Cannabinoids

Paperback – 232 pages

The mysteries of the brains own cannabinoid system exposed and explained.

Though cannabis has been used, for pain or pleasure, for over 4000 years, only lately have we learned, first, what makes it work and, more recently, how. Unraveling the mystery of the human brains special relationship with a psychoactive chemical derived from a planttetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, specificallyneuroscientist Linda Parker recounts the discovery of the brains own THC, called endocannabinoids, and describes the remarkable brain chemical system this discovery revealed.

In expert yet accessible terms,Cannabinoidsexplains what we know about this system, how it functions, and how it interacts with the plant materials in cannabis. Parker explores the role of the endocannabinoid system in regulating emotion, anxiety, depression, psychosis, learning, memory, feeding, nausea, pain, epilepsy, and neurological disordersas well as, naturally, the brains reward system. Examining the link between anecdotal reports and the current scientific literature, the book offers a balanced presentation of the scientific evidence for the medicinal use of marijuana, providing a timely intervention in ongoing debates about cannabiss medicinal value and its legal status.

Series Overview:The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers accessible, concise, beautifully produced books on topics of current interest. Written by leading thinkers, the books in this series deliver expert overviews of subjects that range from the cultural and the historical to the scientific and the technical. In todays era of instant information gratification, we have ready access to opinions, rationalizations, and superficial descriptions. Much harder to come by is the foundational knowledge that informs a principled understanding of the world. Essential Knowledge books fill that need. Synthesizing specialized subject matter for nonspecialists and engaging critical topics through fundamentals, each of these compact volumes offers readers a point of access to complex ideas.