From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Wed Feb 04 1998 - 06:30:15 MST
=- deluxe -= <jeff@ultraviolet.com> writes:
> As a neural scientist, what does hemp do that causes dehydration?
> Ever heard of cotton mouth??
It seems to have various peripheral autonomoic effects, but they do
not follow an obvious pattern (we simply don't know enough about how
the cannabinoids act in the relevant parts of the brain; I would bet
parts of the hypothalamus get modulated by them). The main effects are
tachycardia (the heart beats faster), vasodilation, reduction of
ocular pressure and bronchodilation. The last could probably explain a
bit of why people dry out; it is also possible that dry mouth is
simply another result of the sympathetic activity that also causes the
tachycardia. I would also not rule out the effect of smoking itself.
> Are there herbal supplements that I can eat which would help
> combat that effect??
I'm not sure I'm competent enough in pharmacology to suggest any, it
is not a clear-cut case of sympathetic arousal (in that case it would
have been easy). Cannabis is a rather atypical psychotropic drug.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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