Marijuana Information

Ecology and Biology

Cannabis is dispersed throughout the world, from China, to the Himalaya’s, to numerous places in the tropics. Cannabis can be used as a drug, as food, as medicine, as fiber, and oil.

Let’s go over the biology and chemical components. Now, growing marijuana can be a complicated process, and I won’t go over how to do that, but rather briefly cover some basic ecology, and what marijuana does biologically.

 

There are male and female plants, as well as hermaphrodite plants. They are often wind pollinated and can reach heights up to 6 meters tall. That’s 26 feet for us non-metric heathens. Wow! Females are pollinated by males and grow buds, but if you let them sit too long, seeds will form, thus creating new plants. That’s the reproduction cycle in a nutshell.

 

Cannabis has two main types of strains: Indica and Sativa. There is a third type of cannabis plant, Cannabis ruderalis, a low THC plant often found in Eastern Europe and Russia.

 

Indica is often found in the Hindu Kush region of Asia, and the plants tend to be short and stocky. The high one receives from an Indica strain is usually a lethargic high. Usually these are the plants used for their resin.

 

Sativa tends to be tall and lanky looking, and it grows faster than the indica strain. These are the plants that are used for hemp fibers. The sativa strain is the type that gives you an “up” high, or a high that makes one have a racing heart and sometimes gives a person anxiety.

 

There are two types of growing methods for marijuana. Soil growth with natural sunlight, or hydroponic growth, where the growth of the plant is controlled, such as in a green house or indoors. One would create artificial sunlight through special lamps. This is a more experienced growing technique, and usually is done for cultivating the buds.

 

Let’s move along to the Endocannabinoid System. The Endocannabinoid system is the system that helps the brain and body deal with marijuana intake. Discovered by Drs. Mechoulam and Gaoni, there are two receptors in the brain that handle marijuana, often referred to as CB1, and CB2. CB1 is the receptor responsible for how the nervous system reacts, and CB2 is responsible to how the immune system reacts.

 

CB1 receptors are found throughout the central nervous system. The cells near the CB1 receptors are linked with memory and learning. This makes sense, because they are also found in the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain that effects your memories and learning. The cerebellum also has CB1 receptors nearby. The cerebellum controls fine motor skills (things like eyes, hand movements). Finally, there are CB1 receptors in the cerebral cortex, which governs higher learning. This explains why some people may be able to think of grandiose things while high.

The CB2 receptors are found more so outside of the brain in immune cells, which is why inflammation and pain are lessened.

 

We have something in our system called an endocannabinoid, or an eCB. eCB’s are not something that marijuana creates in our bodies, mind you. eCB’s are naturally occurring molecules that are just like cannabinoids. There are two types, anandamide, and 2-arachidonoylglycerol, or 2-AG. These chemicals are activated when something tells them to activate. When they are activated, the eCB’s travel “backward” and “connect” with CB1 receptors, naming the eCB’s “retrograde messengers”. Endocannabinoids also regulate blood pressure, body temperature, and digestion, among other things. The eCB system also provides protection against tumor growth. Homeostatic and therapeutic properties of eCB’s, like anxiety regulation, are controlled by CB2 receptors in immune cells that manage pain perception, and reduce inflammation and things like that.

 

A neuron will release eCB’s to regulate its synoptic inputs, which is a process called synoptic plasticity, which causes learning and memory to happen at a cellular level. eCB’s have neuroprotection, which means that they protect themselves from overstimulation that can damage the brain cells. Overstimulation is a factor in epilepsy and strokes, meaning that these eCB’s protect against said over activity, which is what neural experts call a “pretty awesome thing to be happening,” for your brain.

 

In some places of the brain, the opposite happens. Neurons can become more stimulated, a process called disinhibition. With the amygdala, for instance (the part of your brain that manages fear and sense of loss and things like that), eCB’s release allows for a person to possibly move past their emotional traumas. In fact, marijuana is used to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other anxiety-related ailments.

 

Fun Fact: The “sinking into your seat” effect is due to activity in your cerebellum, which is the part of your brain that controls motor functions.

 

So what we basically have is depending on where the THC is bonding at in your brain, it may either inhibit or disinhibit neuron activity, which is totally not a bad thing. Note that cannabinoids are also antioxidants and may help prevent Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

 

Another component is cannabidiol, or CBD. CBD is a component in plants, and also cannabis. It does not give a person a high, but it does act as an anti-inflammatory and blocks development of Type 1 diabetes.

For more information, be sure to check out “The Pot Book”, edited by Julie Holland at the link below.

(Source: thepotbook.com)

US History of Cannabis (1970-1990ish)

Now I let’s go over some recent history since marijuana was made illegal. Let’s start with the 1970’s. This is about the time where America, collectively, woke up and said, “let’s find out if this drug is as bad as the govt. wants us to think.”

 

In 1971, the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse was formed, thanks to president Nixon. He advocated for the elimination of small non-profit and personal criminalization. This was as big as it sounded. In 1973, Oregon was the first state to decriminalize less than ½ oz of marijuana, punishable by a fine. In 1975, Alaska followed by eliminating penalties personal cultivation and possession of up to four ounces.

 

President Carter also was fond of decriminalization for marijuana, along with the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Bar Association, and the National Council of Churches. In 1977 most states had eliminated small amounts of possession to a misdemeanor, and by 1980 eleven states had decriminalized said possession completely.

 

In 1978, Dr Peter Bourne, the White House drug advisor, who helped Carter move toward reform, resigned and was replaced with Lee Dogoloff. Under President Reagan, there was the whole “Zero Tolerance” program, meaning, No If’s, And’s, or But’s, you’re in trouble. Aka, Just say no to drugs, and if you don’t you’re in deep shit. “By 1983” the dangerous insecticide Paraquat was being sprayed on domestic marijuana crows, and military methods were being enforced to, “uproot cannabis plants and arrest growers in northern California.” (Holland, Foreword xii).

 

In 1987, Supreme Court nominee Douglas Ginsberg withdrew due to pressure when he smoked as a law professor.  In 1989, under George H. W. Bush, Operation Green Merchant was put into play, in which lists of people who had ordered indoor plat growing equipment had their homes raided. Under the Bush Sr. Administration, Alaska uprooted their decriminalization standpoint and recriminalized marijuana in 1990. There was also a bill passed that suspended drivers who were convicted of marijuana possession.

 

Harsh stuff.

 

Since 1971, the National Institute of Drug Abuse spent millions of dollars studying the –dangers- of cannabis. Of which their millions of dollars have failed to find solid reasons as to why cannabis is dangerous. To justify this policy, the DEA distorts the truth and ignores evidence that is pro-pot. In 1991, the DEA responded to numerous requests for studying marijuana from people with AIDS. James O. Mason, head of the Public Health Service, said that the Compassionate IND Program (helped people use marijuana as medicine) would be suspended on the grounds that it made the government’s stance on drugs look weak.

 

Then, in 1990, (backtracking a year) an amazing discovery was made. Two THC receptors had been found, implying that the body produced it’s own versions of cannabinoid like neurotransmitters.

Alas, they found Anadamide (anada is Sanskrit for bliss). Receptors are in the lower brain, cerebral cortex, and the hippocampus. The lower brain governs fine motor skills, cerebral cortex governs higher thinking, and the hippocampus governs memory (Maybe some things make sense now).

 

Thus, the endocannabinoid system was born. With the emergence of this system, we see drugs such as Marinol being produced. For those who don’t know, Marinol is marijuana in pill form, without the psychoactive high. Now, the interesting thing here is that Marinol has the same chemical structure as marijuana; it’s just in pill form.

 

This is a bit unfair, in my own personal opinion, to the cannabis plant.

 

 

Let’s look at some things the plant does do. Cannabis, when ingested either through inhaling or eating, relieves nausea and vomiting for cancer patients, and relieved nausea for AIDS patients on certain medicines, as well as relief for glaucoma by lowering pressure on the optic nerve.

 

In 1972, NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, tried to make marijuana legal for medical purposes. In 1986, John Lawn, the administrator of the DEA decided to hold public hearings. They lasted from 1986 to 1988 and included patients, doctors, witnesses, and thousands of pages of documents on marijuana and the medicinal benefits for it. The DEA’s own administrative law judge, Francis L. Young, agreed that marijuana should be legal and that “marijuana in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man…. One must reasonably conclude that there is accepted safety for use of marijuana under medical supervision. To conclude otherwise, on the record, would be unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious.”

 

Young recommended that the plant be accepted for medical usage, and that “there is no lack of accepted safety for use of it under medical supervision, and that it be changed from a schedule I drug to a schedule II drug.”

 

No changes were made, and as you read, and things got worse.

 

Be sure to check out “The Pot Book”, edited by Julie Holland at the link below. 

(Source: thepotbook.com)