Humanity just can’t make up its mind about cannabis. For thousands of years, humans have used the stuff as medicine or to travel on spiritual quests. That, though, didn’t quite suit the British, who banned cannabis in colonial India. Then in the 20th century, the United States government declared war on marijuana, and most of the world followed suit.
But today, state after state is calling out the federal government on its absurd claim that weed should be a schedule I drug—an extreme danger with no medical benefits—and should fall in the same category as heroin. Even on the federal level, congressional reps like Elizabeth Warren are fighting to end the criminalization of cannabis use. The fact is, scientists have proven cannabis can treat a range of ills and that it’s actually much safer than alcohol. The twisty-turny journey of cannabis has landed us back at a central truth: It’s actually a powerful medicine that can help treat what ails the human body.
Yet as governments come around to the fact that the war on cannabis—which
has had a massively disproportionate effect on black Americans—is both
insane and unwinnable, the drug remains largely mysterious. The root of
the problem: Unlike a relatively simple drug like alcohol, cannabis is
made up of hundreds of compounds in addition to THC, all interacting in
ways scientists are just beginning to understand.
But therein lies the beauty of it. Things are getting real nerdy with cannabis science. So let us guide you through the haze.
The History of Cannabis
The cannabis plant probably originated in Central Asia, and may have been one of the first plants cultivated by humans.
In addition to its psychoactive charms, cannabis gave early growers
nutritious seeds to eat and useful fibers for rope. (Today, the industry
makes rope out of hemp, a variety of the plant with little to no THC,
and therefore no psychoactivity. Hemp fibers are even making their way
into construction materials.)
And our ancestors were aware of some of the medicinal benefits of
cannabis: The ancient Chinese deity Shennong, or “God Farmer,”
recommended that cultivators grow “hemp elixir” to treat the sick.
Cannabis has a particularly rich history in India, where it has been
used for thousands of years as a spiritual aid.
Even
as great societies of metal and stone formed, cannabis remained an
indispensable crop.
Ancient Rome, for instance, wouldn’t have been the
sea power it was without super-strong hemp sails and ropes. The British
and Spanish, too, powered their world-spanning empires with hemp
riggings. George Washington grew the bejesus out of cannabis.
CANNABIS GLOSSARY
- Cannabinoids
Compounds that bind to receptors in the human body’s endocannabinoid system, producing both psychoactive effects, in the case of THC, and non-psychoactive effects, in the case of CBD. - Chemotype
The distinct chemical makeup of an individual cannabis plant, which varies both because of genetics and because of environmental factors. Researchers are now experimenting with how to tweak light and soil composition to express or suppress certain chemical components. - Hemp
A variety of the cannabis plant that contains vanishingly small amounts of THC. Its use to humanity lies in its extremely strong fibers. - Marinol
A synthetic form of THC used to treat ailments like nausea and low appetite. Its cousin is Sativex, which also includes a dose of CBD that may help offset the psychoactive effects of THC. - Terpenes
A family of compounds that give cannabis its unique smell. However, terpenes are not limited to the cannabis plant—citrus plants have them as well. Many plants use these volatile compounds to ward off insects. - The Entourage Effect
The anecdotal, though increasingly data-backed, theory that different compounds in cannabis contribute to the high the plant produces. Research shows, for instance, that while THC alone can lead to paranoia, pairing it with CBD tends to attenuate the psychoactivity.
All
the while, it wasn’t like humanity had forgotten that cannabis was also
good for getting high.
Mexico in particular emerged as a major
cultivator of psychoactive strains in the early 1900s, and that cannabis
wafted over the border into the United States. Then, in 1937, the US
passed the Marijuana Tax Act,
which effectively criminalized the drug. And in 1970 the Controlled
Substances Act branded cannabis a schedule I drug, essentially equating
it with the devil himself.
As
with the prohibition of alcohol, banning the consumption of cannabis
just drove the drug underground. Which brings us to the legend of
Northern California, mecca of cannabis production.
Over the last few
decades, cultivators have hidden themselves in the wildlands, producing
perhaps 75 percent of the domestically grown cannabis consumed in the
US. Growers here have selected plant generation after plant generation
for high THC content, to the point where you can now regularly find
flower with 25, even 30 percent THC, whereas a few decades ago the
average was around 5 percent.
While Northern
California’s growers were proving themselves masters of cannabis
cultivation, the plant remained—and to large degree still
remains—mysterious. That’s because it’s extremely difficult for
researchers to study a schedule I drug. Until 2016, for instance, the
DEA claimed a monopoly
on the official supply of research cannabis, licensing a single farm at
the University of Mississippi that produced legendarily crappy weed
that looks nothing like what’s out in the market. (Like, literally.
It’s
so bad it doesn’t even look or smell like weed as we consumers know it.)
That regulatory wall, though, is crumbling, and science is rejoicing.
The Future of Cannabis
Throughout
history, humans have used cannabis as a medicine without the
confirmation of methodical scientific studies. The Aka people of the
Congo River basin, for example, use the drug to ward off intestinal worms. Anecdotally, cannabis is great for treating pain as well.
As
more states legalize, researchers are getting better access to cannabis
to prove out such claims. Scientists have already determined that the
drug can treat ills ranging from glaucoma to inflammation.
But because science hasn’t had a very good understanding of how the
different components in cannabis interact in the body, medicine has sort
of stumbled through this.
Take the case of
Marinol, a synthetic form of THC used to treat nausea and lack of
appetite. It does those things fine, mind you, but also produces nasty
side effects like paranoia. Consider that another drug, Sativex, doesn’t
tend to induce that kind of terror, probably because it’s THC paired
with CBD, which seems to attenuate the psychoactivity. So deploying
cannabis in medicine is about determining what compounds work to treat
what, but also about what those compounds can do as a team.
Speaking
of CBD. You may have heard it can treat every conceivable ailment that
affects the human body. It’s in skin creams now, and it's touted as a
cure for depression. But there’s almost zero research to back any of
that up because, you guessed it, prohibition. Sure, a smattering of
studies have shown that CBD might work to fight anxiety and inflammation,
but the science is far from settled here.
It’s hard to tell, for
instance, how much CBD you might need to get an effect, and whether
inhaling or taking it orally is best, or whether isolating it from other
cannabinoids hobbles its effects.
Draconian regulation has handcuffed
science in its pursuit of answers to these big questions and in its
attempt to learn how we can deploy cannabis for a wide range of
medicinal uses. . The regulation borders on the comedic: the
government-provided stuff is so crappy that researchers have been driving to cannabis users’ homes in a van to study the effects of the good weed they are actually buying.
More
research is also shining light on the potential harms of cannabis. Like
any drug, it has its downsides. Of foremost concern is cannabis use disorder,
or CUD, a dependence on the drug.
Studies have shown that perhaps 9
percent of users will develop CUD, and research suggests the prevalence
of the disorder is on the rise, which may be due to higher potencies or
simply more people seeking treatment as the stigma around cannabis
crumbles. Figuring out who’s most at risk, and how we might mitigate
that risk, and how we can best treat the afflicted, demands more
research.
Now, a common distinction you’ll hear
cannabis enthusiasts tossing around when talking about cannabis strains
is indica (relaxing) versus sativa (uplifting). Getting even more
granular, specific strains, like Purple Kush or Lamb’s Bread, are each
supposed to produce unique effects. Not just different intensities of
highs, but different complexities of highs—energizing or sedating, more of a mind high or a body high.
Except science says that dichotomy is mostly meaningless. In a 2018 study,
researchers drove around to dispensaries and collected samples from 30
different cannabis strains, then compared their genetics. Almost every
one of those strains had a genetic imposter—that is, its genotype didn’t
match that of its supposed peers in the same strain. And the analysis
found that the samples didn’t fit into the indica-sativa dichotomy, but
instead into one of two novel genetic groups that don’t map to the
indica-is-relaxing-and-sativa-is-uplifting distinction your local
budtender insists is a thing.
The fact of the matter is that the chemical makeup of cannabis is way
too complicated to neatly split into indica and sativa. We’re talking
hundreds of compounds, and that’s just what scientists know about so
far. We have cannabinoids like CBD, which seems to dampen the
intoxicating effects of THC, as well as terpenes, which give cannabis
that characteristic smell and may also play a part in forming the high
that grips your brain.
It’s
called the entourage, or ensemble, effect: THC doesn’t work alone to
produce a high, but instead interacts with other compounds in the plant.
It’s probably why smoking pure cannabis flower feels different than
using a vape pen. With the distilled oil in the pen, you may be getting
pretty much just THC, and lots of it. Add CBD, though, and the high
might be less intense. (Edibles can be particularly intoxicating both
because they usually contain THC without any CBD, and because when the
body processes THC through the digestive system instead of the lungs, it
metabolizes the compound into 11-hydroxy-THC, which is five times as
potent.)
Why? It turns out that THC and CBD have a similar structure.
When you ingest them, they bind to receptors in your endocannabinoid
system called CB1. THC fits perfectly, activating the receptor.
But CBD
doesn’t activate it, and instead just sits in there, preventing THC from
clicking into the receptor and producing a high.
In
addition to science’s ever-better understanding of how cannabinoids
interact in the human body, a new breed of indoor grower is taking
cannabis experimentation to a new level of nerdiness.
The genetics of a
plant only determine so much—environmental factors come into play as
well.
In crazy-high-tech facilities, cultivators are learning how to
tweak variables like light and nutrients and water to get genetically
identical plants to produce different chemotypes. This allows them to
manipulate how many terpenes or cannabinoids a particular crop produces.
It’s the same deal as with any plant, really: The tomatoes in your
backyard won’t grow big and strong without the right levels of water,
sun, and nutrients.
At Portland State University, researchers are toying with the idea that the soil can lend unique characteristics to cannabis,
like terroir for wine. They distributed genetically identical plants to
farmers that shared a climate, yet grew on different soils. If the
identical plants then provide flower with varying levels of cannabinoids
and terpenes, that would suggest soil is playing a role, further
complicating an already complicated plant. (Results from the study are
forthcoming.)
This kind of nuanced research is
fueling a transformation of the legal cannabis market.
With recreational
legalization comes the dreaded Big Cannabis—well-funded corporations
that want to get in on the action. So we’re seeing a potential
fracturing of the market: Big Cannabis sets up big indoor grow
operations that churn out cheap meh weed, while small growers
try to position their product as artisanal. In Northern California, for
instance, the Mendocino Appellations Project is making the case that due
to the unique terroir and weather of the region, they produce premium
cannabis unlike any other in the world. That distinction is at the
moment largely anecdotal, but the work at Portland State University and
elsewhere is beginning to gather data to put behind those claims.
The
good news is we only have more to learn about cannabis from here.
Research is booming, as is the legal cannabis industry. And so one of
the world’s most mysterious plants gives up its secrets.
- Forget Growing Weed—Make Yeast Spit Out CBD and THC Instead
As science continues to unravel the mysteries of cannabis, researchers in the lab have developed a workaround to the problem of procuring plant material: make yeast spit out cannabinoids instead. By splicing the plant’s genes into yeast, the researchers have turned the microbes into tiny CBD and THC factories. - There's Still So Much We Need to Learn About Weed—and Fast
The stigma and regulatory nonsense around cannabis are crumbling, which means more universities are jumping in to research the plant. Big universities, too, like UC Berkeley, which has opened an entire center dedicated to the environmental and social effects of cannabis. The verdict so far? Things are a right mess. - What Should I Tell My Relative Who Wants to Try Cannabis?
All this talk of weed might have you wondering: If my relatives ask me who much they should try for the first time, what do I tell them? It’s a tricky question with lots of perils that include having a very, very bad time if you overdo it. Here’s how to avoid the heartache. - Weedmaps’ Grip on the High-flying California Pot Market
You may have heard of Weedmaps, a service that helps you find dispensaries and delivery services. Convenient, right? Yes, but also way more drama-filled than you’d think. - The Quest to Make California’s Weed the Champagne of Cannabis
If you’ve used cannabis in the United States, chances are it was grown in Northern California, the weed capital of America. But now that Big Cannabis is moving into the market, small farmers are terrified they’ll be pushed out. So they’re on a quest to make their product the champagne of weed. - Scientists Journey Into the Dark Side of Cannabis
Yes, cannabis is far and away safer than alcohol. But like any drug, it comes with its own risks. One in particular has been on the rise of late: cannabis use disorder, a dependence that forms in an estimated 9 percent of users. Finding effective treatments is yet another reason to encourage the research, no prohibition, of cannabis.
No comments:
Post a Comment