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Do kids have high levels of natural cannabinoids or something?

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WLS96

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Joined
Apr 10, 2012
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I don't smoke weed all that often, but when I do, sometimes I get the odd kid-like feeling. Really it's a little wierd sometimes. I'm an adult. I really don't want to feel like a kid. Just makes me wonder - and I'm sure some of you brain chemist people out there could answer this - is the reason that smoking pot makes me feel like a kid sometimes is perhaps that kids have high levels of natural cannabinoids? You must admit, looking back, when you were a kid, it really was like you were high all the time. Things were much more magical and whatnot. Just curious about this. Thanks.
 
Virtually nothing in life is as simple as that.

Still, I do wonder what (if any) known differences they are in the cannabinoidergic systems they are in childhood and early adolescence and how this may pertain to differences in the subjective effects of cannabis. I recall, back when I was 13, trying cannabis unsuccessfully, many a few times, despite different smoking methods, different sources etc but nothing, at all. At 16, gave it another whirl, and then got the not so atypical reaction of panic, and mild hallucinations. Gave it a shot again, and hit me again.

Now of course, they're so many different possible factors, such as different sources, better smoking skills, mindset etc, which would explain why it had no effect at 13, but did at 16, but I do wonder if there is some neurochemistry involved, is age induced sensitization a documented phenomena?
 
I don't think that there would be very many parents willing to consent to CSF draws of their children to see if they have natural dope in their heads.
 
I too have sometimes pondered this. The euphoria of being a playful child is in some ways similar to the effects cannabis can bring out.
 
WLS96 said:
I don't smoke weed all that often, but when I do, sometimes I get the odd kid-like feeling. Really it's a little wierd sometimes. I'm an adult. I really don't want to feel like a kid. Just makes me wonder - and I'm sure some of you brain chemist people out there could answer this - is the reason that smoking pot makes me feel like a kid sometimes is perhaps that kids have high levels of natural cannabinoids? You must admit, looking back, when you were a kid, it really was like you were high all the time. Things were much more magical and whatnot. Just curious about this. Thanks.
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Dude i know exactly what you meen!!!! i thought it was just me! Its such a wierd feeling it doesnt happen every time i smoke since i smoke every day and i wouldnt if it was that intense every time but ya sometimes when i get really high i will feel just like im as young as i can remember. its like i feel so fresh and new to everything even though i dont loose any knowledge i have as an adult it just gives me that feeling like im a tiny little kid. its great to remember what it feels like to be a kid every once in a while and iv only noticed this with a pure marijuana high never from any psychedelics or with any drugs mixed in with my high.
 
i feel like a child when i'm on mdma or mushrooms/mescaline.

i think hallucinogens create a feeling of novelty and thats what you lose as a jaded adult. cannabis is a hallucinogen. fact
 
Also interesting is how weed would affect a childs development. Earliest person I know to start smoking was 11 years old, imagine being like 6 and toking up. GL getting children for that study though, maybe the parents from that scene in Bruno (horrible movie btw) would do it.
 
I know a kid that was smokin when he was like 8. he loved it he would always beg his brother for the roach after they got done smoking and hit it in his homemade oney. i wonder how hese doin now days that was about 4 years ago.
 
Related: I had a feeling that I am best able to describe as childhood nostalgia when vaping JWH-203, and I have read of at least one other person who reported a similar feeling.
 
Actually, having high serotonin reminds me more of being a kid than having high a high amount of THC in me. But I do admit, before trying any serotogenic drugs, I had the same view as you: "Smoking makes everything seem so much more interesting/cooler than they really are, almost like when I was a kid."

But you should see what it's like when you're high on something like MDMA.

And I'm pretty sure that the amount of serotonin/sensitivity of the receptors is higher in kids than in adults. Think about it. Serotonin influences memory, how we learn things, emotions. Memory is based on an emotion. Why is it that every time I smell a perfume, or a nice flower/place/whatever that reminds me of my childhood, I immediately have a mini-flashback of that period from childhood, suddenly remembering stuff :)

This also happens when I listen to a song that dropped when I was peaking off MDMA, the same exact mini-flashback, and remembering stuff, the same feeling.

Why do you think this is? Childhood is the period of our lives when we just need to learn learn learn, so we can deal with life in our adulthood years. So it's important that we learn a lot more during childhood than adulthood, that is a fact. And since serotonin is involved in learning, it is probably one of the neurotransmitters that is present in a bigger amount in children's brains.
 
BluLait said:
Actually, having high serotonin reminds me more of being a kid than having high a high amount of THC in me. But I do admit, before trying any serotogenic drugs, I had the same view as you: "Smoking makes everything seem so much more interesting/cooler than they really are, almost like when I was a kid."

But you should see what it's like when you're high on something like MDMA.

And I'm pretty sure that the amount of serotonin/sensitivity of the receptors is higher in kids than in adults. Think about it. Serotonin influences memory, how we learn things, emotions. Memory is based on an emotion. Why is it that every time I smell a perfume, or a nice flower/place/whatever that reminds me of my childhood, I immediately have a mini-flashback of that period from childhood, suddenly remembering stuff :)

This also happens when I listen to a song that dropped when I was peaking off MDMA, the same exact mini-flashback, and remembering stuff, the same feeling.

Why do you think this is? Childhood is the period of our lives when we just need to learn learn learn, so we can deal with life in our adulthood years. So it's important that we learn a lot more during childhood than adulthood, that is a fact. And since serotonin is involved in learning, it is probably one of the neurotransmitters that is present in a bigger amount in children's brains.
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Except having high serotonin levels in the long term would reduce these experiences due to 5-HT2A downregulation, as with SSRIs. The brain is much more elegant and intricate than that, plain and simple.
 
The serotonin levels aren't too high (like when you're on drugs) as to not trigger downregulation, but high enough so that kids life experiences are altered.
 
BluLait said:
The serotonin levels aren't too high (like when you're on drugs) as to not trigger downregulation, but high enough so that kids life experiences are altered.
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IIRC, 5-HT2A downregulates such that any long-term increase in serotonin will cause a decrease in 5-HT2A activation. Also, serotonin can only activate the inositol triphosphate signal transduction pathway through 5-HT2A, whereas psychedelics must activate the arachidonic acid pathway to exert their effects. Unless serotonin is extremely acutely elevated I don't think that it can really create that sort of intense sensory imprinting that you describe from your childhood memories or see with psychedelics (MDMA is a 5-HT2A agonist). All in all I'd chalk it up more to the inherent plasticity of a child's brain, which is probably a function of more intricate mechanisms involving neurotrophic factors/glutamate/all that good stuff.
 
I think it is much more likely due to the fact that the brain is still in development and therefore is very sensitive and unfamiliar with the world(reality feels more magical because of how complex it is, along with the brain gradually becoming accustomed to it and also learning some of the "secrets" behind things as well). This probably involves lots of things.. not something simple like 1 receptor or excess of 1 transmitter. Things like varying amounts of different receptors while the brain is developing, connections between neurons, stored memories, and other things I'm not going to guess at.

I won't argue I've felt like a kid many times on psychedelics and (more so) on the right strain of weed w/o tolerance. Psychedelics alone seem to feel more forced and sometimes distracting, while on weed it feels more..familiar..? for me.
 
Do you have any objective ways to compare how you're feeling when you're high, to how you felt as a child? If you're relying on your memories, thats several decades worth of distortion and nostalgia getting in the way.
 
I think it is a psychological thing.

Here is my theory:

When you are a kid you have no responsibilities no worries (at least coming from a halfway decent family. Adulthood probably sucks less than childhood for kids who were abused) and the main focus of your life is school and having fun. 9 months a year of school 3 months off if I had a work schedule like that I would feel like a kid again during my downtime.

When you are an adult you have responsibilities life is not a big party anymore. You have to work (oftentimes not your ideal job) two weeks of paid vacation a year if you are lucky, and when you get your vacation you are likely to spend the time doing much needed maintenance around your house because the repairs are more important in terms of money being spent on the top priority. Hell, you have to organize fun things for your kid to do.

My point here basically comes down to one word: Responsibility

In your case you are an adult with responsibility so when you smoke cannabis the euphoric effects cause you to feel care free and the cannabis places your responsibilities in the back of your mind for you.

I am the complete opposite 90% of the time I smoke cannabis I don't get paranoid but I think about all the things I should be doing instead of getting high.

My two pennies

P.S. I have read through ADD a few times but never posted because my response would not sound half as intelligent as 90% of the posts in ADD... Sorry if this is a waste of space 8)
 
nAON said:
Do you have any objective ways to compare how you're feeling when you're high, to how you felt as a child? If you're relying on your memories, thats several decades worth of distortion and nostalgia getting in the way.
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Serious? What objective way would I be able to say I "felt" like a child(are not these feelings subjective?) Yes I'm relying on memories... I get what you are saying, but no, of course I know of no objective ways to measure my feelings.

edit:
sorry that sounded rude when I re-read it. ignore the "Serious?" and anything else offensive, my bad, I'm on amphetamine got a tad raged without noticing.
 
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from what i gather it has more to do with the serotonin system during child development, which is very sensitive and robust in children. The serotonin system has much to do with cognitive flexibility and memory/adapting to new new things. I think i even saw some studies relating to the serotonin system in adults vs children but dont have it any longer. Also cannabinoids interact with the serotonin system at a couple levels.
 
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