Hi! I'm someone who deals with anxiety a lot. You may have seen my post about weed/hemp. I love myself some good hemp but unfortunately it's quite expensive, and I'm also a huge fan of growing and cultivating things (though with ADHD it can be quite hard to remember to take care of it...)
Is there any plant out there that's known (scientifically proven) to have relaxing effects without being addictive and also possible to grow without getting me arrested for growing it? It sounds like something that would be way too good to be possible, but I thought I would ask.
Thanks for the help in advance!
Gotu kola is easy to grow, especially if you grow it under pond-like conditions. As an anxiolytic... eh, it might do something.
Throw bacopa monneiri into that exact same pile (or bucket, I guess). Both are super easy to propagate too.
I like smoking damiana and it had a noticeable anxiolytic effect on me. Apparently it may increase testosterone and reduce estrogen so if you're AFAB or taking hormones then I'd avoid this without further research and potentially medical advice. I've never grown it though so I can't speak to how difficult it is to grow. Also it is known for making people horny. I didn't experience this effect but it's worth mentioning.
The last one I think is worth mentioning although it comes with a caution that it can cause addiction so if you do grow it and you are consuming it, take tolerance breaks, or if you are prone to addiction then I'd recommend healthy caution if not avoiding it entirely but kratom is a tree so once it's established then it's going to be easy enough to take care of.
Edit: ah shoot, ADHD huh?
That is a confounding variable. Feel free not to discuss this for your own privacy but ADHDers, as a rule, tend to be low in norepinephrine (adrenaline) and paradoxically this can cause anxiety problems. Long story. It might be better to get yourself appropriately medicated, if that's a practical option, because most ADHD meds increase norepinephrine and this often causes ADHDers to experience less anxiety. However, being the snowflake that I am, it doesn't actually work that way for me so if you are the opposite and you want advice I can point you in the right direction with things.
Also bacopa monneiri has nicotine in it so I wouldn’t touch that stuff personally
I didn't realise this - I never put any real effort into researching it so apologies because if I'd have known I would have given you a warning.
Goes to show that getting advice from internet strangers should be the springing off point but it shouldn't be the last word on the matter and doing your due diligence is always important. I'm glad that you looked into this yourself.
Yeah, plus I don’t really trust most herbal/apothecary medicine stuff so I basically have to verify everything actually has a non-zero amount of research behind it
Also the suggestion about getting medicated is a good one. I am already medicated, currently on Welbutrin for it. Having something to take the edge of occasionally is helpful though.
Damiana sounds great but unfortunately I am transfemme ish. So increasing my testosterone sounds miserable, though it wouldn’t physically hurt me
there's ashwagandha but I think you'd have to grow quite a bit of it to get enough roots to make a supplement from it? I've not directly heard of anyone growing it themselves but it ought to be possible given the right climate or an indoor setup. There's also the problem that it isn't really known what it does and doesn't do or how it works, though many people take it for anxiety or other reasons.
You could also grow non-THC hemp I guess (assuming you aren't in a legal state). someone's gotta have more ideas than that tho
non-thc hemp unfortunately also requires a grower's license in non-legal states. is it not criminalized to do it without a license?
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/congressional-testimony/hemp-production-and-2018-farm-bill-07252019
In December of 2018, the 2018 Farm Bill was signed into law. It removed hemp, defined as cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) and derivatives of cannabis with extremely low concentrations of the psychoactive compound delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (no more than 0.3 percent THC on a dry weight basis), from the definition of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
You may want to do more research than I have, but I think non-THC hemp is fine.
Unfortunately, at-home hemp growth is still illegal and even if it wasn’t it would be just as risky without a license as if it was legal, because cops can’t tell the difference between weed and hemp. Partially because there isn’t really a difference and partially because they’re incompetent. And you’d have to be SURE it had less than 0.3% thc if you’re trying to rely on the court finding you not guilty afterwards, which is basically impossible because at least one piece of bud is going to have more than 0.3%
Ah well, you could look into Kava, I don't think its very strong though
https://cupofkava.com/growing-kava/
Have you considered light doses of mushrooms once a week? They're relatively easy to grow and you can get spores delivered by mail.
isn't this basically the same level of risk as just growing weed?
worse depending on the area. poppies are legal some places to grow but I dunno if you wanna be chasing the dragon. Hops, chamomile, lavender, echinacea all have calming properties, are perfectly legal, and are useful for quite a few things.
Hops are a really good suggestion.
Very nice to smoke and a perennial herb so once established it should be hardier than an annual like cilantro. A mild anxiolytic but enough that my agitated mind can notice it.
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.14310/horm.2002.1738.pdf
This appears to be a double-blind placebo study heavily implying that hops (or at least dry extract of hops) have an actual impact on depression and anxiety? Dunno if it’s significant, I just looked at the results and not the data, but this seriously implies it’s a good choice
Im pretty sure you can get it from literally just drinking tea with the stuff. Though it might be a weaker high
Idk I would need to test it myself to be sure if it has a high
being able to grow opium without risk but not weed is soo fucked. all of those herbs and stuff are stuff i like anyways so i'm definitely going for that! thank you for the help
Yeah, poppies are not suitable for anxiety. Poppy withdrawal is far worse than normal opiate withdrawal too, so it's pretty bad to get into.
You don't have to use high intensity grow lights for mushrooms that will jack up your electric bill, also takes up less room. You can also go from start to finish in around a month.
Damn that’s awesome. But I still don’t really want to risk it.
there shouldn't really be a strong smell from growing mushrooms, other than like how a terrarium smells. if it smells like rot/mold something went wrong.
you could grow a sclerotia-forming species in bags of uncle ben's rice. you basically just innoculate a bag of precooked rice with a spore syringe and then let it sit in your closet or pantry or whatever for 7-9 months, that's it. then you open em up and take out your truffles. not the most efficient method but i cannot imagine anything lower risk. a couple people have done it on the uncle ben's tek reddit.
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haha aw. if you forget about your sclerotia they just get bigger and more powerful 😈
Pretty questionable on the "won't get me arrested" front but I guess it's very unlikely
