Your comparing bud to hard drugs. If your used to getting really high on pharmaceuticals and then start getting into smoking bud, its gonna feel like a step down. The idea behind smoking weed isn't to get as high/euphoric as possible, but to enjoy a mild psychoactive, like one would with alcohol in small doses, or tobacco. Thats only really that practical once you have a tolerance though. If you don't it will be much stronger, euphoric, and actually feel like more of a 'drug experience'.
If you don't have a tolerance you would probably get the after effects you describe with an indica dominant strain. Try looking for a lighter, more sativa dominant, or just take a hit or two, theres no reason you have to always smoke a whole bowl, even though thats pretty much the standard increment that almost everyone smokes usually.