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26 May, 2021
Quali sono gli effetti della marijuana?
31 May, 2021At some point, surely you’ve heard this maxim when it comes to cannabis: sativa strains have invigorating effects that will allow you to be active during the day, while indica will send you to the couch when you want to relax and unwind at night. However, this indica / sativa classification is too simplistic for determining the effects of a marijuana strain – there are better ways to predict them.
What are the effects of Marijuana?
We have to start off with a basis of understanding which his that it is difficult to predict the effects that cannabis can have on a specific person because each individual and each experience is different. Even if the same individual smokes the exact same strain at two different times, it can affect them differently.
Researchers lean toward the theory that differences between individual responses to marijuana are likely due to individual genetics, as they often determine which parts of the brain are more sensitive than others.
However, there are other factors that affect what marijuana does to you; the form of consumption, dosage, tolerance to cannabis, age, height, weight and general health, the concurrent use of marijuana with other substances, and even personal expectations.
Effects of Marijuana based on variety
When choosing a marijuana strain, many users make their decision based on three words: indica, sativa, and hybrid.
Popular knowledge has taught us to associate sativas with energy, indica with relaxation, and hybrids as being somewhere in between. But most of us know that this pattern is not always true.
More and more consumers subscribe to the belief that terpenes are what determine the sedative or stimulating effect.
For example, myrcene is said to produce sedative effects. This could be the reason why indica-dominant varieties, which contain high amounts of myrcene, are known for their sedative effects.
Other terpenes such as pinene (which smells like pine), offer stimulating effects. It must be emphasized that the theoretical efficacy of an individual terpene is confounded by the fact that it is generally consumed alongside other terpenes and cannabinoids.
Popular knowledge has taught us to associate sativas with energy, indica with relaxation, and hybrids as being somewhere in between. But most of us know that this pattern is not always true.
This synergy is addressed by the entourage effect theory, which explains how cannabinoids and terpenes intermingle to modify the effects of each other and essentially create a more balanced overall effect.
Terpenes have been revealed to be a critical piece of the puzzle in understanding the effects of cannabis.
In an orchestra, each individual instrument contributes to the overall experience of the piece of music. Following this metaphor, THC may be the cellist and CBD the solo violin, but each instrument, each different cannabinoid molecule, each terpene, contributes to the overall experience.
What happens when you smoke marijuana?
Smoking is the most popular administration method for cannabis.
THC is absorbed directly through the lungs and from there it enters the bloodstream and reaches the brain in a matter of minutes. This is why we feel the effects almost immediately.
THC binds cannabinoid receptors stimulating the release of dopamine in large quantities, causing feelings of euphoria. It also alters other neurotransmitter receptors like GABA and serotonin, which influence mood.
The side effects of smoking marijuana will depend on which neurotransmitters are affected.
¿What happens when you eat marijuana?
The experience obtained from an edible can be very different, and the effects are often more intense and longer lasting.
In this case, THC travels a longer path, going through the entire digestive system to the intestine and to the liver, where it is metabolized and converted into a hydrolyzed compound before entering the bloodstream. This metabolite is 11-hydroxy-THC, it is more active than THC and easily crosses the membranes that separate the bloodstream from brain tissue, hence its intense psychoactive effect.
However, consuming cannabis orally also results in less absorption of cannabinoids, as they do not pass into the bloodstream in their entirety, but only do so in a certain proportion. During ingestion, this bioavailability of THC is between 5 and 10% (and around 6 and 10% for CBD), while when inhaled this percentage varies from 10 to 35%.
Consuming cannabis orally also results in less absorption of cannabinoids, as they do not pass into the bloodstream in their entirety, but only do so in a certain proportion.
That we only assimilate a fraction of both compounds is a consequence of the fact that CBD and THC are fat-soluble, they are not soluble in water, so they tend to escape from the bloodstream and quickly diffuse into fatty tissues, where they accumulate. In this way, the amount of the compound that reaches the nerve centers where they exert their activity decreases.
Commercial and savvy producers of cannabinoids know how to work around this obstacle. During the edible manufacturing process, cannabinoids are encapsulated into specific combinations of fat compounds. These fats act as vehicles for the absorption of cannabinoids.
Theoretically speaking, this means that an individual user has the capability to absorb 100% of the cannabinoids present in the edible product.
This being said, different manufacturers use different fats with different resulting effects and rates of absorption. Some fats or encapsulation techniques may only partially increase bioavailability. For this reason it can be difficult to compare one 100mg edible to another 100mg edible made by a different company.
¿How long do the effects of marijuana last?
When smoked, THC reaches the brain very quickly and begins to work almost immediately. Smoking weed will cause THC blood levels to peak within half an hour after the first inhalation. Then they will stay around that peak for another half hour before starting to decline.
If you’ve eaten cannabis, the effects can last much longer than smoking, depending on the dose and how quickly your body processes the THC. It also depends on the fats used to encapsulate the cannabinoids. It can take up to 3 or 4 hours to reach full effect from an edible, and the effects could last well into the next day for some users.
When smoked, THC reaches the brain very quickly and begins to work almost immediately. Smoking weed will cause THC blood levels to peak within half an hour after the first inhalation.
How to reverse the effects of marijuana
Because of the slower onset of effects that we’ve mentioned, users may not feel any effects during the first hour or two and this can sometimes be dangerous.
Users might be tempted to consider eating more too soon and before the previous dose has had time to properly effect them. This of course can lead to effects that are undesirably intense by the time the full effects take hold.
For this reason being careful with dosage is vital. The more cannabis you consume, the longer the effects will last and the most intense they will be. In addition, the bipolar temperament of cannabinoids must be taken into account. At different doses, cannabis can produce totally different and even opposite effects.
But there are things you can do to counteract the unwanted effects.
For example, consuming edibles or smoking cannabis which contains CBD along side THC can help alleviate some of the undesired effects often associated with high levels of THC used alone – such as anxiety, paranoia or altered perception. Another option is to choose a variety of cannabis with a high content of the terpene linalool. Linalool may reduce the negative effects of THC as well.
Popular culture has spread rumor of remedies that range from exercising to drinking coffee, to eating black pepper. However, they are inconsistent solutions to the true way to reverse the side effects of cannabis: be calm and remember that it is only a matter of time before any negative sensations disappear – we only have to wait for the THC to disappear from our bloodstream.
