When you use marijuana or products made from it, you ingest a variety of chemicals that have different impacts on your body and brain. One of these components is tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC. Potent and potentially addictive, THC can make it hard to stop marijuana use. It's time to learn what THC is and how it impacts your health and ability to quit.
What makes THC so effective at causing changes in your brain is from the shape of this chemical. THC's structure closely resembles that of a normal brain chemical known as anandamide. Because the shapes of THC and anandamide are so similar, the brain cannot distinguish between them.
Usually, anandamide and other similar chemicals attach to cannabinoid receptors on brain neurons to trigger them. These neurons activate feelings that impact how you perceive time, feel emotionally, think logically, and remember things.
A dose of THC in your body from using marijuana or using THC-containing products, like edibles, tricks your brain into reacting as though normal anandamide were in it. Your brain triggers feelings of happiness, trouble with sensory and time perception, reduced logical thinking, and harder time remembering things.
In addition to causing these symptoms, THC also causes your brain to release the "feel good" hormone called dopamine. When you have this chemical in your brain, you get the joyful high many associate with marijuana use. This high also makes it more difficult to stop using THC since the brain adapts to the presence of these new chemicals.
THC is a chemical that makes weed more addictive, and the amount has changed recently compared to marijuana grown in the past.
If you smoked marijuana decades ago or know someone who did, you may have heard about how mild the experience was. Back then, lower levels of THC did not make marijuana as addictive as weed is today. But THC in marijuana has increased in recent years, making this drug even more potent than ever.
Since you get more THC with each use of marijuana, you also have higher levels of dopamine in your system from each use. Because you feel good when you use marijuana and sad when you don't, you will want to keep using THC-containing products.
However, you don't have to settle for a life of getting high. You can retrain your brain to learn to generate its own dopamine from other sources than THC and marijuana. Recovering from the physical and psychological effects are possible using addiction treatment programs.
Marijuana may be a legal drug in some places. But because today's crops have higher THC levels than before, weed is even more addictive than ever. While smoking marijuana occasionally may not cause problems initially, excessive use will. If you notice that you spend more time high or need more marijuana to feel the same high, you could have a problem.
While getting help for marijuana addiction is scary, you can do it. Excessive marijuana use can ruin your life. Instead of letting weed take the reins, gain control by contacting us at San Antonio Recovery Center. We offer various ways to help you with your rehab including:
Once you find out what THC really is and how it can affect your brain, you should understand that it can cause serious addictions. Contact us by calling 866.957.7885 to break free of the addiction to THC or marijuana and get your life back on track.
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