While researching cannabis, scientists identified a whole new system that facilitates the effects of cannabis. They named it the Endocannabinoid system (of course). The endocannabinoid system exists and plays an important role in your body even if you don’t use cannabis. It’s primarily made up of two components — Endocannabinoids and Cannabinoid receptors.
Endocannabinoids (endogenous cannabinoids) are neurotransmitters that, under the right conditions, bind to the cannabinoid receptors and trigger certain changes. These receptors are found throughout the body and also in various parts of the brain. (Think of receptors as locks that get unlocked with the right key — neurotransmitters)
There are two key endocannabinoids — “Anandamide” and “2-Arachidonoylglyerol“. Mentioning it only to share these interesting tidbits about Anandamide :
Stewart Alsop on Twitter
Anyway, your body produces endocannabinoids as needed, in response to all sorts of different conditions — hunger, physical activity, pain, stress, etc. The primary role of the endocannabinoid system is to maintain homeostasis — the stability of your internal environment.
For example, if you experience a stressful situation, your body will go into overdrive throwing off the internal homeostasis. This is where the endocannabinoid system kicks in, triggers the release of endocannabinoids that bind to the cannabinoid receptors and relieve the stress. The endocannabinoid system even learns from stress. In response to the same stressful event a second or the third time, the endocannabinoid levels increase even further. (That’s why the more you do that scary thing, the less uncomfortable it gets)
Relevant Plug: Stress — The Usual Suspect
The endocannabinoid system also plays an important in memory formation. It helps prevent the formation of emotionally aversive memories — events that may be traumatic.
Important fun fact: Endocannabinoids also increase in response to singing, dancing, and exercise.
Now, coming back to cannabis. As you might already know, THC is the main cannabinoid found in cannabis. It’s the psychoactive molecule that gets you “high”. Once in your body, THC binds to the cannabinoid receptors, just like endocannabinoids. But there’s a stark difference in operation.
Endocannabinoids are only produced at the right time, right place. They’re very precisely controlled. And they’re responsive to the environment. THC, on the other hand, is not usually precise and binds to receptors throughout your body producing a range of psychological and physiological effects — appetite stimulation, euphoria, relaxation, creativity, etc.
But here’s the thing (there’s always a thing) — the endocannabinoid system is very tightly controlled and designed to not get overactivated. So when exposed to a high level of cannabinoids, it’s programmed to downregulate.
This downregulation happens through the reduction of the number of available cannabinoid receptors. Similar to how the dopamine receptors in our brain downregulate after being exposed to supernormal stimuli (fast food, porn, social media, etc.)
This is how some people build up a tolerance for cannabis. Due to the downregulation of cannabinoid receptors, their high gets dampened. And so they start taking higher levels of THC to have the same effect as before. Which then leads to further downregulation. It’s a vicious cycle.
When the endocannabinoid system is downregulated, the de-stressing effect of endocannabinoids also gets disrupted. So your system fails to learn from stress. And rather than learning adaptive coping mechanisms in response to stress (For example, exercise, that harnesses the endocannabinoid system), some people develop a dependence on cannabis for stress management.
Don’t really have any big takeaways for you here. Just be careful with the use of stimulants. Moderation in everything (including moderation 😉).
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