Though cannabis has been used, for pain or pleasure, for over 4000 years, only lately have we learned, first, what makes it work and, more recently, how. Unraveling the mystery of the human brain’s special relationship with a psychoactive chemical derived from a plant—tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, specifically—neuroscientist Linda Parker recounts the discovery of the brain’s own THC, called endocannabinoids, and describes the remarkable brain chemical system this discovery revealed.

In expert yet accessible terms, Cannabinoids explains what we know about this system, how it functions, and how it interacts with the plant materials in cannabis. Parker explores the role of the endocannabinoid system in regulating emotion, anxiety, depression, psychosis, learning, memory, feeding, nausea, pain, epilepsy, and neurological disorders—as well as, naturally, the brain’s reward system. Examining the link between anecdotal reports and the current scientific literature, the book offers a balanced presentation of the scientific evidence for the medicinal use of marijuana, providing a timely intervention in ongoing debates about cannabis’s medicinal value and its legal status.