Weed the People by Bruce Barcott

Author:Bruce Barcott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SOCIAL SCIENCE / General
Publisher: Liberty Street
Published: 2015-04-06T16:00:00+00:00

The next morning I woke up with my laptop open and all my clothes on, including my shoes.

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON POT

What the hell was that?

Seriously. What just happened to my brain?

Yes, I know, I got stoned. Fine. Let’s move ahead. Let’s talk about the scientific processes involved in my experience between 10:14 and 11:16 on the night of Jan. 2.

The past 20 years have seen tremendous growth in neuroscience, the study of the brain and nervous system. We now have the technical tools that allow us to peer into the electrical and chemical workings of the mind, the body and the systems that regulate, propel, excite, depress, harm and heal us. Some of that knowledge has to do with marijuana’s effect on the body and brain.

Here’s what we know. The brain’s pleasure circuitry is profoundly complex, but one of the main control boxes exists in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a pea-size cluster of neurons near the spot where the spinal cord connects with the brain. The VTA plays a vital role in cognition, motivation, pleasure, orgasm, feelings of love, and drug addiction. When activated, the VTA sends electrical impulses out into the brain along fibers known as axons. Axon terminals are storehouses of neurotransmitters, amino acid molecules that control everything from muscle contraction to appetite, mood and pain. So far, more than 60 different types of neurotransmitters have been identified, and researchers continue to look for more.

Dopamine is the primary neurotransmitter responsible for feelings of pleasure. VTA-sent impulses trigger the release of dopamine molecules, which spill out into the gap between the axon terminal and the end of a receiving neuron. It’s like this: Imagine hundreds of swimmers diving into a river from the northern shore. Some of the swimmers make it to the southern shore, resulting in a jolt of pleasure. Not all of the swimmers make it, though. Many return to the northern shore, where they’re re-absorbed into the axon terminal.

Psychoactive drugs alter this process. Cocaine, for example, blocks the reuptake of dopamine by the axon terminal. In Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney famously called cocaine “Bolivian marching powder,” and in this case it’s like the Bolivian army standing at the northern shore with long pikes, forcing all the swimmers over to the other side. The result: a stronger and longer jolt of pleasure. Antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft and my preferred brand, Celexa, act by similarly inhibiting the reuptake of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is involved in mood regulation. Heroin is a central-nervous-system depressant. It mimics neurotransmitters known as endorphins, which block pain and enhance pleasure throughout the body. Unfortunately, heroin can relax the central nervous system too much. Most heroin deaths are caused when the user nods out, brain function slows and the body forgets to keep breathing.

Cannabis is complicated. The plant’s main psychoactive ingredient—delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC—wasn’t known to science until 1964, when an Israeli biochemist named Raphael Mechoulam isolated and identified it in his lab. Mechoulam went on to identify the plant’s other major constituents, which he named cannabinoids.

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