Auralis

Hello everyone - I've been thinking about this for a number of months now, and while watching a video titled "Human / Cannabis Coevolution," I've hit what feels like a major breakthrough in what I've been trying to accomplish - a reasonable explanation for what marijuana does to a person in terms of personality and intellectual growth.

I understand that this is a long post. It's something to think about and please bear with me through it.


My conclusion:

Cannabis is a reset button on the structure of your belief systems.

It takes your worldview and transforms it from its solid and barely-permeable strcture and softens it into a pourous, moldable one, based on use. Therefore the reason why we get so many realizations while high is because we realize that our belief systems were clouding our judgement and sight, and we realize that perhaps we just didn't see it from the correct perspective. This happens naturally, but in small amounts. The video I referenced above, which is available on YouTube, talks about the endocannabinoid receptors in the brain. When these receptors are completely destroyed, rats are unable to learn *new* information. They have the ability to learn things, but they cannot erase them and learn new things.

This also accounts for the confusion and general disorientation one experiences while high, because the brain is so active and so overloaded because of the lack of solid beliefs and structure that it considers too many inputs at once. Just like how a person can walk around all day and not even feel the shoes on his feet, because the body tunes it out, so can the mind tune out details in order to make the world seem simpler and therefore easier to process.

It takes effort to think all of the time, and perhaps that may have something to do with why people get tired after smoking. That's obviously also why the mind tunes out so many things, so that it doesn't have to work so hard. Throughout nature, saving energy is the key.

So what is cannabis tolerance?

The mind is figuratively getting used to the pourous belief structure and "strengthening", becoming more adept at dealing with the increased brain activity. Just like you need to exercise your muscles, so is it necessary to exercise your brain. Irregular use and irresponsible use, like we see at parties, where one may combine cannabis with alcohol or take extremely large amounts, can be sometimes responsible for a general lack in performance, because the body isn't getting the opportunity to get used to the dose of THC and is therefore still in this initial confusion state. This explains why those who smoke regularly eventually settle in to their habit and no longer become as disoriented or lethargic.

The scientific phenomena that factors into tolerance is what's called "receptor down-regulation", where the cannabinoid receptors effectively shut down once a certain level is achieved, effectively titrating the dose. This is why, quite counter-intuitively, if you control your smoking and smoke less or less often, you get more high. This is because the receptors will quickly down-regulate with a large dose and it takes them a while to open up again. If you keep them open, by partaking in less marijuana or by taking a break, you will get much more high when you smoke, vaporize, or ingest.

What is also quite counter-intuitive is that stronger-grade marijuana is actually lessdangerous and intoxicating over time, because the down-regulation will progress more quickly and the amount of THC needed to produce disorienting effects will increase to a level where it is actually not practically possible to become very intoxicated. THC will get you "high" while CBN will get you "stoned", and anecdotal evidence points to the CBN receptors down-regulating sooner than the THC receptors. This means that experienced smokers get just as high as new smokers, but the physically intoxicating effects, those effecting motor control, reduce dramatically over time.

Down-regulation is very different than addiction and therefore very different than the tolerance of any other drug. With other drugs such as heroin, opium, or prescription drugs like Valium. In these cases, the cases of addiction, the receptor sites actually wear out, sometimes permanently (for example, with excessive ecstasy use) and function very poorly without the drug. The effects of cannabis take place a different and in the newest part of the brain - the frontal cerebral cortex.

Perception

Life is all about perceptions, people. If one day we're able to finally change the perception of cannabis, from its current perception as a menacing drug, used by the lazy and unsuccessful, that causes one to be poor, unmotivated and uninteresting, a perception which shapes the lens through which so many people see it, who knows what untold progress can be made.

The war on the drug war starts with convincing people that marijuana is safe. The only way to do this is education. Enough studies have already been done to conclude this, but the word hasn't gotten around well enough and people still hold lingering doubts that it damages brain structure. We need to dispel that myth, and the rest will follow. I strongly believe that if we can reach a large consensus worldwide that cannabis is safe, not only among the educated and intellectual but among ALL people, the perception will shift and legality will come swiftly.

Remember, times change. It's easy to think that the general public's perception of marijuana will never change, because for most of us, it has barely changed in our entire lives. But this IS possible. We've entered an era now where information is more accessible than it has ever been in the history of mankind. Communication is faster than it ever has been, by orders of magnitude. And that's only going to keep growing. The cost of getting the truth to everyone is diminishing day by day, and it's coming faster and faster.


Peace to everyone and have a good night!

__________________
Was kann man ohne Liebe tun? - Was kann man außer lieben tun? - Und was machst DU?
Philosophie ist ganz Scheiße. Literatur ist Scheiße. Denken Sie nicht über Existentialismus nach - es ist wichtiger etwas echt, etwas neu zu machen.
Wahrheit und Fortschritt ist alles. Mitgefühl und Vergebung für jede Kerl.