Cannabis

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Cannabis
A flowering cannabis plant.
Dosage
Depends on potency, tolerance and route of administration.
Duration (smoked / vaporized)
Total Duration	1 - 4 hrs
Onset	0 - 10 mins
Coming up	5 - 10 mins
Peak	15 - 30 mins
After effects	45 - 180 mins
Duration (oral)
Total Duration	4 - 10 hrs
Onset	30 - 120 mins
Coming up	30 - 60 mins
Peak	2 - 5 hrs
After effects	6 - 12 hrs

Cannabis, also known as marijuana, weed, pot, grass, herb and by numerous other names, is a preparation of the cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug and as medicine. Pharmacologically, the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC); it is one of 483 known compounds in the plant, including at least 84 other cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN), tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), and cannabigerol (CBG).

Contemporary uses of cannabis are as a recreational or medicinal drug, and as part of religious or spiritual rites; the earliest recorded uses date from the 3rd millennium BC. Since the early 20th century cannabis has been subject to legal restrictions with the possession, use, and sale of cannabis preparations containing psychoactive cannabinoids currently illegal in most countries of the world; the United Nations has said that cannabis is the most-used illicit drug in the world. In 2004, the United Nations estimated that global consumption of cannabis indicated that approximately 4% of the adult world population (162 million people) used cannabis annually, and that approximately 0.6% (22.5 million) of people used cannabis daily.

Pharmacology

The genus Cannabis contains two species which produce useful amounts of psychoactive cannabinoids: Cannabis indica and Cannabis sativa, a third species, Cannabis ruderalis, has few psychogenic properties. Cannabis contains more than 460 compounds; at least 80 of these are cannabinoids – chemical compounds that interact with cannabinoid receptors in the brain.

The most psychoactive cannabinoid found in the cannabis plant is tetrahydrocannabinol (or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC).[1] Other cannabinoids include delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN), cannabicyclol (CBL), cannabichromene (CBC) and cannabigerol (CBG); they have less psychotropic effects than THC, but may play a role in the overall effect of cannabis. The most studied are THC, CBD and CBN.

Subjective effects

Physical effects

• Spontaneous tactile sensations - The body high of cannabis is extremely variable in both its style and intensity. It depends entirely on the individual strain of plant and does not manifest itself consistently. In general however it can be described as a pleasurable, warm, soft, and all-encompassing glowing tingling sensation. It maintains a consistent presence that quickly rises with the onset and hits its limit once the peak has been reached before immediately dissipating.
• Sedation - Although certain strains of cannabis present mild encouraged stimulation at low to moderate dosages, for the most part the effects on the users energy levels are primarily sedating. This encourages one to relax but can however be suppressed by simply forcing oneself to engage in physical activities.
• Loss of motor control - This substance causes a partial to moderate suppression of motor control which intensifies proportional to dosage but rarely results in a complete inability to walk and perform basic movements.
• Appetite stimulation - The feeling of increased appetite following the use of cannabis has been documented for hundreds of years and is known colloquially as "the munchies" in popular American and United Kingdom culture. Clinical studies and survey data have found that cannabis increases food enjoyment and interest in food. This is thought to be due to the way in which endocannabinoids in the hypothalamus activate cannabinoid receptor that are responsible for maintaining food intake.
• Nausea suppression - Cannabis is effective for suppressing nausea induced by both general illness and substance induced nausea. It is considered an effective treatment for chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) and is a reasonable option in those who do not improve following preferential treatment.
• Dehydration
• Vasodilation - THC decreases blood pressure which dilates the blood vessels and increases blood flow throughout the body. The arteries in the eyeball expand from the decreased blood pressure. Studies in the 1970s showed marijuana, when smoked or eaten, effectively lowers intraocular pressure by about 25%, as much as standard medications. These enlarged arteries often produce a bloodshot red eye effect. It is precisely this effect on the human eye that makes cannabis an effective medicine for glaucoma.
• Pain relief - This substance has been reported as useful for treating certain headaches, chronic pain, including pain caused by neuropathy and possibly fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis.
• Increased bodily weight or Decreased bodily weight - Depending on the specific strain of cannabis, one can find themselves with a body which can feel either physically heavier or lighter than it usually would in a style that is entirely dependent upon dosage.
• Changes in gravity - At extremely high dosages many users report a feeling of being pulled backwards across vast distances at powerful speeds. This sensation progressively increases in intensity and eventually becomes unbearable if one leans backwards or lies down but disappears altogether once the user sits up or leans forward.

Cognitive effects

• Enhancement of current mindstate - The most prominent cognitive component of the cannabis experience is the way in which it enhances the emotions one is already feeling proportional to dosage. This can result in euphoria, extreme laughter, increased immersion within tasks and activities or it can result in anxiety or paranoia depending on the users current mind state.
• Connectivity of thought
• Thought deceleration
• Conceptual thinking
• Mindfulness
• Suppression of information processing
• Suppression of dreaming - It is commonly reported that regular cannabis use before sleep results in a complete absence of dreams but a day or two of abstaining from cannabis results in an intensification of dreams for a short period of time. This claim is supported through studies that demonstrate that measurably reduced eye movement activity and REM states occur when one falls asleep in the THC condition. This state is strongly associated with dreaming. The same study also reported a REM rebound effect, that is more REM activity, on withdrawal from THC.
• Anxiety
• Paranoia

Visual effects

• Enhancement of colour
• Decreased visual acuity
• Geometry - cannabis is capable of inconsistently inducing mild psychedelic geometry at extremely high dosages within many users. Within users who also regularly use psychedelics however it is capable of inducing these consistently in a visual style which seems to be an averaged out depiction of all the psychedelics one has used within the past. These rarely extend beyond level 4 and are considered to be mild, fine, small and zoomed out but often well defined.

Auditory effects

• Enhancements

Combinational effects

• Psychedelics - when used in combination with psychedelics, cannabis is capable of intensifying and extending the duration of both the visual and cognitive effects with extreme efficiency. This should be used with caution if one is not experienced with psychedelics.
• Dissociatives - when used in combination with dissociatives the geometry, euphoria, dissociation and hallucinatory effects are often greatly enhanced.
• Alcohol - when used in combination with alcohol, cannabis often creates feelings of extreme nausea, dizziness and changes in gravity. It is recommended that one smokes before drinking and not the other way around unless they are extremely cautious.

Methods of consumption

Cannabis is consumed in many different ways:

• Smoking, which typically involves inhaling vaporized cannabinoids ("smoke") from small pipes, bongs (portable versions of hookahs with water chamber), paper-wrapped joints or tobacco-leaf-wrapped blunts, roach clips, and other items.
• Vaporizer, which heats herbal cannabis to 165–190 °C (329–374 °F),[80] causing the active ingredients to evaporate into a vapor without burning the plant material (the boiling point of THC is 157 °C (315 °F) at 760 mmHg pressure).
• Cannabis tea, which contains relatively small concentrations of THC because THC is an oil (lipophilic) and is only slightly water-soluble (with a solubility of 2.8 mg per liter). Cannabis tea is made by first adding a saturated fat to hot water (e.g. cream or any milk except skim) with a small amount of cannabis.
• Edibles, where cannabis is added as an ingredient to one of a variety of foods.

• 
  A joint/spliff prior to rolling, with a paper handmade filter on the left.
• 
  A forced-air vaporizer. The detachable balloon (top) fills with vapors that are then inhaled.
• 
  Edible weed brownies.

Toxicity and Harm Potential

Radar plot showing relative physical harm, social harm, and dependence of cannabis

Legal Issues

Map showing cannabis laws world wide.

See Also

• Specific Substances