What happens inside your brain when you get high?
Can we get recreational here? I know, I know… cannabis is medicine and all, but can we lose the serious undertones just for a moment, and acknowledge how amazing a cannabis high can feel?
It’s like nothing else. Giggly, relaxed, paranoid, creative, energized, nauseous, introspective – it’s amazing how one little plant can produce such a range of effects from a single dose. Veteran consumers have experience riding (and sometimes, surviving) the waves of euphoria and occasional mania of the cannabis high, from couchlock to deadlift.
Understanding the endocannabinoid system
Most of us have a basic understanding of what happens when we get high, even if we’ve never been high ourselves. Even a rough interpretation of old-timey “stoner” stereotypes hits on the key points: The hit is taken, time slows, the body relaxes, a sudden appreciation for cartoons and carbs arises. Pretty defensible, if a little simplistic.
But what’s going on inside our bodies when cannabis is consumed is just as interesting as what’s perceptible to us when the cannabis takes hold. And yet, I’d guess considerably fewer patrons of the plant are as well-versed in the biology of a cannabis high as they are its effects.
Like other mammals, the human body has a system of endocannabinoid receptors within it. Its purpose in humans is still being researched, but it’s commonly held to be a regulatory system overseeing cognition, sensations of pain, the reproductive system and other bodily functions. It’s primed to receive and make use of the compounds the cannabis plant contains, like THC and CBD. Though these receptors are scattered throughout the body, their greatest concentrations are in the centers of the brain that control cognition, movement, motor coordination, memory and emotion.
When compounds like these are released through heating parts of the plant and consuming them, they come into contact with cannabinoid receptors and can provoke various effects within their consumer.
Overloading the endocannabinoid system
Cannabis affects the way the brain “talks” to itself, modifying or interrupting the transmissions within your grey matter that allow for steady motor control and more typical, easy-to-follow thought processes. When the brain is functioning normally, there’s a period in which neurons “cool off” after they’ve fired, maintaining balance in the brain’s transmission system by preventing them from being overactive.
As you might guess, cannabis isn’t having any of that. Specifically, THC’s similarity to anandamide (a neurotransmitter in the brain) allows it to bind to the receptors and inhibit that cool-off period, allowing for the exact outcome your brain was so dutifully trying to keep at bay: magnifying your perception of your own thoughts and senses. Out of the blue, each passing idea and sensation feels substantially more important and/or stimulating than we’d otherwise give it credit for.
Depending on the amount consumed and your own biology, being high means inhibiting your mind’s ability to regulate itself properly. This can open the floodgates in terms of emotions and mental states available for experience, as we’re now both ripe for heightened stimulation and less prepared to process stimulation normally.
When THC binds to receptors, the outcome can be as paralyzing as it is motivating – the neural activity required to keep you processing sensory information normally changes, which is why feelings of sedation or memory loss are common, and why studying or driving soon after consuming are not advised.
Other bodily effects
That’s not all that happens, though. In mammals, cannabis sativa engages the brain’s reward system, releasing norepinephrine and dopamine (two of several “feel good” chemicals in your body) and producing those euphoric feelings that so many consumers are drawn to in the plant.
In other areas of the body, consumers and bystanders frequently report big, glazed-over red eyes. Research points of an abundance of endocannabinoid receptors in the capillaries, where they’re known to widen and give a reddened, glassy look that’s as telltale a sign of cannabis use now as it was in the days of old.
The sensation of “cotton mouth” is another common occurrence, wherein even a gallon of water might still leave consumers with feelings of dryness in their mouths. This too has its reasons, as it’s been suggested our salivary glands are another hideout for endocannabinoid receptors; restricting the production of saliva when bound by THC.
The immediate effects of consuming cannabis are typically felt within a few minutes, reaching their peak within half an hour and wearing off two or three hours after consumption.
This article was written by David Wilson. David Wilson is a freelance writer and journalist, living and working in Toronto. He writes about cannabis, culture, and the intersection at which they meet.
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This article was published October 21st, 2020.