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- TikTok users are chewing peppercorns and drinking lemon juice to counteract weed-induced paranoia.
- Black pepper, lemons, and cannabis all contain compounds called terpenes.
- Terpenes can affect the high you feel from cannabis, and some may be able to calm you down.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Anyone who's gotten too high knows that the pursuit of stoned bliss can quickly detour into paranoia. For those who have wondered if there's an off switch for getting too high, TikTok has an answer: black peppercorns.
Chewing whole peppercorns or taking a whiff of ground pepper can reduce the paranoia and anxiety that sometimes come with getting high, TikTok user transstrender explained in a video.
Eating lemons or drinking lemon juice can have a similar effect, they added. When ingested, the lemon or pepper reacts with the cannabis in your system to create an effect that's "basically like CBD" – in other words, it mellows you out.
This hack for beating weed-induced anxiety is actually backed up by science, and it's likely been around a lot longer than TikTok. According to one review in the British Journal of Pharmacology, humans may have been using a peppery brew to combat the effects of cannabis as early as the first century.
So how can black pepper soothe your paranoia? It all comes down to one thing peppercorns, lemons, and cannabis share: terpenes.
Peppercorns contain terpenes that can tame the effects of THC
Many plants contain aromatic compounds called terpenes. Scientists have discovered more than a hundred different terpenes in cannabis alone, and each weed strain has its own unique terpene composition.
Terpenes play a key role in whether a strain is an upper or a downer, and they interact with cannabinoids such as THC and CBD to modulate the way you feel on cannabis.
Black pepper contains the terpenes pinene and caryophyllene, which are both known to tamp down THC's psychoactive tendencies to create a more calming, therapeutic effect.
Caryophyllene, which is also found in cloves and cinnamon, is the only terpene that can bind to the same receptors as THC, according to Leafly. But it only binds to the CB2 receptors located throughout the body - not the CB1 receptors in the brain - making it a great candidate for balancing out psychoactive effects.
Lemons and mangoes also contain terpenes that can affect your high
Lemons may also reduce weed-related anxiety via a terpene called limonene, which is believed to help with stress relief, according to Leafly.
Other naturally occurring terpenes, such as myrcene, can lead to a more potent or long-lasting high. Some TikTok users have also tried eating mangoes, which contain myrcene, just before smoking weed to enhance their highs.
It's important to note that there have only been a few studies looking at the effects of terpenes in humans. So while we know for certain which foods contain certain terpenes, and there's some anecdotal evidence on what they may do, the research hasn't backed up any reported benefits yet.
But for anxious stoners in a pinch, washing down some black peppercorns with lemon juice may be worth a try.