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Straight Dope (part 4 of 4)
By Hempology | March 12, 2007
The Research on Marijuana Safety
(Part 4 of 4) by Gary Stimeling
Copyright 2005 Psychotropics Cornucopia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The Chronic Mind Beginning in 1988, internal cannabinoids (endocannabinoids) and receptors for them have been found throughout the nervous system and several parts of the immune system.([1]) They regulate the activity of many and perhaps all other neurotransmitters and hormones. Two cannabinoid neurotransmitters are known: arachidonylethanolamide (anandamide), the first one discovered, and 2-arachidonylglycerol, which is 170 times more abundant. There are probably others. In the brain, the endocannabinoids play many roles, often by calming the firing rate or activation threshold of neurons. They are especially prevalent in areas that control pain, sensory awareness, memory, coordination, and right-hemisphere spatial-intuitive functions. They also seem to oil the hinges on the doors of perception, helping to increase the flow of input and thoughts into consciousness. The whole system is extremely varied and complex, comprising dozens of chemical interactions in multilevel feedback loops. In general, THC has about three times the receptor-activating power of the body’s own cannabinoids, and synthetic derivatives have been created that are hundreds of times as potent.
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