MMJ Spots

When smoked, the main psychoactive alkaloid is vaporized delta-9 THC and semi-psychoactive cannabanoids such as cannabanol. Inhaling burning plant matter does damage your airways somewhat, but smoking marijuana is not dangerous like tobacco because it does not cause cancerous lesions. Nicotine protects the damaged airway cells from dying so they live on in a very damaged, sometimes mutated state. THC does not interfere with the bodies functioning and the cells are left to die from programmed cell death or apoptosis. When they die, they are replaced by healthy cells, with tobacco however, the cells are damaged and compromised. They cause air sacs to fuse, lung function to degrade, and oftentimes cancer develops.
When THC enters the lungs, it diffuses quickly (most THC is absorbed within 3 seconds) across the alveolar sacs in the lungs and enter the bloodstream. From the lungs its a fairly quick path to the brain, with the first noticeable effects happening almost immediately after inhalation.
The psychoactive effects can take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes to peak and will plateau anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours after smoking depending on potency and personal tolerance. Some extremely high-grade marijuana such as White Widow contain as much as 25% THC by weight, strains this potent can produce effects lasting as long as 4 hours even in individuals with a high tolerance.
On its first pass through the liver, delta-9 THC is converted into delta-11 THC which is up to 5 times more psychoactive. After diffusing across the blood/brain barrier, the THC enters the brain along with any other cannabanoids. The THC binds to and partially activates CB1 cannabanoid receptors in the central nervous system and to a lesser extend CB2 receptors in the immune system. This interaction with the CB1 receptor produces the psychoactive effects. Marijuana is not addictive as the CB1 and CB2 receptors are used to dealing with our body’s own natural endocannabanoids that we used to regulate homeostasis (our body’s mechanism of maintaining proper functioning conditions such as metabolism, hormone release, healing, heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, ph levels, etc.). Since they deal with these chemicals on a regular basis, they adapt to the new levels without harm and eventually return to normal. Cannabanoid receptors are found on all animals above the hydra and mollusks except for insects.
When present in the brain, THC greatly increases alpha brainwaves which are most associated with deep, relaxed meditative states and creativity. (Contrary to 90′s propaganda commercials that stated weed suppressed alpha waves and substituted the picture of the marijuana user’s brainwaves with a picture of a coma-patient’s brainwaves.)
Since the actual workings of the CB1 receptors in the brain are not completely understood, researchers can fairly reliably state that THC tends to increase hunger, creativity, auditory and visual stimulation, and thought patterns. However, THC shows something of a balancing effect since it partially activates homeostatic message pathways in the body. If you are not tired, smoking marijuana tends to cause mild fatigue, although this is often due to the other cannabanoids, mainly CBD. If you are tired, oftentimes smoking tends to give wakefulness and energy.
As for its effect on the brain tissues, marijuana does kill brain cells but only selectively. The cells it kills are known as “Glioma cells”. These cells are cancerous tumor cells that originate from glial cells in the brain. Isolated cancerous tumor cells sometimes grow throughout the body but the immune system normally keeps them in check. When the growth gets out of hand it is said to be cancerous or malignant and forms a tumor. These cancers can also “metastasize” where the cancer spreads to other organs or organ systems.
THC has been proven in laboratories and clinical trials to kill glioma brain tumors by initiating programmed cell death, which is where the cell receives an intercellular message (in this case the THC binding to receptors on the tumor) that tells the cell to commit suicide. This stops the cancerous growth. THC is also shown to stop tumor growth, heal cancerous tissue, and reduce the rate of metastasis in lung tissue as well as other areas. THC has been shown to exhibit neuroprotective (brain cell protective) properties. THC has shown some evidence as a preventative measure to alzheimer’s disease. THC also increases the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus, this replaces more lost brain cells and also has been suspected of regulating depression.
As for other systemic effects, marijuana does cause a brief and temporary increase in heart rate after smoked. This can be dangerous if you have heart conditions or have had heart attacks in the past but there have never been any reports of marijuana induced death due to cardiac problems. Needless to say, bypass patients probably should not smoke.
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