The Next Revolution

Mike sent me this link about a Ron Paul appearance in Canada.

“Once the government gets in the business of producing economic equality or making you morally a better person, you have sacrificed the principle of liberty,” said Paul.

“And you have given the government too much power. Inevitably, throughout all history, governments when they get that power, they always expand that power until there is the next revolution.”

Paul stressed he does not espouse violence, but instead wants people, particularly young people, to use the power of ideas to achieve change.

Young people? Why young people? That brings up something I was looking at the other day.

How does the endocannabinoid system change during adolescence?

We have looked at how the endocannabinoid system develops in the brain across the human lifespan from newborns to adults. We have found that some of the most dramatic change happens in adolescence. We see that the brain’s capacity to make CB1 receptors is declining, compared with very early life when this capacity is very high. On the other hand, one of the enzymes that helps to make the endocannabinoid messengers is higher at adolescence than it is in toddlerhood or adulthood, suggesting that there is still a great need for these messengers to help with communication in the brain.

Can using cannabis during adolescence disrupt these changes?

During adolescence, the brain is trying to ‘settle’ itself, to achieve the right balance in communication between neurons. This is crucial for the transition from adolescent to adult behaviour. For example, the risky behaviour common in teenagers is less prominent by the time a person is in their mid-twenties. Since the endocannabinoid system is a part of the process by which the brain balances its communication, and since it seems to be working very hard to sculpt these connections during adolescence, exposure to cannabis at this time could have a higher impact than in adulthood, when the brain’s connections are more stable.

Which pretty much corresponds to an idea I have been using for years. Which is that young people between the ages of 15 and 25 are open to new ideas and after that their brains are locked. We now have brain chemistry research which backs that up. BTW if you go to the site to read more be sure to check out the comments. I also have more on the endocannabinoid system at: Endocannabinoids The Science.

Some people never “grow up”. I have the very good fortune to be one of them.


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6 responses to “The Next Revolution”

  1. Kathy Kinsley Avatar
    Kathy Kinsley

    You and Peter Pan. 😛

  2. Kathy Kinsley Avatar
    Kathy Kinsley

    I’ll never grow up either.

  3. Chas Avatar

    There is a short story by Tennessee Williams, called, I think, “Red Dirt Marijuana” (or something like that), in which the old black farm hand makes the same argument to the teen-aged narrator. Essentially he is saying that MJ is wasted on the teenage brain.

  4. Clyde Avatar
    Clyde

    My youth experience with MJ was just that – youthful. As I have grown physically older MJ has become more of a medicinal tonic. I like the kind that eases arthritis!