The Day That Turned The Medicinal Cannabis World Around

The History of Finding Cannabinoid Receptors in the Brain   On August 9th, 1990, Nature published a piece that changed what was known and what was assumed about the effects of cannabis. Prior to that, there were many theories about how the brain interacted with tetrahydrocannabinols (THC). One of the most popular theory was the dissolution of THC in cell membranes. The other theory, which this study proved, that there are receptors in the brain which helps link THC. This discovery allowed scientists to be able to accurately develop drugs with the correct amount of THC, which meant researchers could study the exact ways THC can help improve brain functions could be measured..   Nature’s discovery in 1990 was a big finding for the cannabis community and which helped to eventually propel the legalization of medical marijuana in California in 1996.  The discovery did not come at an opportune time, but it did come at the right time. In 1990, George Bush Senior was amplifying the war on drugs initiated by the administration before him. The Reagan administration, the one that preceded Bush, had placed a “getting tough on drugs” policy, which ended up becoming a zero-tolerance rule of law. Since the Nixon administration, cannabis was often compared and connected to cocaine as an entry-level drug, meaning that the use of cannabis would eventually lead to the abuse of other drugs such as opiates and meth. Upon the creation of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), cannabis was put at Schedule I. It was considered the most addictive of all the drugs and the one with has the greatest chance of causing psychological and physiological degradation. Any news or information that may paint cannabis in a positive light was smothered. It wasn’t until the findings published by Nature was the war on drugs dealt a heavy blow to its influence. There were many studies that offered positive information on cannabis throughout 1970s and the 1980s, but they weren’t able to create a spark like the Nature publication did.   The finding of a THC receptor in the brain came from a long extensive two year study by the National Institution of Mental Health. The study first stemmed from a 1988 breakthrough by Allyn Howlett and William Devane who used radiolabeled molecules to measure the presence and concentration of macromolecules. They found that cannabinoid receptors do in fact exist in a rat’s brain, but the jury was still out where it was located and if human beings still had those receptors like rats.   Two years later Mike Herkenham was able to locate the cannabinoid receptors in rats and in humans.  And it was before this discovery that the common thought was cannabis dissolved in the membrane. In the 1980s, scientists did not have the tools to locate or find receptor-based mechanisms in the brain. By the turn of the decade, scientists were able to bind substances to gene-cloned receptors they made in the lab. THC was seen as a long shot in connecting with gene-cloned receptors since the common misconception was that they essentially dissolved into cell membranes and affected the brain there. It was logical since a lot of drugs worked the same way. Initially, researchers at NIMH used other drugs to see receptors of the brain, but they found no correlation with the activity of one type of the receptors. When researchers used synthetic marijuana on the brain, they found new receptors that responded to the synthetic marijuana. The researches continued to use other drugs in the market, but found no response from those receptors. These were cannabinoid receptors were new receptors in a system that hadn’t been found before.   THC isn’t a normal occurring compound in the brain and since there are receptors that are responsive to it and are not bound by it, scientists have concluded that it can be bound by other substances thereby changing behaviors that include pain, learning, and memory. The discovery of canna   binoid receptors has helped scientists and researchers alike to find the perfect balance of THC in medical products. This discovery also helped kickstart a long campaign of research institutes to pursue more studies on the effects of cannabis and cannabis as a medicinal drug. It is safe to say that the discovery of cannabinoid receptors is what eventually helped turn eyes for researchers about the potential medical benefits of cannabis.