If your a regular cannabis user, its probably a good idea to familiarise yourself with this special biological system, it’s the key to why cannabis has the ability to interact and effect us.
I’m sure you’ve wondered, at least once – how does cannabis actually work?
It’s all down to our Endocannabinoid system.
Research into our endocannabinoid system is still under ‘preliminary’ research, which means we are still in the process of researching about its role in our bodies.
What we know so far is,
Our endocannabinoid system keeps our psychological and cognitive processes regulated and functioning correctly.
So things such as our;
• Mood
• Memory
• Sleep
• Appetite and Digestion
• Fertility and Reproduction
• Stress
• Inflammation
Our endocannabinoid system sends chemical messages via cannabinoids throughout our body. If the weather changes outside your body will adjust to the temperature, or if you pull a muscle your body will repair you back to your pain-free self.
There are 3 important elements that form our endocannabinoid system; endocannabinoids, receptors and enzymes.
Endocannabinoids travel through our bodies searching for a CB receptor to bind too. Once connected to a CB receptor, the message is passed through. Enzymes then break down the endocannabinoid.
So far scientist have discovered 2 endocannabinoids that we naturally produce, anandamide (AEA) & 2-arachidonoylglyerol (2-AG).
It’s theorised that some people may not produce enough cannabinoids or produce too many, which in turn can cause the endocannabinoid system to become unbalanced leading to common mental health problems and diseases.
What does our endocannabinoid system have to do with Cannabis?
We’ve discovered that cannabinoids can be found in a lot of places throughout the world but most commonly and abundantly found in the Cannabis plant.
A Cannabinoids is a chemical compound with a similar structure to cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant. Common cannabinoids you may be aware of already are THC, CBD and CBG.
Endocannabinoids are cannabinoids that we produce naturally and they have a similar chemical structure to the cannabinoid’s that can be found in the cannabis plant.
The special cannabinoid we are most familiar with is THC or Delta-9.
This specific cannabinoid contains psychoactive properties, it is also extremely good at mimicking our own endocannabinoids.
Once THC is consumed by either smoking or eating, it will locate a CB receptor within our body to bind with.
Depending on the receptor it binds with (there are two) will determine the effect we recieve.
There are two main CB (cannabinoid) receptors that have been found in our bodies; CB1 and CB2.
CB1 helps to regulate our moods, sleep patterns and appetites.
CB2 helps us to regulate more physical things such as skin conditions or inflammation (pain).
For people with mental health disorders the recent research of CB1 receptors and how they can help us regulate has been mind-blowing. It’s possible for your body to not produce enough endocannabinoids which prevents the system from working correctly. If your endocannabinoid system isn’t working properly it won’t be able to regulate your body correctly which is the cause for many unsolved medical problems both mentally and physically.
We first discovered the endocannabinoid system in 1895 however it is almost extinct in medical books. Very little people are even aware of the system itself, I certainly wasn’t if you asked me a year ago. I can only assume due to the stigma around Cannabis in the early 1900’s it was conveniently left out of any medical books, it would be pretty hard for the pharmaceutical companies to sell their products if it was.
It seems strange to me that so many people that have suffered for years with ‘help’ from pharmaceutical drugs, have finally found relief after discovering the endocannabinoid system and cannabis.
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