Essay On Cannabinoids

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Cannabis, or cannabis sativa, originated in Central Asia and has been used for its psychoactive properties for many years (Iversen, 2008, p. 6). It affects the brain of adolescents and adults differently through the binding of CB1 receptors due to distinctions in neurocognitive development. There are certain changes in gray and white matter densities, brain volume, as well as endocannabinoid concentrations. This creates aberrations in cognition and memory performance.
Cannabinoid’s structures consist of a terpene joined to an alkyl-substituted resorcinol. The leading psychoactive component of cannabis is Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol(CBN) are cannabinoids that make up cannabis (Perrine, 1996, p. 347-349). Gray and white matter are subsets of brain tissue. Gray matter generally consists of cell bodies, while white matter consists of sheaths with
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The functions of the frontal lobe include planning, organizing, strategizing, as well as initiating, shifting, and sustaining attention. It is sometimes referred to as the “executive” part of the brain. The prefrontal cortex is found at the anterior section of this lobe. The parietal lobes are primarily responsible for receiving and processing sensory input. The temporal lobes deal with functions of language, emotion, and memory. The hippocampus is in the medial temporal part of the brain, and the amygdala is found in the frontal part of it. The occipital lobes are involved in visual information processing and object recognition. The cerebellum underlies the temporal and occipital parts. The prefrontal cortex is involved in memory, language, and intelligence functions. The nucleus accumbens, on the other hand, is found the region called the basal forebrain and is important in the reward system in the addiction process (“Gray matter”, 2002). Cannabis affects all of these parts of the brain through

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