What the Flower Teaches About Rolling Up for Happiness
By Leo F. Mega
A euphoric THC high can take the body to a place where it feels safer, more in-tune with the inner self. Cannabis consumers even report feelings of being held by a type of cosmic parent. What is the meaning of this context created by these sacred compounds such as THC and CBD?
When THC is inoculated into the substrate of a human biological apparatus–the human body, and finds the receptors of the ECS (Endocannabinoid System), the uptake leads, most of the time, to bodily relief of daily stress, chronic-pain alleviation, and inflammation suppression. The body, as a result of being alleviated of these physical and emotional pangs, is lifted into a state of euphoria as the GABAergic neurotransmitter is released, for just a moment, from its duties.
The GABAergic neurotransmitter is the gatekeeper of chemicals in the body and brain. In this case, in the brain’s pleasure center, the GABA gang, works to reduce excitability in this part of the brain, the NaCC. It takes a communal effort, a type of entourage effect, in order to get the body unchained from the chains of the GABAergic gatekeeper.
THC convinces GABA to hand over the control over endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, the ECS, oxytocin, and most likely, all endogenous cannabinoid receptors that are homemade in the brain. The door swings open and the NaCC, a region of the brain involved in fostering a context for these newly freed happy-inducing neurotransmitters, is now one of the accountable bioregions for this operation once THC is ingested.
While the NaCC is probably the region of the brain with the most medical funding and extensive research on its side, American scientists are stumped on how different regions of the brain communicate pleasure when THC is introduced over and over again, but some believe it can be understood the same way human experience everyday happiness: different neurotransmitters and fostering brain regions are involved in getting to happiness.
When the ‘H’ in THC Stands for Happy
The article, “Effects of Delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol on frontostriatal resting state functional connectivity and subjective euphoric response in healthy young adults” gives meaning and understanding to the communication concepts happening between brain regions when THC is administered. The study, made up of a demographic of 22 humans who received a dosage of THC, and 24 who received a placebo, gives material measure to the role of THC in the brains’ systems and its role in letting the happiness compounds loose.
Results: Individuals who received THC showed greater connectivity acumen between the right NAcc + regions of the prefrontal cortex, along with higher subjective euphoria ratings when compared to individuals who received placebo. Higher ratings of euphoria were related to greater right NAccl connectivity for the THC group, but not for the placebo group, with a distinct chasm in connectivity, favoring the non-placebo group.
THC, when administered to the body, connects with other regions of the brain and their neurotransmitters, typically guarded by the GABAergic neurotransmitter to limit excitability. When Cannabis is introduced, it overrides this neurotransmitter for a moment of comparable ecstasy, which some people would certainly explain as love of self, or love of universal or universal love, free of the pains of the body, back to a place of uninterrupted pleasure and peace.
What Happens in the Brain to Explain the Pleasure Felt When High?
The common denominator of euphoria-inducing drugs is that they stir the dopamine pot, convincing it to let loose for once. The dopamine cells that project to the NAcc are continuously incarcerated by GABAergic neurotransmitters, and so, prohibits the body from an ongoing state of euphoria if the bioregions of the brain are left unbothered, unchallenged by THC, the compound known to shake things up.
