Why does weed make me anxious and paranoid? People ask me that all the time and I try to give a Morpheus-from-The-Matrix type explanation. It’s not that marijuana makes you anxious, it’s that you think it will.
There’s a threshold stoners hit when it comes to The Fear. It’s perfectly normal to get those feelings, pot sends your mind into a state that we don’t often get to. People usually like to control- or at least they think they control- their surroundings, while marijuana relaxes your grip on reality.
It can be an uncomfortable feeling at first to let go and let your mind expand/wonder/speed up/slow down, people can mistake it for something sinister. But over time we come to realize that nothing bad actually ever happens. Is someone following me? Nope, that was a movie. Did everyone in the restaurant know I was high? No, people are focused on themselves. Am I going to get arrested for this? As long as you aren’t driving or screwing with other people, I doubt it.
It is my scientifically unproven theory that once you learn that marijuana only lasts for a couple hours and no one cares about you, do you come over to the green side. The Fear goes away and is nothing more than your initiation to the best club ever. Remember the movie The Beach with Leo? Before he got to paradise he had to jump off the waterfall- The Fear is your waterfall...jump!