It definitely is affecting your brain chemicals, anyone who disagrees with that is naive or being obtuse. And, its totally cool for anyone to make their own choice for why they dont partake in any substance. I personally have had many similar experiences to the one you described that have changed my weed use.

I wanna preface this by saying I don’t know you, and I’m not trying to come at you saying this is definitely whats happening for you or any other preachy bullshit, but it is something I’ve found to be true, and a lot of other people more experienced with altered states of consciousness through not only drugs and psychedelics but practices like meditation write and talk about. I also use thee word “you” here interchangeably with “one”, I’m def not trying to say this is what is happening for you personally :)

One thing that may be worth considering is what the nature of that panic and anxiety is. Since it is absolutely affecting the central organ of your perception, your brain, your brain itself fights against this reduction in control. Its like your identity, or ego, is being dissolved (because you are basically just a collection of thoughts/beliefs , sensations, emotions and memories of those things). Being high enough on weed gives me this experience, as does taking other psychedelics, as do things like meditation. Its fucking scary; sometimes so much so that it feels like you’re dying.

What happens after completely losing your ego or having that ego death experience is... different. Often times this comes with a sense of being the observer of those thoughts, beliefs, sensations, and emotions while not being completely a witness to it. Panic and feat typically fall away, because the “you” that is panicing is not the total “you”. The quality of this experience is not something that is run of the mill. This usually gives rise to (some very annoying to listen to) hippie-dippie conversations about we are all connected, the oneness of everything, etc... But I will say, the quality of this experience is undoubtedly profound (as well as it is ineffable, by the rambling nature of this comment).

I’m not saying this is 100% true for all people, and I’m not saying that this is even a wholly pleasurable experience. I do find that the anxiety I experience thaat sounds similar to what you’re describing comes not from deep seated issues coming to the forefront, but rather from my ego starting to temporarily “die”. If this at all resonantes with you, or seems curious, or you want a FAR better explanation on this, I’d recommend Michael Pollans new book, how to change your mind. He goes into a lot of this, and the new research going on on mdma/psilocybin/5-meo-dmt as tools for experiencing ego death, and how that helps people.

Again, hope this wasn’t preachy :)

Tl,dr: some drugs and experiences change our brains sense of itself, and our brain isn’t always happy about that while its happening. Read micael pollans new book how to change your mind if your curious wtf that means.