As 4/20 rolls around once again, the unmistakable smell of cannabis will soon be filling parks and student accommodations across the country.
にもかかわらず remaining 違法な in the UK, the 麻薬 is 定期的に smoked, eaten, or vaped by an 概算の 3.1 million people.
But understanding the science of what cannabis does to your mind can be tricky, 特に if you happen to have just smoked some.?
From 上げるing your libido to 誘発する/引き起こすing auditory hallucinations, not all the 影響s of cannabis are what you might 推定する/予想する.?
So, whether or not you will be celebrating this 週末, MailOnline asked the 専門家s what your brain is really like on 麻薬s.??
As 4/20 rolls around again, MailOnline has asked the 専門家s what your brain is really like on 麻薬s and 明らかにする/漏らすs the strange 影響s of cannabis you might not know?
Cannabis 含む/封じ込めるs two 化学製品s that are 大部分は 責任がある the 影響s you feel: CBD (cannabidiol) and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol).?
These are able to make us feel high because they are?類似の to 化学製品s that our brain produces 自然に.?
Throughout our brains and 団体/死体s, we have a コンビナート/複合体 system of 化学製品 signals and receptors called the 'endocannabinoid system'.
Dr Will Lawn, a psychologist from King's College London, told MailOnline this is like a dial which turns up or 負かす/撃墜する the 量 of communication between parts of the brain.
Parts of this system called CB1 receptors sit at the junctions of our 神経s like traffic lights, slowing 負かす/撃墜する or スピード違反 up the flow of the brain's communication 化学製品s.
When you 消費する?少しのd, THC sticks to these CB1 receptors and inhibits the 解放(する) of 確かな neurotransmitters like dopamine and glutamate.
Like a 欠陥のある traffic signal, this slows traffic between different brain 地域s to a はう and 誘発する/引き起こすs the psychoactive elements of the high.?
Cannabis 含む/封じ込めるs a 化学製品 called TH which interacts with our 団体/死体s 'endocannabinoid system'. This interaction alter our brain chemistry in a way that produces a pleasurable high?
This has 石油精製 影響s on the whole 団体/死体, but what makes 少しのd 攻撃する,衝突する you the way it does is all 予定 to where these CB1 receptors are most 一般的に 設立する in the brain.?
Dr Lawn says:?'We see that they are 表明するd 密集して in the cerebellum, in the hippocampus and also some limbic 地域s 含むing the amygdala.
'The cerebellum is 重要な for underpinning movement, the hippocampus is 決定的な for underpinning movement, and the limbic system is 決定的な for emotional 返答s.
'You will recognise those as the three cognitive 過程s that are 大幅に 影響する/感情d by cannabis.'
The parts of the brain 影響する/感情d by cannabis are 位置を示すd in the cerebellum (pictured), amygdala, and limbic system. These are linked with memory, movement, and emotional 返答s?
Short-称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 memory?
Beyond the general '石/投石するd' feeling and 緩和, one of the most ありふれた 影響s of cannabis use is a 重要な 削減 of short-称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 memory.
If you've ever watched the classic stoner film 'Dude, Where's My Car?', you'll recognise the stereotype of the bumbling, 永久的に 混乱させるd stoner.?
Since the 1970s 研究員s have 文書d that people really struggle to 持つ/拘留する and work with (警察などへの)密告,告訴(状) in their short-称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 memory while high.?
If you can still remember, this is because THC 混乱に陥れる/中断させるs signalling in the hippocampus and 干渉するs with how your brain 過程s memory.?
In 'Dude, Where's My Car?', two stoners manage to forget where they parked their car during a binge. Science shows that cannabis does 厳しく 影響する/感情 the short-称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 memory but the 影響s don't usually 固執する
Does cannabis 原因(となる) long-称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 memory loss?
Cannabis does not appear to change the brain 永久的に in a way that would 原因(となる) 減ずるd memory.
熟考する/考慮するs 示唆する that within 20 days most of the memory 影響s will abate.
There is a slight link between 激しい use and 減ずるd 言葉の memory but this 変化させるs from person to person.
Use in 十代の少年少女s has been linked to worse 教育の 結果s but there isn't strong 証拠 to show that they are more 攻撃を受けやすい to memory problems.
However, teenage 使用者s are more 攻撃を受けやすい to cannabis 中毒.
This 混乱に陥れる/中断させるs the 'working memory', the part of the mind that 許すs for quick retrieval and 巧みな操作 of (警察などへの)密告,告訴(状).?
熟考する/考慮するs have shown that this leads to difficulties with attention and 焦点(を合わせる) in some 使用者s.
Oddly, however, 熟考する/考慮するs have also shown that 正規の/正選手 激しい 使用者s 現実に get better at 集中 仕事s after smoking since they are habituated to the 影響s.??
Although we know for 確かな that cannabis use 影響する/感情s the memory while it's 存在 used, the 証拠 for long-称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 影響s is much いっそう少なく 確かな .?
Dr Lawn says that there is some 証拠 that long-称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 use has a small 影響 on 言葉の memory but most ぐずぐず残る 影響s tend to disappear after the 使用者 やめるs.?
'Many cannabis 使用者s have a high 知能 and a very good memory,' Dr Lawn says.
'When you look at a comparison between 激しい cannabis 使用者s and 非,不,無-使用者s, there's going to be a lot of overlap.'?
There may be some 影響 on cognitive 機能(する)/行事 and memory in the long 称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語, Dr Lawn explains, but these 影響s tend to be very small and there is a lot of variation between different 使用者s.?
激しい cannabis smokers may have some 減ずるd 言葉の memory even while sober, but these 影響s tend to mostly disappear over time if they やめる. The 影響s also 変化させる so while some experience no memory disruption others may fare worse. Pictured: Cannabis 使用者s in Hyde Park on 4/20
Slows perception of time?
If you've ever eaten too much of a マリファナ brownie, perhaps on an ill-considered trip to Amsterdam, this 影響 will be all too familiar.
Cannabis 使用者s 報告(する)/憶測 that time seems to stretch endlessly as the minutes start to feel like hours.
研究 has shown that cannabis use produces an 影響 known as time dilation.
In one 熟考する/考慮する, 関係者s were either given a placebo or THC 注射 and were asked to 圧力(をかける) a button once per second 70 times.
Those who had been given the cannabis dose were 顕著に slower than their sober 相当するものs, 圧力(をかける)ing the button every 1.73 seconds compared with every 1.49 seconds.?
Other 研究 has shown that, while high, cannabis 使用者s tend to 徹底的に 過大評価する how much time has passed.??
Stoners like Cheech and Chong (pictured) may feel that time drags out endlessly. Scientists have 設立する that this 'time dilation' 影響 原因(となる)s cannabis 使用者s to 過大評価する how much time has passed?
Other 実験s show reaction times fell and 決定/判定勝ち(する)-making gaps 増加するd after 関係者s smoked 少しのd.??
Scientists aren't 正確に/まさに sure why this happens but one theory 示唆するs that THC 貯蔵所d to receptors in a part of our brain 責任がある our 内部の 団体/死体 clock.
This 地域, called the suprachiasmatic 核, is 重要な for 持続するing our circadian rhythm.
THC's 破壊的な 影響s could kick this 地域 into a spin, leaving us baffled about the passage of time.?
Scientists aren't sure why cannabi
s 影響する/感情s the perception of time but it could be because THC 貯蔵所d to parts of the brain 責任がある the circadian rhythm?
Creativity?
From writers like Seth Rogan to painters like Salvador Dali, many use cannabis to 上げる their creativity.?
After a smoke you may feel more in touch with your creative 味方する but the science is more コンビナート/複合体.?
Cannabis 使用者s tend to 得点する/非難する/20 higher for self-報告(する)/憶測d creativity and 成し遂げる better on 対策 of 'convergent thinking'.
But once you 支配(する)/統制する for cannabis 使用者s' 開いていること/寛大 to new experiences, these 影響s 消える - meaning it isn't the cannabis making people more creative.
To explain why people feel more creative while 石/投石するd you have to look at how cannabis 影響する/感情s their reaction to creativity.?
Salvador Dali (pictured
) famously used cannabis to 高める his creativity, but 専門家s 示唆する that the cannabis might not have helped?
While 研究 shows no 証拠 that cannabis 上げるs creativity, it does make people who use it feel good and so perceive ideas as more creative.?
研究員s 設立する that people tended to 階級 their own cannabis-燃料d ideas as more creative than their sober ideas, even when they were sober.
Likewise, 石/投石するd 関係者s tended to 率 the ideas of others as more creative than they did while sober.?
So, even though 少しのd won't fill you with brilliant ideas, it might give you the 信用/信任 and the enthusiasm to follow them.?
Even if writers and actors like Seth Rogan (pictured 権利) use cannabis to 燃料 their creativity, the 工場/植物's ma
in 影響 is just to make you 率 your own ideas as more creative?
Is 医療の cannabis 合法的な in the UK?
Owning or using cannabis for recreational 推論する/理由s is 違法な in the UK.
But since 2008 some doctors have been able to 定める/命ずる cannabis.
Dr Sodergren of 皇室の College says that cannabis can be 定める/命ずるd for any 条件 that hasn't 答える/応じるd to 従来の 薬/医学s.
It cannot be 定める/命ずるd by a GP and only doctors on the General 医療の 会議's special 登録(する) can 供給する it.
CBD 製品s, however, are 合法的な and can be bought without a prescription.??
苦痛??
Cannabis isn't just used for recreation and there is now a growing market for 医療の マリファナ.
Since 2018 it has been 合法的な for the General 医療の 会議's special 登録(する) to 定める/命ずる cannabis-based 薬/医学 製品s.
Last year around 32,000 people took 医療の cannabis, with chronic 苦痛 存在 the most ありふれた 推論する/理由.?
Additionally, a 2023 YouGov 投票 設立する that an 概算の 1.8 million people used 違法な cannabis to 扱う/治療する their symptoms.
Dr Mikael Sodergren, 長,率いる of the 医療の Cannabis 研究 Group at 皇室の College, told MailOnline that 苦痛 is one of the most 約束ing 医療の 使用/適用s of the 麻薬.
Dr Sodergren, who is also the 創立者 of a 医療の cannabis clinic 指名するd Curaleaf Clinic, says: 'We discovered that many 構内/化合物s in 医療の cannabis 封鎖する a 明確な/細部 receptor which plays a 重要な 役割 in 神経 苦痛.
'This is the basis on which we are using 医療の cannabis as a painkiller ? it inhibits these 明確な/細部 pathways associated with 激烈な/緊急の 苦痛 signalling.'
In the US, dispensaries like this one in California 分配する cannabis to 扱う/治療する 苦痛. The 化学製品s in cannabis 封鎖する 苦痛 receptors in the 団体/死体 and so can be used to 扱う/治療する chronic 条件s?
Strangely this 苦痛 receptor is also the same one that 原因(となる)s people to feel heat 苦痛 when they eat something spicy.
But, before you order yourself a vindaloo, Dr Sodergren explains that this won't 現実に make spicy food feel いっそう少なく hot.
However, he explains that it would 'feel いっそう少なく painful if you rubbed a chilli pepper in an open 負傷させる.'
Of course, this is still probably not a 広大な/多数の/重要な idea no 事柄 how much you have smoked.??
Libido?
One of the lesser-known 味方する-影響s of cannabis use is that it appears to 上げる your libido.?
Although it sounds like something out of a 1930s anti-麻薬 film, cannabis smokers are 現実に having more sex - and probably enjoying it more too.?
In one of the biggest 熟考する/考慮するs of its 肉親,親類d 50,000 Americans 老年の 25-45 答える/応じるd to a 調査する about 性の activity and cannabis use.
The 熟考する/考慮する 設立する that cannabis 使用者s were having 20 per cent more sex on 普通の/平均(する) than 非,不,無-使用者s.?
Women who did not 報告(する)/憶測 using マリファナ had sex around six times a mont
h, compared to cannabis 使用者s, who had sex an 普通の/平均(する) of 7.1 times a month.
In the 1930s America was swept by a moral panic over the 解放するing 影響s of cannabis and films like 'マリファナ Girl' spread 広範囲にわたって. But these moralists might have been の上に something as cannabis 使用者s do appear to have more sex than 非,不,無-使用者s?
The difference was even more stark for men, as 非,不,無-マリファナ 使用者s had sex 5.6 a month, compared to daily 使用者s who had sex an 普通の/平均(する) of 6.9 a month.
This (機の)カム as a bit of a surprise to the 研究員s?予定 to 高度に publicised (人命などを)奪う,主張するs that cannabis use leads to erectile dysfunction.
At the time of the 熟考する/考慮する's 出版(物), lead author Michael Eisenberg of?Stanford University School of 薬/医学, said: 'たびたび(訪れる) マリファナ use doesn't seem
to impair 性の 動機づけ or 業績/成果.?
'If anything, it's associated with 増加するd coital frequency.'
A smaller 熟考する/考慮する of 216 関係者s 設立する that 52 per cent of those 調査するd said they used cannabis to alter their 性の experience.
Out of the 関係者s, 38 per cent said sex was better, 25 per cent said it was いつかs better and only 4.7 per cent said it was worse.?
It isn't (疑いを)晴らす why stoners like The Dude (pictured) would have more sex, but one theory is that cannabis' experience-高めるing 影響s make it more enjoyable?
苦悩 and paranoia?
Of course, smoking cannabis isn't all roses?isn't all roses and not everyone has a 肯定的な reaction.
Dr Lawn says: 'It does seem to be 肉親,親類d of a marmite 麻薬 in some 尊敬(する)・点s.
'Some people 完全に enjoy the 影響s of 穏健な doses of TCH but other people think it feels 絶対 horrible.'
The same 化学製品 過程s that lead to 幸福感 and 緩和 for some, 誘発する/引き起こす 苦悩, paranoia, and even auditory hallucinations for others.
When you 消費する?少しのd, THC 誘発する/引き起こすs the 生産/産物 of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and GABA.
普通は, these 抑える the 解放(する) of norepinephrine, a 化学製品 associated with alertness, 原因(となる)ing people to 静める 負かす/撃墜する and relax.
But for some people, lower levels of norepinephrine 誘発する/引き起こす a '回復する 影響', sending parts of the brain linked to 苦悩 into overdrive.?
This leads to feelings of panic, 増加するd heart 率, and a spike in cortisol levels which 与える/捧げる to that 圧倒的な feeling of 'freaking out'.??
Smoking a lot of cannabis can 原因(となる) some people to experience paranoia and 苦悩 in a way that mimics some of the elements of an '激烈な/緊急の psychotic.?Pictured: Cannabis 使用者s in Hyde Park on 4/20
Does cannabis lead to psychosis?
This is one of the most contentious 問題/発行するs in cannabis 研究 and the 関係s are not やめる (疑いを)晴らす.
On one 手渡す, 激しい cannabis use is associated with higher 危険s of psychiatric 条件s.
激しい use may also 誘発する/引き起こす or 悪化させる worse 結果s for people who are at 危険 of psychosis.
There are also weak 関係s between long-称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 use and 不景気.?
But the 危険 of developing a 条件 like schizophrenia remains very low even for 激しい smokers.
The 広大な 大多数 of cannabis 使用者s will not experience any 逆の 影響s.
But you should still use 警告を与える if cannabis makes you feel paranoid or if you have a history of mental illness.??
These are known as 'psychotomimetic' 影響s because they mimic some of the elements of an '激烈な/緊急の psychotic experience'.
'明白に, it doesn't fully mimic that but the auditory hallucinations and paranoia 設立する in some people are reminiscent of the florid psychotic symptoms that people with schizophrenia experience,' Dr Lawn says.?
There is also a 井戸/弁護士席-known 協会 between long-称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 cannabis use and the 危険 of developing a psychotic 条件.
However, it is important to 公式文書,認める that these 協会s are 極端に コンビナート/複合体 and the 危険 are still 比較して low.?
Dr Lawn says: 'If you're a daily cannabis 使用者 you do have a 概略で four times greater 危険 of developing schizophrenia in your life than someone who doesn't [use cannabis].
'But that 危険 has only gone from 概略で 0.5 per cent to two per cent, so 98% of daily cannabis 使用者s aren't going to develop schizophrenia.'
Since there are so many other factors in someone's life that can lead to mental health 問題/発行するs it is also very difficult to say for 確かな that cannabis 直接/まっすぐに 原因(となる)s these long-称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 problems.
So even if you do get freaked out while smoking, for the 圧倒的な 大多数 of people the feeling will pass when you sober up.??