Just like the title says I’m wondering what is happening to you when you get high on marijuana.
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First things first: the term “marijuana” is among the most loaded words in the English language and was *intentionally* introduced by propagandists to make white people afraid of Mexican immigrants, who were the most frequent users of cannabis in the early 20th century. Cannabis was largely illegalized as a pretext for criminalizing and deporting them. Just say “weed” if you’re feeling colloquial, or “cannabis” if you’re feeling scientific.
Another user commented:
>But, all drugs work by changing the way your brain works. You know how it feels good when you solve a puzzle or figure out a riddle? That is because your brain releases a chemical called dopamine that makes you FEEL rewarded. Marijuana (and many other drugs) tell your brain to make more dopamine available. So you feel rewarded and content and happy.
This is inaccurate as regards cannabis. Many drugs *do* “tell your brain to make more dopamine more available”, like cocaine and amphetamine/Adderall. They’re called “dopamine agonists” because they directly induce the release of dopamine into the synapse, and/or prevent it from being reabsorbed after having been released (known as “reuptake inhibition”).
Cannabis does not work this way. Its mechanism of action is much more indirect: it stimulates the endocannabinoid system, and the endocannabinoid system in turn subtly alters the way your brain responds to other neurotransmitters. It plays a modulatory role. This is why it’s *virtually impossible* to overdose on cannabis, and why it’s just about the most nontoxic psychoactive substance known to science.
Your body has many of its own cannabinoids, known as “endocannabinoids”, and cannabis is psychoactive because it contains cannabinoids that closely resemble your body’s own endocannabinoids enough to fit into their receptors. This is why cannabis is so effective in treating many kinds of disorders, especially neurological disorders–the endocannabinoid system helps to regulate the nervous system in general, and stimulating it with cannabinoids can provide a balancing effect when there are imbalances induced by disease. It should be remarked, however, that the study of the endocannabinoid system is still in its infancy relative to many other domains of neurobiology.
Imagine there is slots in your brain (called cannabinoid receptors or Endocannabinoid System). These slots tend to be empty but when filled up, these transmit information to areas of your brain that helps it feel relaxed, happy, hungry, etc. When you smoke marijuana those slots in your brain get filled with “cannabinoids” and depending on which cannabinoid it’s filling the gap, the effects differ.
Counter question: why do I seem to be immune to the high from marijuana?
First, when you inhale that smoke it travels into your lungs and there are hundreds of thousands of little sacs called “avioli” that to gas transfer. That means you exhale co2 and then your lungs breathe in the fresh oxygenated air. Those avioli do the exchange of the two. Now you’ve inhaled any smoke with that oxygenated air and whatever is in it is also going to land out the outer membrane of the avioli as wel as the air. With weed, the THC and CBD hits and goes into your blood stream where it’s relatively useless until it hits your brain. There are receptors in your brain that are like a soccer goal and they are waiting for the THC and CBD soccer balls to go into it so it can trap them as long as it can. Once enough “goals” happen you start to feel the effects, you’re high.
A lot of drugs metabolize quick, THC unfortunately loves to bind to fat after the fun part is over. This is why someone could do a drug like cocaine and pass a drug test the next day but with weed it takes weeks or months to piss clean.
Your body constantly releases a neurotransmitter called Anandamide. Anandamide is a part of your Endocannabanoid system. A runner’s high is believed to be caused by Anandamide. THC binds to the same receptor as Anandamide and does the same thing as it, but at a much stronger strength.
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THC is the psychoactive cannabinoid in cannabis. As it was explained before, it binds to certain receptors.
Now what I haven’t seen is “why you get high”
You get high because THC is shaped and behaves a lot like anandamide, an endocannabinoid naturally produced in your body. Naturally in our body when the brain uses our reward system, it sends anandamide to our pleasure center in the brain, causing euphoria. When you consume THC, the THC binds to those same receptors because it looks and acts like anandamide. When it binds to those receptors you also experience that euphoria. Which is the “high”
When I first started to smoke cannabis, it was euphoric and just so much fun. Then, it became a little less fun but the insights and ability to make mundane things seem interesting was great. Fast forward many years now and it’s very hard for me to experience a high for more than, say twenty minutes. After that I just sort of feel thick and a little dull.
I have friends that are wake and bakers and never get to the dull part. I have concluded there are two types of people; those who can smoke large quantities over decades and still be pretty sharp (it seems to take them a great effort sometimes) and those that just cannot. At this point, its just a few times a year for me, usually at a concert.
So, story time, cause it is a ride.
So, I only smoke occasionally, like cookies it is a sometimes thing. This makes it feel special, especially when I do it with friends or relatives.
Getting it ready is fun, it is like a ritual, pick out a pretty piece of glass or silicone or metal to use. Open the bag or container and smell the rich, woody, spicy aroma. Break it up, I like to use my hands but other people us a grinder. I enjoy the tactile sensation, like crumbling dry leaves between your fingers. Packing the bowl, or rolling a joint, there is a lot of very satisfying little tasks you set up and knock down before you even start!
So, then you hit the green, the best, freshest hit. The first hit is sweet, the smoke only tickles a little, unless you take a giant rip right out of the gate. The smell is strong, and you get excited knowing what is coming. Like smelling a pizza before taking a bite.
Also, remember that the first hit, if you are not destroying the bowl, is also a deep breath. Not all of it is smoke.
Ten seconds after you exhale, you feel it. It is a fuzzy feeling, euphoria is a weird term for it. My mom liked to say it made the sharp corners go round. Things feel good, water tastes better, sharing things feels better, playing games is harder but more interesting. Everything is more interesting, sometimes you hyper-focus on something, a feeling or thought or drawing. Sometimes you just watch something or listen to something, experiencing it in a different way. I like to read high, its a weird thing. I can picture it better, feeling good makes distractions less distracting, I guess?
The hunger is real, but so is the thirst, the interest, the friendliness. I know it is not everyone’s experience, but I get generous when I am high. I want everyone to have some water, maybe I’ll make some hot-coco. You know what, lets go for breakfast, I’m buyin!
Eventually, it evens out, and you just kinda feel tired, logy. But, you still get the discomfort pushed away, if you are in pain, or upset, it doesn’t stop but it kind of pushes it away, makes it quieter. Easier to forget about.
A lot of sciency answers so I give you my take:
I get a tingling sensation in my face (like thousands of ants but not in a bad way) and I feel like my eyelids are swelling up. My mouth gets really dry and I get hungry, it feels like my stomach is completely empty and I need to fill it up. I start to think and think and think and to speak and speak and speak. My whole body feels kinda mushy and soft and tingling. I got this cloud, this soft prickly feeling, this warmth in my head and my cheeks are melting and running down my face.. everything seems interesting but I zone out, things amaze me in a way but I forget what it’s all about, Egyptians… Roman’s, aliens…? What are we watching? Is this a documentary? Im tired.
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