How Cannabis Affects the Brain & Body

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How Cannabis Affects the Brain & Body

Marijuana, Cannabis, Research, Science

Yelena Espinoza

Oct 13, 2024

Transcript

Today I’m bringing to you a little more of a scientific video related to Cannabis (Marijuana). However I’m not here to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do. This is to inform you, and ultimately guide you in your decision making process should you decide to continue, discontinue or start.

Cannabis also known as Marijuana does not come without its consequences. It has different compounds i.e THC & CBD as well as different hybrid strains (type I, II, III).

Depending where you are in the world, cannabis can be highly legal or illegal.

Cannabis has been seen to be beneficial medicinally and be used in the treatments of some ailments; however it can be dangerous with those that have a genetic predisposition for psychosis.

Cannabis may have a influence on your way of thinking creatively - 2 ways of conceptualizing creativity:

convergent thinking
divergent thinking

Cannabis and creativity: highly potent cannabis impairs divergent thinking in regular cannabis users - PMC

(Divergent thinking allows you to see multiple solutions to 1 problem)

Cannabis may be inappropriate for certain professions because of the cognitive demand required (military) - although I wouldn’t be surprised if there are people in the military that use it; however it is particularly poor for those in a certain age bracket (developing brain) aged between 14 and 24.

There are different varieties, which include:

Sativa
Indica
Ruderalis
Hybrid of each

Cannabis contains a variety of different psychoactive compounds with the most powerful being THC (delta- 9- tetrahydrocannabinol).

THC is one of the psychoactive compounds mainly responsible for changes in mood, bodily states, and sensation as well as CBD cannabidoil which is known for pain management, anxiety, and medicinal purposes.

THC, CBD cannabidiol, & CBN cannabinol are the 3 main chemicals.

Sativa and Indica can both be ingested via smoking or edible. Sativa is a tall plant and Indica is a shorter plant, which matters because they have different morphologies as their size can bring about different psychoactive compounds

If you burn the plant and ingest the smoke it delivers the psychoactive compounds via crossing the blood brain barrier - no bueno.

The sativa (found in Southeast Asia) creates the high and act as a stimulant via increase alertness and creativity wheres the indica (in the couch) found in India, leads to full body relaxation.

Hybrid strain for example :

25% sativa, 75% indica via plant genetics gives a rise to a new nomenclature

We all have cannabinoid receptors and endogenous cannabinoids that the CBD and THC compounds of cannabis can bind to with greater affinity, and thus produce a heightened effect on mood and perception then our endogenous cannabinoids.

Why is this important? Because it seems to be that it outcompetes your natural endogenous cannabinoid systems

There are 2 main endogenous cannabinoids:

Anandamide (EAE)
Arachidonoyl - glycerol (2-AG).

Cannabis can be either beneficial depending on different factors or harmful bc it competes with your endogenous cannabinoid systems.

The endogenous cannabinoids are released from neurons (nerve cells) via the post synaptic side (pre or post synaptic side), and they decrease the probability a neuron can release a neurotransmitter. They are way of shutting the communication down between neurons.

There are 2 kinds of cannabinoid receptors: CB1 and CB2.

1 is found in brain and spinal cord

2 is found in immune system, liver,and genitals

Endogenous cannabinoid impact CB1 and CB2 receptors depending on the context. Sometimes increasing or decreasing communication between neurons. When cannabis comes in the THC + CBD binds to the CB1 receptor with greater affinity than the endogenous and it outcompetes the endogenous which could lead to issues.

Note to understand: cannabis peaks at 30-60 min after ingesting, and it is lipophillic meaning it can pass through the fatty tissue.

Everyone may experience cannabis differently when ingesting THC/CBD. The sativa creates the head high, elevated mood, nonstop talking via activating the CB1 receptors in the prefrontal cortex. It acts as a modulator of the limbic circuitry.

closeup photo of cannabis plant — Photo by Matthew Brodeur on Unsplash

How can you do Cannabis “safely?”

What does safely even mean? Even if you do t it in a controlled environment it is hard to predict the effects of the compound.

There seems to be research that cannabis can cause deficits in memory due to the reduction of activity in the hippocampus in the brain. Regardless of which strains you use there seems to be a suppression in the neural circuits in the basal ganglia of the brain (responsible for action planning), and cerebellum of the brain (responsible for balance/motor planning).

Main takeaway: cannabis impacts brain and body via affecting the CB1 receptors which leads to an acceleration or break on biological mechanisms. Thus there is no way one can predict which strand will do what on someone.

Cannabis and Hormones

Cannabis increases prolactin hormone if you smoke it more than 2xwk while decreasing dopamine & testosterone: (decreases testosterone via increasing aromatase enzymes…..enzymes that convert testosterone to estrogen).

THC is also known to be inhibitory for gonadtroppin releasing hormone (hormone releases from hypothalamus) & reduced levels of LH & FSH hormone which reduces testosterone and sperm production as well as egg health in females.

Who should avoid cannabis?

Smoking or vaping of any kind can be detrimental to the endothelial cells regardless of the drug. However there seems to be strong evidence that long term use of cannabis may increase anxiety and people would need to ingest more to receive the same relief.

Also seems to be a link between depression increase and cannabis use. Cannabis makes people x4 more likely to develop depression which is especially dangerous for people aged 16-24 since brain is still developing. The use of cannabis may cause severe anxiety and psychosis later in life

There also seems to be prefrontal thinning from using cannabis: specifically the gray matter (prefrontal cortex), this part of the brain is responsible for planning, control over one’s emotions, reflexes, organizing your life and things that make up a functional being. The more cannabis you use the more impaired your neural circuits may become!