10 December 2023

Human beings have cultivated cannabis for thousands of years. We have been using it for its euphoric effects for at least several thousand. And as prohibition in the United States and other nations gives way to legal, recreational use, more people are picking up pot for help with sleep, pain, or simple relaxation.

But as medical and recreational use become more popular and increasingly accessible, whats actually going on inside your body and brain when you imbibe? Cannabinoids, the chemicals in cannabis, trigger an entire system of receptors in our nervous systems, immune systems and elsewhere in our tissues. And this internal, endocannabinoid system regulates so much of our physiology that it may explain everything from the post-pot munchiesto runners high.

In the second of this three-part special series on the science of cannabis, Christie Taylor visits the stoned mind, where memory gets hazy, time passes weirdly and creativitymaybe just feels easier to achieve. And why theres so much we dont know yet about how cannabis affects us, both for good and for ill.

Learn more: The team at New Scientist investigates cannabis and the brain, the environmental cost of growing cannabis, and other questions in this special reporting series. Visit newscientist.com/cannabis

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Podcasts | Science of cannabis: #2 The anatomy of a high - New Scientist