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Does Mango Increase The Effects Of Weed?

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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Though there isn’t any hard science behind it, eating mango before smoking weed has become a thing.

The mango supposedly decreases the time it takes for THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana, to reach the brain — and increases the length and intensity of the high, according to Alternet, a liberal blog.

The chemical responsible for this is called myrcene, which also is present in lemon grass, hops, thyme and marijuana.

“On average, it takes THC seven seconds to reach the brain after inhaling. But if you eat a mango — or a mango smoothie — 90 minutes before smoking, you could potentially halve that time,” Alternet reports.

These claims are not foolproof, though. “The bad news is that orally administered myrcene is not likely to reach your bloodstream, since it’s not easy for it to be absorbed through the gut and survive liver metabolism,” Michael Backes, author of Cannabis Pharmacy: The Practical Guide to Medical Marijuana, told the DangerousMinds blog. “Plants evolved terpenes like myrcene, in part to discourage grazing animals and attract some insects and repel others. We evolved the ability not be poisoned by these terpenes, by limiting their ability to be metabolized.”

Because of this difficulty to get Mycrene in the bloodstream, other cultures have different ways of consuming it. In Morocco, for example, they frequently drink a strong lemonade mixed with black pepper before toking. The rind of the lemon contains terpenes, which is the class of compounds mycrene is part of.

Because of marijuanas legal status, there hasn’t been a lot of research into these claims: ProVerde Labs Chief Scientific Officer Christopher Hudalla told Alternet,”I don’t know the answer, and the reason we don’t know the answer is because our government, in its infinite wisdom, didn’t permit any research in this area for many years.”

Tags : marijuana
Alex Pfeiffer