Cannabis: What Makes You High and How
I know marijuana is the most popular recreational drug, but despite there being a lot of new research and knowledge that can easily be found on the web I still see people trying to explain what's in it and how the chemicals work, when in reality they have no fucking idea what they are talking about. The point of this section is to compile some of the more basic information from wikipedia. "Thats fucking dumb why would you just copy pasta shit from wikipedia, i can just go on there and read it myself, NNNNNNRRRRRRUUUUGHGHH" I'm not going to just copy info from them, but rather put it in easier terms for people to understand, because lets be honest once wikipedia gets into medicine and other scientific subjects it doesnt even try explaining the concepts and you are stuck in a never ending loop of wiki pages trying to figure out what one word means and you forget what you were trying to figure out in the first place. Along with clarifying facts people usually get wrong, I want to explain the true benefits and harms of use on the brain and the two paramount chemicals responsible for them.
Cannabinoid Receptors in the Brain
I want to start here because I am sick and tired of people saying, "hurrr our brains were made to smoke weed because we have cannabis receptors in our brains". No, these cannabinoid receptors have been there for hundreds of thousands or millions of years. In fact, "Cannabidiol has no affinity for CB1 and CB2 receptors but acts as an indirect antagonist of cannabinoid agonists" (wikipedia). Anyway, cannabinoid receptors serve an important function in the brain as being responsible for appetite, pain-sensation, mood, and memory. Cannabinoid receptors are also considered neuromodulators, which means they can communicate with other cells in the brain by releasing an excess or neurotransmitters that travel beyond the synaptic gap and activate other parts of the brain. This is why cannabinoid receptors have such a wide range of function. So after a lot of digging, I was able to find out how these receptors link to the rest of the brain and where it alters normal function. Just to make it easier to understand, I'm going to separate the two major chemicals from cannabis and explain their pharmacology.
THC aka Tetrahydrocannabinol
THC is best known for its psychoactive properties as well as pain suppression and increased taste sensation. For pain it alters neurotransmitter communication in the dorsal root ganglion and the Periaqueductal gray. The dorsal root ganglion is a collection of neurons that act as a information highway for sensory articles like vibration, fine touch, and proprioception (knowing where your body parts are in space), so by suppressing this area you stop the info from being perceived. As for the periaqueductal gray or PG or short, it is very complicated in the sense there is a lot of "it activates this, then this activates those, and those inhibits that" so in short when stimulated it will eventually release opioid neurotransmitters that inhibit Substance P, which is what creates the sensation of pain. After further researching the structure, I found out it is also responsible for defensive behavior like mammalian freezing, running, jumping, tachycardia, and increases in blood pressure and muscle tonus. So judging by that, it may be the reason your blood pressure and heart rate spikes when smoking sativas. However, i doubt THC would cause couch lock since most people report couch lock after smoking a strong indica, which is a lot lower in THC but has a higher ratio of CBD. As for taste, it effects CB1 receptors in the hypothalamus, responsible for hunger. It not only reduces the feeling of fullness (you eat until you are sick, it slows the signals from the stomach saying its full) but it also increases the palatability of food. Palatability is the reward feeling of food, and is based in the nucleus accumbens (structure that releases dopamine whenever you do/consume something you like sex, water, food, smoke). When you havent eaten for a while, the food you eat feels more rewarding than if you have already eaten and are full. So by affecting the CB1 receptors in the area eating food feels really good and you dont want to stop.
CBD aka Cannabidiol
CBD is just as important as THC in terms of the high and health. I am sick of people not knowing that there are other cannabinoids, especially this one since in comparison to THC its the part of weed that is 'good' for you, in a sense. CBD in the medical field can help anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, dystonia, certain cancers, depression, and combat the adverse effects of THC. Yes, THC is bad for you, especially if you only smoke very strong sativas and hash. They have a high ratio of THC to CBD so there isnt enough CBD to counteract side effects like memory loss, susceptibility to schizophrenia, and heart abnormalities; I will elaborate on this later. Here is a quick pic of how much CBD does compared to the other cannabinoids
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nnabinoids.png . Anyway CBD when it comes to the high, CBD has an antagonist property where THC has a partial agonist one, so it helps keep the anxiety, that THC causes, down. Since CBD activates the same receptors as THC, you still get munchies, feelings of euphoria etc, you only have less of a mind high because you cancel out the agonistic effect from THC.
The Research of Cannabis: Debunking the Bullshit
This is the final section and one that I really want people to know, because it is important to know what research is legitimate and what is biased bullshit. Now, remember that scientists get payed to make findings, and despite the null hypothesis practice used in statistics and research, scientists still go into experiments biased trying to find a breakthrough. So expect both sides (pro and anti marijuana) to release incomplete, rigged, or exaggerated results.
THC can act as a "constellation factor" leading to schizophrenia. Im just going to quote the cross examination since it was done by a research professional, "Results On an individual level, cannabis use confers an overall twofold increase in the relative risk for later schizophrenia. At the population level, elimination of cannabis use would reduce the incidence of schizophrenia by approximately 8%, assuming a causal relationship. Cannabis use appears to be neither a sufficient nor a necessary cause for psychosis. It is a component cause, part of a complex constellation of factors leading to psychosis. Conclusions Cases of psychotic disorder could be prevented by discouraging cannabis use among vulnerable youths. Research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which cannabis causes psychosis." So there is a slim chance that cannabis will add to your psychosis IF you have other factors that can cause you to develop schizophrenia.
As for other research you come across, try to read the procedures section carefully. This is VERY important, I cant stress it enough. Im just going to jump to it, cannabis research doesnt always use weed to test. Some will use pure injections of THC only, or only use very strong sativas or hash with loads of THC and no CBD. This increases the possibility of mental illness, memory loss, and heart problems as mentioned before. This is probably done to get around the issue of growing for the lab, but this means its not really weed being tested, just pure THC. And as we all know, THC in huge quantities without its counterpart CBD is very bad for you. I've seen a lot of studies where they do this and its very frustrating since they get these harmful results and label it as being from all kinds of weed. It would be like saying that drinking a whole bottle of everclear has the same effects as drinking a beer. As for studies about the lungs, expect them to use very inefficient or carcinogenic ways of smoking like joints without filters or loads of papers with lots of tobacco. We already know breathing in smoke from anything burned is bad for you, which is why edibles and vaporizers are the healthiest way of consuming.
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