An interesting article about chocolate. The other day at work I read that our brains produce a chemical found in marijuana. Isn't that interesting?
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posted
There are a lot of things in marijuana - it's not surprising that some of them occur other places. This does not take away from marijuana's harmful effects.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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Our brains produce anandamide, the body's endogenous cannabinoid. Anandamide is thought to cause the "runner's high". (THC is not stored in fat, although its metabolites are.) Anandamide is also found in chocolate, although you would get stimulated from the xanthines in it long before you got stoned.
Posts: 281 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I like the chocolate is better than sex theory myself because of the. . . well, here's the quote that explains it better.
quote: Substances found in chocolate, such as phenylethylamine, theobromine, anandamide and tryptophan trigger mood enhancing chemicals and neurotransmitters to be released in the brain. Phenylethylamine is a chemical found in the body that is similar to amphetamine. It helps mediate feelings of giddiness, attraction, euphoria and excitement. Researchers believe phenylethylamine causes the brain to release mesolimbic dopamine in the pleasure centers of the brain, which peaks during an orgasm. This may be why women report to prefer chocolate to sex.
posted
They should just legalize Marijuana, or at least experiment on it some more. I have never smoked the stuff before. When you get drunk off of music, you really don't need to, but, it has been found to help with things like nausea, pain relief, helping people to get their appetites back and things like that. The article talked about trying to find ways to inhibit some brain chemicals or increase others, but there are still side effects involved. It was interesting as all hell. I wonder what sort of chemicals from my brain make me music drunk.
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I rarely even use the stuff recreationally anymore, because being fat-soluble it stays in your system too long. This is unfortunate, as it is the best anti-nausea drug one could hope for. Hell, for the last month and a half I did use it regularly, the only reason I purchased it was to make sure I had something to combat come-up nausea of psychedelics, or ease comedowns of stimulants. Not that I would not use it just for the hell of it if it was around, though.
Syn, have you ever been drunk off alcohol? I can get a dopamine high (or so I assume it is) from music, but it does not resemble drunkeness very closely at all.
Posts: 281 | Registered: Aug 2004
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There are lots of very good reasons to avoid marijuana, even for medical purposes. I'm in favor of legalizing it, but only because I think we're very inconsistent in this country regarding which mind-altering substances we build industries around (e.g., alcohol) and which we criminalize (e.g., marijuana). The data are pretty clear that marijuana is no where near as debilitating as alcohol and yet we send people to jail (in some states for life if they have a three strike law) for it, whereas we elect people president who abuse alcohol.
I think we are being stupid and bowing to industry (ooh...big surprise) instead of making laws that treat basically equivalent social evils equally. If we nod & wink at alcohol abuse, we should nod & wink at marijuana abuse.
And then, people found doing really stupid things like driving under the influence should just lose major privileges. If we took away drivers' licenses for 10 years (minimum) for first offense drunk driving, we'd solve that problem pretty quickly, I think.
Of course, we'd also have to incarcerate people who decide to drive anyway.
But...since they're all just one binge away from a vehicular manslaughter charge, I figure we have every right as a society to treat them as potential murderers.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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I just read a Scientific American article about the brain's natural endocannabinoids. Apparently (and this makes a lot of sense) all psychoactive drugs work by simulating natural substances produced by the brain for other purposes. Endocannabinoids are used by the brain to help with unlearning anxiety responses to stimuli previously associated with fear or pain but which now are neutral. They also seem to regulate the appeal level of food. Apparently they also may mediate the pain killing response of morphine.
Actually smoking marijuana has all sorts of side effects, from lung damage, to interefering with memory formation, to just the general low-function cognitive state of being stoned out of one's mind. However, studying the effects of various endocannabinoids in the brain may lead to more specific drugs to treat post traumatic stress, nausea, obesity, pain, and anorexia, hopefully with fewer side effects than marijuana use.
This tells me that scientists should look more closely at all psychoactive substances, simply to learn what they can teach us about the brain.
quote: Actually smoking marijuana has all sorts of side effects, from lung damage, to interefering with memory formation, to just the general low-function cognitive state of being stoned out of one's mind.
It should be pointed out that, as with cigarettes, the side effects only come about with Excessive smoking. I don't think someone who smokes, say, a cigarette a day -- or three a week, or a joint of marijuana every few days...is going to be victim to those side effects.
Posts: 3516 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I've known a lot of smokers in my lifetime but not one who smokes one cigarette a day. Nicotine is addictive. Everyone I know who smokes is addicted to it, so they want it a lot more often than once a week.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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When sex is good, it's good, when it's bad, it's bad, and people are inconsistent enough that you can never tell what you get. If I spend my money on a gourmet chocolate bar, and it's stale or otherwise not as good as the same variety usually is, I can go back to the store and get a new one. Big advantage.
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