On Being High

Have you ever wondered what the state of being high actually is? (Ok fine, maybe this is something only a stoner would ponder, keep reading!) For the October 2020 Pot Luck class I typed this innocuous question into Google and was directed to aTEDx talk by Dr. Rachel Knox, where she explained the rarely discussed human body system that was discovered through studies with marijuana in the 1980's. It's called the Endocannabinoid System.

You can think of it like the symphony conductor for all of your body systems: cardiovascular, nervous, muscular, immune, etc. The Endocannabinoid System (ECS) is made of receptors and messengers, found throughout our bodies. It has influence in all of our bodily functions (like mood, appetite, memory, energy level, & pain sensation), and its primary goal is to create and maintain a state of internal balance (called homeostasis).

For example, if you stub your toe, your nervous system reacts by sending out pain signals and maybe inflaming the area. It's actually your ECS which then takes action to calm the nervous system and direct other helpers to the scene to assess the situation and start a recovery process to get things back to normal.

With something that plays such an interconnected role in our bodies and overall health, you'd think we'd know more about the ECS, but unfortunately due to the politicization of cannabis use, and the strong hold that Pharmaceutical Corporations have on the medical establishment, it has hardly been studied. I find it fascinating to think about how–to be quite frank–capitalism, has shaped our world and well-being. To the extent that in 1942, plant medicine (including cannabis, which was commonly prescribed in the early 20th century) was written out of the US Pharmacopeia entirely, in simple terms, because plants couldn't be patented. Just to be clear, not because they weren't helping people, but because drug companies couldn't make money off of them.

Along these lines, continued research on the ECS interestingly has the potential to offer real "scientific evidence" that alternative or holistic medicine practices such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, ayurveda, meditation, and chiropractic therapies actuallydosomething biologically - and that something would be strengthening and supporting our Endocannabinoid System.

All of that to say, if something (like weed, or getting poked with needles) is helping you achieve balance, you don't need any further proof than that to keep it in your self-care routine. But it's kinda cool that there are people like Dr. Knox out there trying to validate its effectiveness within the barriers of scientific medicine, in order to break the stigma and further the medicinal research around this plant.

Above, a slide from Dr. Knox's Ted talk. Things that are bad for our ECS: processed food, excessive amounts of chemical drugs, environmental toxins, stress, genetic pre-dispositions. Things are good for our ECS: whole foods, plant medicine, detoxing, meditation, healthy relationships. She says all you have to do to start supporting your ECS is to add one "good" habit.

Now I know you're thinking, ok cool thanks for the science lesson Hannah, but you didn't actually answer the question – what is being high?! And yes, stick with me, I'm getting there. So as I mentioned, the ECS is a messenger and receptor system, which means there are little sockets on various cells throughout your body (the receptors) and there are cannabinoids (the messengers) that plug perfectly into them.

Our bodies make their own cannabinoids (called endo-cannabinoids) as needed, because obviously, you don't have to smoke weed to recover from pain. Fun fact: one of these self-made cannabinoids is called anandamide, and our body releases it after intense exercise - this creates that "runner's high" (it's actually not endorphins). The cannabinoids in cannabis (like THC, CBD, etc.) look almost identical to the ones we produce naturally, and therefore can plug straight into our ECS and do work (in the case of THC, that means getting you intoxicated, like the runner's high on steroids).
Here are some of the more prevalent cannabinoids, and their potential benefits based on preliminary research:

Dr. Knox also recently posted a video about the potential of CBG to fight viral infection and support our immune systems, as we're all looking for more ways to stave off Covid-19 through the winter. Whether you like getting high or not, there are plenty of options to add cannabinoids into your self-care routine if it's something you're interested in exploring. Send me a note if you need any pointers, or head to your nearest fancy-looking dispensary to ask a budtender for recommendations.