How to Act High

Co-authored by Greg James Blount

Last Updated: January 26, 2024 References

What do you do when you've been cast in the role of a stoner but you've never actually gotten high from marijuana? After all, you want to give a convincing performance. To prepare for a role in which you must act high, there are certain steps to pull off the performance, beginning with research. If you also get into character and master various stoner behaviors, you'll easily pull off the part.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Mastering High Behaviors

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1
Master the zoned-out stare. People who are high often laze around, watching the world around them through half-closed lids. To perfect the dazed and half asleep look, slack your jaw and loll your head slightly to one side.
- People who smoke or consume marijuana often get lost in their thoughts, and are easily distracted. To really show you have zoned out, act like you are thinking about something totally irrelevant to your surroundings. That way, you can better act like you are detached from reality. ^{[1]
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- You can also express your random thoughts or insight to those around you so that you can really portray the fact that you have zoned out. Try to bring up a topic, random fact, or insight that has nothing to do with the conversation at hand. Act like you have discovered something about yourself or your surroundings that is already very obvious.
2
Slow your reaction time. People who are high from marijuana have delayed responses, so try to respond to everything slower than usual. Let that ball hit you in the face and do things as if your entire world was moving in slow motion. If you have to sit, stand or move, be sure to do so slowly and languidly.
- Do this authentically -- don't act like you are in a video that has been slowed down. Essentially, you just want it to seem like it is taking you longer to think about things and to make movements than it should or normally would.
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3
Giggle more than usual. One sign of being high is increased giggling or laughter, usually for little to no reason. If someone does something funny, try to laugh or giggle harder than you normally would. Giggle at things that aren't usually very funny, and act like you can't stop laughing.
- Pot often makes people feel happier and more free at first, so giggling and laughing over every little thing will help show that you are relaxed and carefree.
4
Fake the munchies. People often develop growing appetites after they use marijuana. Imagine you haven't eaten anything but lettuce for the past month, and you've just set foot in a food haven where you can eat everything you can get your hands on. That feeling is known in the stoner world as the munchies.
- Nutrition is rarely a concern to someone who is high and has the munchies. After using marijuana, a person will often devour the most junk and combine the craziest concoctions available.
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Display red eyes and dilated pupils. People who are high from marijuana often have red eyes and carry eye drops to counteract the redness or wear sunglasses. If you really want to look like you've been smoking pot, find some creative ways to bring redness to your eyes. Try to stay in darker lit areas so your pupils look more dilated.
- If you want to mimic red eyes for as short period of time, rub your eyes for a bit. Then, carry around some eyedrops to act like you are trying to counteract the redness. You can also bring a pair of sunglasses with you and put them on when you are around people, to act like you are trying to hide your redness.
- You can also create eye redness by reducing your sleep. Marijuana users are often prone to drowsiness anyways, so getting less sleep than usual will increase redness in your eyes and help you play the role better. You may also be able to find some contact lenses that are colored to look like you have eye redness.^{[2]
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Become accident prone. Just like they effect a drunk person, poor coordination and judgment make a high person prone to mishaps. Since you can become absent minded and careless while high,^{[3]
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- For example, while acting high you could find it difficult to pour a cup of coffee. You might splash hot coffee onto your hand, which causes you to bump the cup off of the table. The cup smashes on the floor, and while trying to clean up the mess you cut your finger, and so on and so forth.
Sometimes when people are high, they suffer from short-term memory loss. A high person might begin a story or even a sentence and forget what they were saying halfway through. Forgetfulness might also cause a high person to enter a room and forget what they're there for.
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Perfect your fascinated stare. When people are high, they often become fascinated with random objects or movements. After a person uses marijuana, they might suddenly begin to stare blankly at the hands of a clock, a dripping faucet or a spinning ceiling fan. Any repetitive motion tends to catch the eye of a stoner.
- Just like the zoned out stare, the fascinated stare comes from the fact that you are distracted by something. While the zoned out stare means you are lost in your thoughts, the fascinated stare shows that something in your surroundings has suddenly peaked your interest. Choose an object around you that is moving, and stare at it for a long time, until people start to notice.
- Cartoons also are fascinating to high people. Whether it's, "The Simpsons," Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse on the screen, stoners will stare intensely at the television and maniacally laugh at random scenes.

Part 2

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Getting Into Character

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1
Take on the persona of a high person in your everyday life. Mastering a role involves much more than rehearsing lines. To really be able to fool people, you'll need to practice being high frequently. Spend an entire day acting high, and make sure you practice when you are around people.
- Use all the techniques in mastering high behaviors in your day. If you are around someone who knows you are just playing a part, ask them to watch you and give you advice afterwards. Make sure you have someone who can praise or critique your performance afterwards so you know if you are doing a convincing job.
2
Write a bio for your character. Fill in the blanks left by the writer, and write a bio based around your character's known traits and experienced. Imagine how the character would dress, how he or she would talk, think and act based on the biographical characteristics. This may help you perform better, because you'll have a specific character to go off of.^{[4]
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- Different people also have different reactions to pot. If you are playing a specific role, make sure you understand how that character responds to marijuana. Some people may be more carefree and giggly, while others may experience increased heart rate, anxiety, or aloofness that leads to depression. While it seems like marijuana is always displayed as the happy drug, this isn't always true.^{[5]
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3
Improvise a story. Practice getting into the high character by play acting with a partner, making up only one or a few lines at a time. It doesn't matter where the story leads you, the important part is you act high the whole time, according to the bio you previously wrote about your character. ^{[6]
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- Ask your friend to tell you when you've broken character or when it seems completely posed. Part of a performance involves rehearsing lines and doing takes multiple times, so if you have to rehearse the same lines multiple times don't be discouraged.
4
Play a game of cards while in character. Entertain yourself while practicing for the role of a marijuana user by playing a game while acting high. The activities involved in a card game are redundant, yet sporadic enough to challenge your skills and ability to continue acting high.^{[7]
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- Not only can you practice acting stoned with a card game, but you can prepare for an audition in the same way. Both social and solitary games of cards will keep you from trying too hard, while helping tap into the right emotional context.^{[8]
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Part 3

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Researching the Role

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1
Watch relevant examples of thespians acting high for a role. The best way to learn how to act high is to watch other actors do it. Plenty of movies^{[9]
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- If you're preparing for a comedic role, watch movies such as, "Up in Smoke," "Half Baked" or "Dude, Where's My Car?"
- To prepare for a more dramatic role, watch examples of marijuana users in movies such as "Dazed and Confused," "The Breakfast Club" or "Blow."
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Talk to others about their experiences while high. Even if you don't use marijuana, chances are you know someone who either does or did in the past.^{[11]
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- You can attain an even better understanding of your friend's memories by asking him or her to reenact their experiences rather than simply describing them.
- You can best prepare to act high by recording your sessions. Each time you speak with a person about their memories of being high, record the discussion. You will get an even better grasp of the behaviors by watching the sessions multiple times.^{[12]
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If you live in a place where marijuana use is legal, you can see how to act high firsthand by watching others smoke the plant or ingest it through edibles. Pay attention to their mannerisms, actions, speech patterns and behaviors.
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Try some marijuana. If you live in an area where smoking marijuana is legal, you can always draw from personal experience by sampling some for yourself. Only try a small amount if you are not an experienced smoker.^{[13]
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- You can use marijuana in a variety of ways, including smoking it or ingesting it in pot butter, brownies, candy and a variety of other edibles.
- Prepare for your role by keeping a notebook during your high experience to later remember your thoughts while high and by recording the session to later watch your behaviors and mannerisms.
- Keep in mind that marijuana can have dangerous side effects. Because it slows your reaction time, avoid driving a car or doing activity that can danger you while you are affected by the drug. Marijuana effects usually wear off after three to four hours, so give yourself some time to experience the drug before you try to go out in public. Know that marijuana also increases your heart rate, so if you already are at risk for a heart attack, avoid using marijuana altogether.^{[14]
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How do I perfectly portray being high when acting?

Greg James Blount
Acting Coach & Director of Talent Development
Greg James Blount is an Acting Coach, Talent Development Director, and co-owner with his wife of the Green Room Acting Studio based in Boca Raton, Florida. Greg has over 30+ years in the talent industry. His online acting studio trains hundreds of students each month and has been responsible for many actors being discovered and gaining representation, including Kira Kosarin (Nickelodeon's The Thundermans), Kayden Muller (Disney’s Villains of Valley View), Colin O’Brien (WONKA, Dear Edward), Cade Sutton (Disney's Kirby Buckets), and Christopher Cassarino (HULU’s Reasonable Doubt, NBC's New Amsterdam). Greg also owns Sound Tree Entertainment and has produced several award-winning films and TV shows. In May 2024, he directed his first feature film, The Tan Man. Greg has a degree in film production and a minor in fashion photography from the University of South Carolina.

Greg James Blount

Acting Coach & Director of Talent Development

Expert Answer

You have to slow your reactions and movements down. Let your eyelids droop a little while looking super relaxed or kind of out of it. Speaking in a more laid-back tone and slurring your words slightly or pausing mid-sentence as if you forgot what you're talking about. Your movements and reactions should be slower, as if everything around you is in slow motion and everything moves at half the speed. Getting distracted or zoning out on random things also sells the effect—once again, as if you are fascinated by something small or are preoccupied with your own thoughts. You can get a lot of cues watching how people act when they are high in shows or movies, but also remember, people act differently when they're high, so you can tweak it to fit the character or situation that you're playing.

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Why would somebody want to act high?

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Someone might want to act high for a play, a prank, or some other kind of performance.

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How can I act high in a text?

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Try to laugh all the time, and just talk randomly about everything. Act weird.

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Tips

Anyone who is a true smoker of cannabis might see right through your charade.

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Try to incorporate a little bit of all the steps into your act so that you are very convincing.

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Another thing you can do to act high is put chapstick on your eyelids

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Warnings

Deliberately acting high should be saved for acting roles, not everyday life. Marijuana is only legal in some form in 23 of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.^{[15]
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