While doing research to build the WeedOD.org website, I repeatedly subjected myself to inaccurate, fear based, and at times intentionally misleading information. When you have to wade through a lot of negative fodder, it’s impossible not to get any on you. I thought I could handle it because I had knowledge, numbers and science on my side. But the deeper I went, the worse I started to feel. I became anxious. My left arm started to hurt. My heart raced anytime I smoked or ate an edible. I noticed little heart palpitations when I felt nervous. But my chest didn’t hurt and I had no trouble breathing. This continued for weeks. So I bought an oxygen meter and a Blood Pressure machine. The results were always well within a normal range.

The more accurate information I found, the more certain I was that it had little to do with THC, but rather my heart. Yup… I convinced myself that I had a bad heart. Of course I knew it wasn’t true. Especially since I had a full physical 6 months prior. During which, I told the doc “I smoke a lot of weed… like a lot”. They gave me a chest X-ray and an EKG. Both completely normal. But now, 6 months later… I had a bad heart. The internet told me so.

I wish that it stopped there, but no, I went to my primary care doctor and told him. He looked at my tests and labs, checked me out, and then asked if I had anxiety. That pissed me off. Mostly because I was clearly a text book case.

So I went to a chiropractor. They adjusted me and I tried to convince myself that it was all in my head. Until I went back to work building this website. Then I decided I had a bad heart again. I knew the THC couldn’t hurt me, so it had to be my heart.
I wish it stopped there too, but it didn’t.

I then called a cardiologist. Yup… I went that far… Another EKG and this time a Calcium score via X-ray of the heart… All normal.

When the website was finally completed, I felt like the articles, information and content, provided the right atmosphere for anyone out there like me. Anyone who looked for answers while feeling a little uneasy and was needlessly mislead. I started proof reading from top to bottom, making minor adjustments. The more time I spent on the actual site, the better I felt. And after a while, I started believing that… maybe I don’t have such a bad heart after all.


– Phoenix Mendoza
Creator of WeedOD.org