Just Not For You?
I’ve heard it many many times: “it just isn’t for me”
I get it, I get it, different tokes for different folks, live and let live, all that jazz. Maybe it makes you anxious, or maybe it feels like you’re letting your mentors down, or maybe you prefer some distance from it because it’s illegal and expensive. Rest assured, every reason under the sun not to partake in cannabis is entirely valid. I mean that sincerely, I reserve no judgment for anyone’s personal decisions regarding their own health. I am not a doctor or scientist, and I do not claim authority in any way whatsoever over you or your physician. I also promise that I do not need to encourage anyone to ingest cannabis — I believe it is a highly personal decision and I have no right to interfere with anyone’s personal health. However, to say that cannabis is not for you, is a statement with which I must disagree.
Every moment of every day our bodies process and generate energy, steer us from danger, and point us toward nourishment at a cellular level. No matter how unaware or how much human nature defies these instincts, it continues to feed, regulate, and protect us. The body and mind communicate constantly in different survival processes from hunger and pain to sex and joy. Without us ever knowing, the body traffics and employs oxygen, water, and nutrients throughout our entire composition with perfect precision. Everyone who has walked by a science classroom knows this great dance that makes all life possible as homeostasis.
Homeostasis in the human body is largely managed by the nervous, endocrine, and circulatory systems which help to balance temperature, hormones, blood pressure, and ph levels just to name a few of the many variables at play. Everything in the body is working to keep us alive and well, interconnected through millions of pathways teeming with tiny chemical reactions and electric signaling. However, there is another system at work here interacting across and alongside the nervous, circulatory, and quite likely all the other systems. Still largely unexplored and entirely unheard of to some, it is called the endocannabinoid system.
It was 600 million years ago when organisms in the prehistoric stew began to become more complex; developing nervous systems and vertebra, eventually eyes and ears and even hair for some. Mixed in with all this beautiful biological ingenuity came the network of pathways and receptors we call the endocannabinoid system, or the ECS. Extending from the brain throughout every organ, gland, muscle, and connective tissue, this system is geared mostly to regulate integral homeostatic functions including sleep, appetite, pain response, immunity, inflammation, memory and mood. The system is intricate and ubiquitous in the human body, in fact cannabinoid receptors are the most abundant in the human body. These receptors and pathways are active from beginning to end of many different chain responses, involving multiple organs, systems, and processes. A system of the systems, some believe the ECS the primary moderator of the body.
At first, it is somewhat strange to imagine this type of umbrella system arching and interweaving throughout all the others, blanketing the entire operation in yet another layer of connectivity. But it’s true, cannabinoid receptors sit just outside the cell to gauge the conditions within, sending signals to the appropriate parties to initiate chemical responses as necessary for maintaining optimal cellular performance. For instance, at the site of a physical injury — a cut, stubbed toe, muscle tear or strain — the ECS responds immediately in three different ways. It decreases the release of activators and sensitizers from the injured area, it stabilizes the nerve cell to prevent excessive firing, and it steadies immune cells to inhibit the release of excess pro-inflammatory substances. Before we are even able to curse the pain, the ECS is at work for us to start the healing. It is woven through the entire body to signal, traffic, and react in concert with all the other systems, causing many to believe the ECS is physical evidence of the mind-body link.
Curious as it may be that we are all equipped at birth to process and digest cannabinoids for the benefit of our total health, and that cannabis plants prolifically produce cannabinoids, it is difficult to view the plant is anything less than a super-food to this great homeostatic governor of our bodies.
Even at that, I am not trying convince anyone to try pot. Flat out, you honestly don’t have to ever ingest cannabis (if you really don’t want to). A healthy body produces its own endogenous cannabinoids, or endocannabinoids, to carry out these important functions. Cannabinoids are also found in foods and spices such as clove, black pepper, chia seeds, echinacea, broccoli, ginseng, hemp seeds and carrots to name just a few. Chances are you’ve likely been consuming cannabinoids already, sustaining your ECS as it sustains you. In fact, there are many ways to stimulate and supplement the ECS without using cannabis at all. Unsurprisingly, these are methods which already categorize as general wellness practices. Things like regular exercise, stress management, sex, high vegetable and nutrient intake, avoiding processed foods and preservatives, avoiding alcohol and nicotine, proper sleep, proper hydration, and even positive social interaction all make for a healthier ECS and human. It’s really no wonder tea, yoga, lunch, and conversation with a favorite friend feels so nourishing. It absolutely is.
As with all anatomical systems, the ECS is subject to deficiencies and disease. More chronic disruptions present themselves symptomatically as mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, or insomnia, but compromised immunity, excessive inflammation, skin conditions, digestive issues, or severe pain are also possibilities. If for whatever cause the system is not firing appropriately, perhaps a delayed or totally unresponsive chain, ailments can range and compound into multiple symptoms. Many of us have experienced some variety of these issues before, others have been in more serious situations with unmanageable symptoms that require medication. For my purposes I need to make clear that pharmaceutical, doctor prescribed medications are crucial life saving miracles for millions of people everyday. I have no medical qualifications, and science is largely magical to me, but the work of doctors and scientists has brought so much life to so many people it is truly phenomenal. I in no way want to discourage anyone from their doctor’s recommendations, or entice people to give up their current medications for cannabis instead. Always consult your doctor first.
That being said, modern pharmacology comes with certain undeniable risks. The rapid drone of gruesome side-effects over a glowing advertisement of health and happiness is nearly a cultural staple of our era. Certain drugs which doctors prescribe can be addictive as evidenced by the ongoing pain and opioid epidemic in the United States. Further, the human body struggles to break down and process some of these chemicals causing more adverse side-effects, sometimes necessitating even more medication. Instead of treating symptoms, the ECS provides an avenue to help treat entire systems, holistically addressing issues in the body to help it get back to helping itself. Health is comprehensive, all the variables interact and affect one another, intensely detailed, efficient, and marvelous beyond our understanding. Ensuring and nourishing the vitality of the ECS establishes a great starting point for general wellness and perhaps for more acute treatments in the future.
Modern science astounds me. Every so often I get a “this week in Science” Imgur link from my little brother biologist and each time I am floored by the genius and wonder of the findings. Enzymes that eat plastic, carbon sequestering automobiles, stem cell cures, all these ingenious breakthroughs and inventions that will all shape the world in their own time. To me it seems that in the past science was used to explain the world around us, demystifying things like the sun, gravity, and magnets. We used to break the world down into smaller more intelligible bits so as to pull back the curtain and see the mechanics beyond our own natural understanding. Science gave us answers.
But nowadays it feels much different. The practice, the research, and the data have all gone farther than generations of curiosity could have ever dreamt. Much more often modern science seems to lead to more questions than answers. Scientists are more likely to shrug their shoulders, scratch their heads, or offer a brief “depends” instead of pointing to anything empirical. Just as the universe expands faster than we can understand it, paradoxically so does our knowledge of it. No matter how much we try to pin down the inner-workings of this universe it continues to warp and bend, the precedents change, rules disintegrate, old ideas remain in the past and the future still holds everything which has not yet been done. The further we look, the more we are able to see.
Cannabis is no exception to this trend. As scientists, doctors, and patients gain better access to the plant we will be able to more fully realize the diverse healing potential therein. Civilization has worked in concert with cannabis since the beginning, now it is time to let the plant through the red tape and into the future. If not purely for earnest academic pursuits of medical science, perhaps for the sake of realigning with our own natural selves. The demand for relief, healing, and peace will overcome the foolish, cruel, and dishonest efforts of the past; this is certain. What remains uncertain is who will help us get to the right side of history and who will continue to deny that this plant is a part of us.
So you see? It’s fine if you’re not into burning fistfuls of pineapple kush over the weekend with your pals, or rolling up a relaxing joint after a long productive day. You may even be the type to deny yourself a delicious baked edible from your lovely neighbor or even get a little nervous about the CBD isolates in local stores. I’m sincerely not trying to judge, I can’t blame anyone for the systemic issues caused by the massive disinformation campaign around cannabis because we are all victims to some degree. I just hope today you feel closer to cannabis in an ancient and very human way.
From a scientific and biological understanding — cannabis really is for you. The treatments we learn from this plant and our own organic use of cannabinoids could remedy countless afflictions, ailments, disorders, and diseases. It can help with sleep, focus, or even weight loss, but also prevent such tragedies as cancer, alzheimers, dementia, and parkinsons. It could save infants and the elderly, gently serving the most vulnerable and precious ones in our lives. It could give peace to veterans who selflessly forfeited their way of life for ours. There is no suffering which does not merit relief. Truly no one has the right to deny nature, science, or the truth. At least not forever.
In order that we move forward we must begin to realign our understanding of the plant with data and grace rather than what has been propagated to us for so long. We must understand and accept that cannabis is intertwined with human physiology in ways that cannot be ignored or demonized any longer, but instead explored and exploited to its fullest potential. We must begin to think of it as a super-food, a supplement, and a medicine as we work to deconstruct the stigmas and stereotypes, decriminalize mental illness, and demand our legislators do the right thing. Cannabis and cannabis related research could very much be what saves your life or the life of someone you love. If we agree that nothing in this world more worth protecting than your way of life, your memories, and your joy, then I promise, cannabis is for you.
