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Impress your friends with some stoner science…
It’s a scenario we know all too well: You suck up the last toke of a fine doobie, sit back to mong like a pro, and you’re soon propelled by the urge to forage around the kitchen like a Neanderthal hunting his next meal. Suddenly, that out-of-date wafer ham at the back of the fridge looks more like a succulent Sunday roast. You crouch on one knee, too baked to venture the seemingly infinite distance to the cupboard to get a plate, and begin forcing the watery slices down your throat in pure bliss.
It raises the question, how do we get the munchies and why does a good bit of cannabis make everything taste so god damn fine?
Put down the reefer and slam on your science caps, ’cause shit is about to get technical (ever so slightly). We’ve all heard of the cannabinoid THC, the stuff that gets you hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh! Well, have you ever heard of endocannabinoids? They work like neurotransmitters and are produced in your brain as part of the system that informs the brain that it’s lunchtime. They play a pivotal role in appetite regulation. When you smoke weed these endocannabinoids are triggered, firing you up into a state of ‘the munchies’.
While endocannabinoids make you hungry, it’s actually THC that makes everything taste better. Studies confirm that THC increases the pleasure response to eating sugar. How? The ability of sugar to induce a great feeling requires that THC acts within a specific brain region called the ‘shell of the nucleus accumbens’. When we eat tasty foods, dopamine is released within this region to let us know our brain likes this food and wants us to eat it more often. When high, the THC significantly increases the amount of dopamine released.
Therefore high THC strains not only blow a hole in your consciousness, allowing you to see the amazing world in a whole new light, but also give you the need to fill a hole in your stomach through sugary delights that taste twice as nice – bring on the biscuits! So if you ever want to impress your mates with your perpetual THC trivia, simply turn around and say, “You’re experiencing the munchies because the endocannabinoids in your brain are triggering your appetite, and any sugary foods you eat will be intensified because the THC is making your brain release larger amounts of dopamine.”
Who says there’s no science to being a stoner?
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