Re: Drugs 101, class is in session
Cannabidiol (CBD) vaporizes at 200C and THC at 150-160C (all numbers I ever put into this thread should be read with "roughly" before them), so a lot of the time with a vaporizer you end up with a much, much higher THC:CBD ratio ingested than if you had smoked the herb. It's also more efficient, considering no pyrolization (read: burning the molecule and rendering it useless) happens.
Edibles may as well be a different drug because they may well be a different drug. I have no idea. What I do know is that smoking weed bypasses first-pass metabolization, and going through that process may well produce a different ingestion profile than smoking the same herb. There's also come up time to consider. If you've ever snorted a drug, you know what I mean when I say how fast the drug gets into you is VERY important, both in determining the strength of effects and often the effects themselves. Cooking your cannabinoids also converts THC-A into THC via a process called
decarboxylation. So, cooking your weed makes it stronger. Yes this applies to weed you're going to smoke/vape, it's not just for edibles.
RE: Your comments on psychedelics, I doubt I will ever go quite insane enough to call psychedelic drugs safe. Is taking acid safer than taking heroin? Depends, do you have a family history of schizophrenia? The question of how safe drugs are is a common one, a complex one, and, unfortunately, nigh-unanswerable. Every time you take something, there is a risk. You've apparently run into some bad side-effects (the wannabe scientist in me is ♥♥♥♥ fascinated, though, if it's any consolation), and indeed you could run into worse. Do your research thoroughly, try and go above and beyond, there are no second tries to life and if you break your body you will have to live with that forever. It would have to be one hell of a night to be worth, say, triggering latent schizophrenia that would have otherwise remained latent.
Oh, and google "Hallucinogen Perception Persistence Disorder" (HPPD) if you haven't come across it already, that's probably what you're experiencing. I get various kinds of visual distortions all the time, it's not really dangerous in my case. You wouldn't qualify for the "disorder" bit, it's only considered a disorder if it's having a non-trivial negative effect on your life.