Weird facts about cannabis you probably didn't know

2023-08-26 08:41:00, Blog CNA

Marijuana or cannabis as it is more commonly known has a very long history. And whether it was legal or illegal, those who consume it do so for a multitude of reasons.

It has long been shown to have benefits ranging from anxiety relief to pain relief. For this reason, the campaigns demanding the legalization of its cultivation and use for medicinal purposes have been increased.

Here are some facts you might not know about this narcotic plant.

Cannabis evolved to make people reach trance with the help of a virus

Researchers from the University of Toronto aimed to understand more about this issue when they began digging into the ancient genome of a strain of hemp called Finola, and a strain of marijuana called Purple Kush.

They discovered that what makes cannabis produce narcotics, including THC and CBD, are a set of random instructions that ended up in a single cannabis genome.

In the strangest possible way, they were produced in a process that started with a virus that mixed up the plant's DNA, made many copies of itself, and then multiplied.

Researchers think that this ancient viral infection had a side effect, which was to split the stuff that makes THC and CBD into two separate codes, made from what was originally the same gene.

Cannabis and chocolate have a lot in common

Many people choose to smoke a cannabis cigarette at the end of a long day, as it makes them feel better. This is the same reason that prompts many people to tuck in an extra bar of chocolate when shopping at the supermarket. Surprisingly, the two are more similar than they might appear at first glance.

In 1996, it was reported on a study published in the journal "Nature". A group of neuroscientists from San Diego had shown that the happiness receptors activated in the brain by marijuana were the same receptors activated by chocolate, albeit to a milder degree.

Baby shampoos can produce false test results

Researchers from the University of North Carolina launched the study after noticing a series of strange events in 2012, when an unusually high number of babies began to test positive for cannabis use. They suspected something else was going on.

And in fact, a large number of baby products—especially baby soap and shampoo from big companies like Aveeno—were found to contain chemicals that were found to interfere with test results.

According to the scientists, it is possible that the soaps have a chemical structure similar to the compounds of marijuana, or that a reaction between the chemicals in the soap and the tests caused false results.

If you smoke too much cannabis, you risk losing your fingers

A 2016 study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine described the symptoms of a 49-year-old man. A heavy user of cannabis, he went to the doctor when his fingertips started to turn a blue-black color, and ulcers appeared along with some dimples on his hands.

The diagnosis? Cannabis arteritis, a rare condition that affects a small proportion of heavy users of cannabis. It is still unclear what causes the condition, but experts know that it interferes with the function of blood vessels in the extremities, causes necrosis, and usually leads to amputation of the affected limb.

Cannabis use may increase susceptibility to false memories

In 2020, PNAS published a paper titled "Cannabis Increases Susceptibility to False Memory." The researchers recruited 64 people, who were given either cannabis or a placebo. They were then tested to see how sensitive they were to accepting false memories when asked about what they saw in a virtual reality simulator.

They concluded that cannabis makes people more susceptible to remembering things that didn't actually happen than people who took a placebo. Along with this finding came a caveat: With marijuana legalized, police would have more and more run-ins with people who were taking it legally.

The researchers warned authorities to be careful when questioning witnesses who prove to be cannabis users, as this could lead to the dissemination of false information, which would have potentially devastating consequences.

Italian cities have a high amount of the aroma of cannabis in the air

In 2012, the Air Pollution Research Institute completed a 1-year study examining the psychotropic content of the air over major Italian cities.

They discovered that some of them are basically like student dormitories on Friday nights when parties are held. Bologna and Florence had the highest concentration of marijuana particles in the air.

The 1972 experiment produced some strange results

The 2020 film The Marijuana Conspiracy tells the story of 5 women who come together during a strange government experiment to determine what happens to the body when someone smokes cannabis every day. It is based on a true story that had some strange consequences.

In 1972, the Canadian government spent millions of dollars on research before adopting a plan to legalize marijuana. As part of this research, 20 women were recruited, who were divided into 2 groups (those who drank cannabis and those who did not).

They were given increasingly powerful doses of cannabis every day for 98 days in a row to see what would happen. One of them was 21-year-old Dorin Braun, deeply saddened by the death of her mother. She later told the Toronto Star, “At first it was an adventure, until things took a turn for the worse. I felt like I was in a coma, I couldn't do anything. It was real torture."

Participants described terrifying side effects such as hallucinations, difficulty breathing and feelings of isolation exacerbated by their physical isolation in a Toronto hospital. Even leaving the hospital did not give them the relief they thought. Many of them ended up in psychological therapy, mostly because of irrational fear and paranoia.

It makes your brain more connected, but not more relaxed

In 2015, researchers from the Yale University School of Medicine published a study in the journal "Biological Psychiatry" where, among other things, they said they had discovered that THC increased a specific type of brain activity called "neural noise."

What is it? Neurons in the brain typically fire electrical activity as they transmit information. But sometimes they turn on without conveying any message. This is nervous noise, similar to a television that broadcasts nothing but what we colloquially call “flies. Also, they found that the higher the dose, the more such abnormalities there were./ Adapted from CNA