: What should your parents buy? While there are endless ways to partake in some THC and CBD, to keep it simple let's break it down into three easy to understand groups: flower, oil, and edibles.

Flower is, well, what you think of when you think of pot. It's the plant — green, leafy, and sticky in all its glory. But the flower of today is likely grown in different circumstances than what was commonly available in the U.S. decades ago. The below video, shot inside a high-end grow house, shows off an example of modern-day growing practices.

Watching the video, your parents can learn that growing weed is taken seriously as a business, and for the most part, they can be sure they're getting exactly what the dispensary says they're getting.

If your parents are OK with getting a little smoke in their lungs, then flower is probably the most straightforward way to get into the game. While rolling a joint isn't actually that complicated, it does take some practice to do well. The below video provides a great step-by-step guide for someone that "never even attempted this in [their] entire life."

However, if that's a little too much work, just have your folks go the pre-rolled route. A pre-rolled joint, which you can buy at a dispensary, takes all the hassle out of the process and gives your parents something that's ready to spark up. Just make sure they tell the person at the dispensary that this is their first time smoking and they want something mellow (good advice for any first-time smoker, actually).

However, on the off chance that you're around to help, and you own a bong, maybe give that try. The water cools the smoke, making it feel less harsh on your lungs than a joint (but a bong can also deliver more smoke into your lungs than a joint, so it's a double-edged sword). If these lovely grandmothers smoking a bong for the first time can get the hang of it, so can your parents.

There are plenty of great videos on how to use a bong, but the below one is a fun step-by-step guide for beginners.

However, we're living in the weed-future, so your parents would be forgiven for skipping flower altogether and going straight for oil. Oil is basically an extract from the plant containing some combination of THC, CBD, and other lesser-known cannabinoids like terpenes, and can either be vaporized or (if made into a tincture) ingested directly via something like a dropper. Fancy vape pens, which as the name suggests, are compact devices generally in the shape of a pen (size and shape can vary) that allow you to vaporize oil or flower (depending on the product). They're commonly sold at dispensaries around the country and can be purchased fully charged and ready to go.

They're incredibly simple to use, but can make first-time smokers nervous because it might be hard to tell how much you're inhaling before you find yourself fully and truly baked. Technology has solved that problem too, though. Vapes like Dosist are designed to alert you when you've had one dose, which in this case is around 2.25 mg.

But maybe your parents don't want to actually inhale anything. That's totally fine! Smoke isn't exactly great for your lungs, and thankfully there is a way to enjoy the pleasure of marijuana without inhaling anything at all. That's right: the edible.

When it comes to edibles, your parents might immediately think of classic brownies, but these days edibles are available in the form of fancy chocolates, lollipops, candies, and pretty much anything else you can imagine.

The above video should put any nervous edible consumer at ease. When buying edibles at a store, you'll know exactly what kind of weed and what dose of THC and CBD you're getting. If you buy something broken into segments, like a chocolate bar, you may even know the amount of THC per bite.

In other words, there's no need to launch your head straight into space unless that's what you want to do. A mellow and controlled high is totally possible with edibles these days. Take advantage of that.

There are also edibles and tinctures rich in CBD with low levels of THC or none at all from companies like Bloom Farms and Care by Design. CBD doesn't have a psychoactive effect like THC and is being studied by researchers interested in anti-inflammation (think arthritis and sore joints). There's a lot of interest in studying CBD these days, and the 2018 Farm Bill, which passed in December, federally legalized industrial hemp (a cannabis plant with high levels of CBD and less than 0.3 percent THC).

Where to get high and what comes next

This last part is perhaps the easiest of all. Once your parents have determined how they would like to partake in their score and purchased it from a dispensary after a conversation with the helpful employee who answered any and all questions, they just need to figure out where to get down.

While many people swear by getting stoned in nature, or rolling up to an art museum high, the best bet for a first-timer is likely in their own apartment or house. That way, your parents can be comfortable in the knowledge that they have control over their surprise-free surroundings.

And hey, if all goes well, they can go for a stroll to the park or around town once they've gotten the hang of things.

There is, of course, the off chance that they might not like getting stoned. That's OK, too. Weed isn't for everyone, but with the modern marijuana industry and its attendant regulations, it's never been a better time for a newbie to dip his or her toe into the weed-pool.

These days, it's relatively simple to consume cannabis safely and responsibly — with your parents.

Topics Cannabis

Mashable Image
Jack Morse

Professionally paranoid. Covering privacy, security, and all things cryptocurrency and blockchain from San Francisco.


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