I REALLY need your help on this one!

Ok, so I go to high school and for the past few days we have had a "drug guy" coming in and telling us all this bullshit about weed and other drugs.

He is from like a rehab facility or something and is preaching to us why weed is bad. SO yesterday he said "THC is fat soluble and is stored in fat cells. Your brain is made of fat cells and therefore the THC is stored there. Since THC is stored in your brain it can be released up to weeks after you have smoked the weed and can cause you to become high several days after you have smoked the weed." I sensed bullshit as soon as I heard this. I went home and did some research, of course the dude was bullshitting...

I found out that after you come down from the high the body metabolizes the THC into a metabolite called 11-hydroxy-THC (which has the same psychological affects as THC. HOWEVER, this 11-hydroxy-THC is then converted AGAIN into a different metabolite called 11-nor-9-THC (WHICH PRODUCES NO PSYCHOLOGICAL AFFECTS and is not a psychoactive substance at all) My question is to you guys, how long does it take for this process from THC to 11-hydroxy-THC and then from 11-hyrdoxy-THC to 11-nor-9-THC to occur?? I need a very prompt response because I am meeting with this drug guy first thing in the morning and I WANT TO PROVE HIM WRONG SOOO BAD! Please respond as quickly as you can. Thanks in advance guys. Happy Toking!

 

i didn't read this, but i replied anyways.

i am so special.

 

lmao

 

THC is converted into 11-hydroxy-THC before it even hits your brain (or a lot of it is). That's why there is a few minutes in between smoking weed and getting high.

THC is stored in fat cells, none of which are in the skull, or head. The amounts of THC released by those cells are so minuscule that no, you will not be high, lol. 11-COOH-THC is well......a metabolite of THC, and it's one of the ones a drug test looks for.

 

I think as its the metabolite that it would be 12-24 hours. Basically once a drug test could detect it. However THC does not get stored in the brain in any amount to cause us to get high several days later, we would know lol.

 

I hope that guy doesn't actually BELIEVE the shit he spews out of his mouth. What a dupe.

 

"hey mr. drug guy? yeah some people on a marijuana forum i frequent totally prove you wrong"

 

OK, so you should probably keep your mouth shut on this one dude. Not a good subject to be "proving" at school.

 

Why are you still in High School at 21?

 

this metabolism probably occurs before anything reaches your brain. thc MAY even be unable to cross the blood brain barrier. i know for a fact that 11-OH-THC and 11-nor-9-carboxy-thc are more polar and therefore penetrate the blood brain barrier better than THC itself. the metabolites might actually be what are getting us high. but being more polar (water soluble) they are no longer stored in fat cells like THC is. drugs are made more polar by the body so that they can be excreted or eliminated. so i would say that 11-OH-thc, and nor-9-thc get eliminated quicker than thc. thc IS stored in fat cells, but only in the body, not the nervous system.

the brain is complicated though. THC and it's metabolites could stick around for awhile in the brain and continue to affect cell signaling long after we sober up. obviously we aren't high days after we smoke (unless we smoke again:sifone but our brains still could be affected.
our brain has natural or endogenous cannibinoids that are used for a unique or backwards type of signaling. receptors for these (anamide is the name of one - some indian name for bliss) are where THC or its metabolites bind. also keep in mind that there are several other cannabinoids in weed, so it really is fucking up our brains at a molecular level. foreign molecules come in and compete for binding sites with natural brain chemicals. they overactivate certain pathways, or slow down/shut down others. it's very complex.

so drug guy is right that weed can affect your brain weeks after you've smoked it, but not because THC is stored in fat cells in your brain and is released and gets you high. it's because it can have long term effects on cell signaling in your brain. this would be the cloudy headed or burnt out feeling.

my brain isn't made up of fat cells (i dunno about drug guy's) - it's made of neurons and glial cells. neurons are coated with mylein which is 80% lipid or fat, but that is not a fat cell, it is an insulator of your neuron's axon fiber. neuronal membranes might even have a high lipid content compared to other cell types, but all cells have a lipid membrane. all cells have fat in them. adipocytes are fat cells, and they are probably located in drug guys fat ass or gut.


there's a bunch of science to spew at the drug guy, but i can't answer your question how long that conversion takes.

 

tell him you smoked yesterday so he better watch out cause that evil marihuana high will be coming back soon