Introduction:
Cannabis is not only the most used illegal drug in the United States (Gold, Frost-Pineda, & Jacobs, 2004; NIDA, 2010), but it is also the most used illegal drug in the whole world (UNODC, 2010). It is a schedule-I drug in the US, which means that the law says it has no medical use and is very addictive (US DEA, 2010). Doweiko (2009) says that not all types of weed can be abused. He suggests using the general term "marijuana" when talking about cannabis that could be abused. This language is also used in this paper to make things clear.
Today, marijuana is at the center of a worldwide debate about whether or not it should be illegal everywhere. Many states in the Union have made it acceptable for medical use. This trend is called "medical marijuana," and supporters love it very much while opponents hate it very much (Dubner, 2007, Nakay, 2007, Van Tuyl, 2007). In this situation, it was decided that this study article would be about the physical and pharmacological effects of marijuana.
What is marijuana?
The right name for the plant that makes marijuana is cannabis sativa. As was already said, there are some cannabis indica plants that can't be abused and are called hemp. Hemp is often used to make paper and fabric for artists, among other things. We call cannabis sativa that can be abused "marijuana" (Doweiko, 2009). Even though marijuana has been studied for a long time, there are still a lot of things that scientists don't know about it. Neuroscientists and researchers know what happens when you use marijuana, but they still don't fully understand why (Hazelden, 2005).
According to Deweiko (2009), Gold, Frost-Pineda, and Jacobs (2004), Buy Weed Online of the about 400 chemicals known to be in cannabis plants, over sixty are thought to have psychoactive effects on the brain. THC, or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, is the most well-known and powerful of these. Like Hazelden (2005), Deweiko says that we know a lot about how THC affects the brain and body, but we don't know why it does these things.
In terms of neurobiology, THC directly affects the central nervous system (CNS) because it is a psychoactive drug. It changes a huge number of hormones and speeds up the action of enzymes and other biochemicals. When the THC turns on certain neuroreceptors in the brain, it stimulates the CNS. This causes the different physical and mental effects that will be talked about in more detail later. Neurotransmitters can only be turned on by substances that act like chemicals that the brain makes naturally. Scientists know that the brain has natural cannabis receptors because THC makes the brain work better. (Hazelden, 2005; Martin, 2004) It is still not clear why people have natural cannabinoid receptors or how they work. We do know that marijuana can trigger cannabinoid receptors up to twenty times more than any of the body's natural neurotransmitters could (Doweiko, 2009).
The link between THC and the chemical serotonin may be the biggest mystery of all. Serotonin receptors are activated by most potent drugs, but alcohol and nicotine do it the most. Serotonin is a hormone in the brain that has nothing to do with marijuana. Scientists don't know much about it, and most of what they think it does and why is still mostly speculation (Schuckit & Tapert, 2004). Neuroscientists have proven (Hazelden, 2005) that people who smoke marijuana have very high amounts of serotonin activity. I would guess that this link between THC and serotonin could be the reason why the "marijuana maintenance program" helps people stop drinking alcohol and keeps them from having painful withdrawal symptoms or urges for alcohol. It's not scientifically proven that "marijuana maintenance" helps people stop drinking, Buy Weed Online USA but I've seen it happen with many of my clients.
Marijuana is interesting because it has so many of the same effects on the brain as other drugs that it is hard to put it in a specific class. Researchers will put it in either the psychedelic, hallucinogenic, or serotonin-inhibiting category. It has chemical effects that are similar to those of opioids. (Ashton, 2001; Gold, Frost-Pineda, & Jacobs, 2004) Other chemical reactions look like boosters. Cannabinoids are the group that Hazelden (2005) says marijuana belongs to. This is because marijuana has a lot of different psychoactive qualities, some of which are known and some of which are not. One customer I saw recently couldn't get better from the distorted vision he had from using psychedelics all the time as long as he was still smoking marijuana. This seemed to be because active cannabis has psychedelic effects (Ashton, 2001). Even though weed wasn't strong enough on its own to cause these visual distortions, it was strong enough to stop the brain from healing and getting better.
Cannabinoid receptors are found all over the brain, which means they affect a wide range of brain functions. The stimulation of the brain's nucleus accumbens, which changes the brain's natural reward regions, is the most important thing on an emotional level. The amygdala, which controls feelings and fears (Adolphs, Trane, Damasio, & Damasio, 1995; Van Tuyl, 2007), is another example.
I have noticed that the people I work with who smoke a lot of marijuana all seem to use it to calm down when they are angry. This observation has effects that can be supported by evidence and is the basis for a lot of scientific study. Researchers (Eftekhari, Turner, and Larimer, 2004) have found that there is a clinically significant link between using marijuana and being able to deal with anger. Cramer (1998) says that anger is a way to protect yourself from the emotional effects of hardship that are caused by fear. As has been said, the amygdala is in charge of fear, and marijuana use strongly stimulates it (Adolphs, Trane, Damasio, & Damasio, 1995; Van Tuyl, 2007).
Neurophysical Effects of THC: Messages sent between neurons and receptors in the brain don't just control feelings and how the mind works. It's also how the body handles both voluntary and involuntary processes. The cerebellum and the basal ganglia are in charge of all coordination and action in the body. These are the two parts of the brain that weed affects the most. This explains why marijuana changes your blood pressure (Van Tuyl, 2007) and why it makes your muscles weaker (Doweiko, 2009). Gold, Frost-Pineda, legit online dispensaries ship all 50 states and Jacobs (2004) found that THC affects all neuromotor function to some degree.
I've noticed that almost all of my clients who say marijuana is their favorite drug smoke it before they eat. This is an interesting behavior. This is because of what pot does to the "CB-1" receptor. The reward circuits are controlled by the limbic system, or nucleolus accumbens, which has a lot of CB-1 receptors (Martin, 2004). As part of the body's natural survival drive, these reward pathways control hunger and eating habits. They make us want to eat food and give us dopamine when we finally do (Hazeldon, 2005). Martin (2004) makes this link and points out that pot users are the only ones whose stimulation of the CB-1 receptor directly makes them feel hungry.
How do you define high grade and low grade?
A client of mine tells me that he used to smoke up to fifteen joints of "low grade" marijuana every day, but when the "low grade" stopped working, he moved to "high grade." In the end, even fifteen joints of high-quality weed weren't helping him anymore. He didn't get his "high" from that very often either. This whole thing happened within five years of the first time the person tried marijuana. What is the difference between high-grade and low-grade marijuana, and why does it lose its benefits over time?
The amount of THC in weed shows how strong it is. As the street market gets more competitive, the purity of the drugs gets better. This has led to a trend of getting stronger and stronger, which meets the demand. (Hazelden, 2005) One average joint of marijuana smoked today has the same amount of THC as ten average joints smoked in the 1960s.
The amount of THC will mostly rely on what part of the cannabis leaf is used to make the product. For example, the buds of weed can be two to nine times stronger than fully grown leaves. Hash oil, which is made by distilling cannabis resin, can have more THC than even the best buds (Gold, Frost-Pineda, & Jacobs, 2004).
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