Is it your first time smoking a joint, or maybe it’s been awhile? Whatever the case, all of a sudden your mouth is dry, the world seems smaller, your stomach is rolling, and, you can’t be sure, but you’re almost certain everyone in the room is looking at you and they know. You’re too high. You’re greening out. Paranoid. You aren’t the first person to go overboard with marijuana, and you certainly won’t be the last. The good news? There are a few things you can do in this situation to get back to a close proximity of your normal self without losing your cool. Too much.

Keep Calm & Get Friendly

If there is a more classic symptom of “greening out” than paranoia, you’d be hard-pressed to find it.

When you start to feel yourself losing control or on the verge of a panic attack, there are two things you can do:

Be a cliche and remind yourself that, “this too shall pass”: most times, symptoms associated with overindulging in marijuana will dissipate within minutes or hours, and you’ll be left feeling slightly worse for wear, kind of like a hangover.
Find (or phone) a friend: sometimes a familiar face can help you bring yourself back to center. At the very least you won’t be or feel alone.

Have H20 Handy

Many people preach, “Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!” to cancel out an overzealous cannabis experience. Will it bring immediate relief? Perhaps not, but it will make a huge difference in combating a common condition we all know and love: dry mouth. Did you know that when you get high, the receptors in your mouth are triggered to stop producing saliva? Another reason we should hold water in such high esteem.

If you don’t like water straight up, you can try a glass of orange or cranberry juice, which are sweet, always best cold, and contain natural enzymes good for what ails you.

Expert Tip: Cannabis strains get their incredible aromas and unique highs from the combination of cannabinoids and chemicals called terpenes, which are something these plants share with a handful of others, like lemons and pepper. It’s believed that limonene (lemon) and piperine (pepper), can help to create a more active and less anxious experience with cannabis. The suggestion is to sip a glass of water to which you’ve added lemon juice and fresh cracked pepper, sniff (or chew, if you can handle it) a handful of peppercorns, or dabble with some lemon essential oils to help soothe your overactive mind.

Mitigate with Munchies

Many marijuana strains are notorious for causing a belly-rumbling hunger that sends you straight for the fridge. It’s also common knowledge in the cannabis community that eating will bring you down from a high and veteran smokers tend to steer clear of meals when they’re toking up.

Does food actually help when you’re greening out? There aren’t any scientific studies that examine the premise, but there are two schools of thought:

Some think that, because fatty-foods like avocado bind with cannabinoids, they can help to metabolize those chemicals faster, theoretically making you high more quickly.
The flip side: when you eat, blood flow is diverted from the brain to the stomach, which supposedly decreases the amount of THC hanging out around receptors in your brain and effectively reducing the high.

Catch Some ZZZZs

What can’t a nap solve? A nap can make life’s problems a little easier to cope with, and the same goes for a bad high. Find a quiet, peaceful space, turn off or down the lights, put on some relaxing music, and let yourself drift away into a restful snooze. Don’t worry if you can’t sleep, though: some alone time might be just the ticket to help you get back to your usual self.

Cue Up A Cold Shower

If the option is available to you (i.e. you’re at home, or at least at the home of a good and easy-going friend), try taking a cold shower. The cold water helps decrease heart rate (a phenomenon known as the mammalian diving reflex, which is part of our survival instinct), drop body temperature, conserve energy, and preserve excess oxygen.

Bring On The CBD

We are already huge advocates for the benefits of CBD, but this fantastic cannabinoid can also be used to help counteract your THC high. When present at the same time, CBD actually helps inhibit the uptake of THC, which makes for a much less cerebral experience.

Of course, the best way to deal with “greening out” is to avoid getting too high in the first place by practicing smart consumption techniques, like starting out slow, waiting at least half an hour before taking your second dose, and sticking with strains low in THC, like Jack Herer, Harlequin, or Pennywise.