Why Marijuana Makes Things Funnier, Medically Speaking

Jim Hamblin, MD gets scientific in our first feature in Stoner Week, explaining just why smoking that bowl made Wet Hot American Summer twice as funny:

When you smoke pot, THC gets absorbed into your blood and then squeezes into your brain where it binds to cannabinoid receptors (that’s seriously what they’re called — for a long time we didn’t know of anything else that bound to these receptors, so they were named for cannabis. “Why does our brain have receptors for THC (a chemical that the human body does not produce)? Why would that evolve? Were we so destined to discover smoking marijuana?”) Anyway, THC binds to the cannabinoid receptors, thereby activating the mesolimbic system and causing your brain to release dopamine and endorphins — the same end result as when you exercise or fall in love or see a bird that’s been on your list for a long time. And you don’t even have to go running or even venture into society to get that feeling. All you need is be a laid-back dude, know a guy, and not be a narc.