Blog'antine Day 20

Hello! Today is Monday, April 20th. Happy four-twenty! In today's quarantine blog, I'm going to discuss marijuana and mental health. What does 4:20 mean? Glad you asked! I actually had no clue what it meant until 9th grade math class, haha. It usually signifies smoking marijuana and getting high. According to the dictionary:

noun: 4-20

 

used to refer to marijuana or to the act of smoking marijuana.

"a 420-friendly hotel"

 

April 20th (4/20), considered as an occasion for smoking or celebrating the smoking of marijuana.

"thousands of marijuana smokers converged on Hippie Hill for the annual 420 celebration"

 

Origin

1970s: apparently coined as a code word by high school students in San Rafael, California in 1971 with reference to 4.20 p.m., the time at which they regularly met to try to locate an unattended plot of cannabis plants.

I enjoy the fact that the dictionary mentions San Francisco's Golden Gate Park go-to spot for finding pot, Hippie Hill. I'm proud to say not only have I purchased a few joints on Hippie Hill in my day, I've also been there to celebrate April 20th. (PSA recreational marijuana is legal in California) Golden Gate Park is actually one of the very few things I miss about living in San Francisco. I loved doing all sorts of recreation there. Here's wikipedia's 4:20 origin story: 

In 1971, five high school students in San Rafael, California, used the term "4:20" in connection with a plan to search for an abandoned cannabis crop, based on a treasure map made by the grower. Calling themselves the Waldos,[9][10] because their typical hang-out spot "was a wall outside the school", the five students (Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and Mark Gravich) designated the Louis Pasteur statue on the grounds of San Rafael High School as their meeting place, and 4:20 PM as their meeting time. The Waldos referred to this plan with the phrase "4:20 Louis". After several failed attempts to find the crop, the group eventually shortened their phrase to simply "4:20", which ultimately evolved into a code-word the teens used to refer to consuming cannabis.

Anyway, I wouldn't consider myself a die-hard pothead by any means, but I find the 4:20 trivia fun! I am the proud owner of a Michigan Marijuana Medical card and have benefited from the medical use of marijuana for my mental illness. It helps me immensely with IBS nausea, fibromyalgia pain, insomnia, depression, and even anxiety. I thought it would be cool to highlight some of the best ways cannabis can help mental health.  (another PSA: obviously I'm not a doctor and I encourage you to speak with your care providers about how marijuana may or may not be able to help you) For my depression, THC helps me to feel creative and inspired. I see colors brighter and everything seems prettier and brighter. It also stimulates an appetite, helps me to relax with friends and encourages my creativity. One of my favorite strains for depression is Jack Herer. Another one, called Candy Jack, was my favorite but its seems it's only available on the west coast. Candy Jack is a mostly sativa strain that provides a swift boost to your mood alongside a sweet, citrus smell. The fragrant smell is inherited from its Skunk #1 parent, while creative and focused effects stem from the Jack Herer side of the family. Patients typically appreciate Candy Jack’s ability to counter stress, depression, and appetite loss. 

It might seem like getting high will make your anxiety worse, and for many, that's the truth! However, how anxiety affects you changes with time and age, and so will how you treat your anxiety. There are certain times in my life where it wasn't conducive to my anxiety so I abstained, but other times that it has helped. I encourage you to look up more information from a website called leafly, which you can use to look up your symptoms and it will guide you to the right strains for you to try. Also, contact your local bud-tender (that's a person who sells you the products at the dispensary). and most importantly, discuss it with your doctors and therapists. 

Dosage is a consideration:

When it comes to high-THC cannabis and anxiety, there’s one thing to keep in mind based on research: At lower doses, cannabis seems to help anxiety; at higher doses, it seems to worsen it.  So if opting for a high-THC variety, be sure to pay close attention to your dose (more on that below). However, high doses of CBD appear to reduce anxiety. So why does cannabis soothe anxiety at some doses and exacerbate at others? Answering that requires a closer look at the biological system cannabis primarily interacts with: the endocannabinoid system (ECS).

The ECS is a vast system of receptors found throughout each of our bodies: in our brains, organs, guts, skin—these cannabinoid receptors are widespread and play an important role in ensuring that the body is operating in healthy balance. Our bodies naturally produce cannabis-like compounds—called endocannabinoids—that act similarly to cannabis compounds and also interact with the ECS, but sometimes their production goes awry. That’s where cannabis comes in as a potential therapy.

Studies show that the endocannabinoid system plays an important role in regulating anxiety, fear, and stress responses by regulating our behavioral response to stressful stimuli. Notably, cannabinoid receptors are abundant in areas of the brain involved in anxiety processing such as the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and areas of the amygdala. These studies also explain how THC can have opposing effects on anxiety as dosage affects neuron activity differently via cannabinoid type 1 receptors. -Leafly.com

I encourage you to always keep an open mind about what can help you or others. Just like mental illness, marijuana also has a stigma. It may work really well for some of you and others not so much. My preferred way to medicate is by eating sour gummy edibles. It's like taking those gummy vitamins, but much more magical! I hope you are enjoying your holiday today ;-) and I'll see you back here tomorrow!