eli5 What exactly happens to you when you smoke marijuana? What is it that causes you to feel “high”?

Question

Just like the title says I’m wondering what is happening to you when you get high on marijuana.

In: 7507

Answer 1

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.