A psychoactive drug is a form of chemical substances that alters the brains functions, changing things such a perception, mood and consciousness. Caffeine directly interacts with our central nervous system, this includes the brain, spinal cord and various other nerves throughout the body, with caffeine’s primary object to make you feel awake and alert. When we consume caffeine it blocks our adenosine receptors as we’ve mentioned above, this however doesn’t mean that caffeine provides us with energy, it only fools the braid into recognizing we are tired. This allows caffeine to increase ones mental and physical state, making them more energetic and productive. However, when this occurs on a regular basis a tolerance is able to develop. When our adenosine receptors become inhibited by caffeine the brain begins to create more receptors, this increase in adenosine is then picked up by the brain which actually makes us to feel more tired then we would have if we never had of consumed any caffeine in the first place. This leads to the brain to become dependent on caffeine to feel energetic and to reach functionable brain levels. When you don’t consume the regular amount of caffeine your body is accustom to you begin to go through withdrawal symptoms, these withdrawal symptoms can be severe at times and make take weeks to overcome. Symptoms such as:
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Sleepiness/drowsiness
- Difficulty concentrating
- Lack of motivation
- Irritability
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Flu-like symptoms
Along with caffeine becoming a dependence, it can also lead to overdose risks. When high doses of caffeine are consumed it can cause things such as irritability, muscle spasms, insomnia and loss of inhibitions. Caffeine has even caused death due to overdose, with the culprit being things such as caffeine pills which contain extremely high levels of caffeine. When you look at the addiction capabilities and the withdrawal symptoms it points to caffeine being a potentially dangerous and addictive substance.
While we examine cannabis vs caffeine and ask ourselves is caffeine worse than weed ? Let’s look at cannabis and its primary substance known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol, or as you may know it as THC. Our brains contain cannabinoid receptors and neurotransmitters, this is what THC interacts with when we consume cannabis. This makes THC a naturally occurring chemical, as it doesn’t directly alter one’s brain chemistry like other psychoactive drugs. When THC is consumed it binds with the our CB1 receptors which causes the feeling of being “high”, it also binds with our CB2 receptors which causes the physical effects brought on by THC and CBD such as muscle relaxation, paranoia, increase in episodic memory and a decrease in our short-term memory.
When comparing caffeine vs THC and if caffeine is worse than weed the science points towards cannabis no being a physically addictive substance, as physical addiction is classified when a drug alters your brain chemistry where a dependence occurs. This comes down to the fact that the brain is not accustomed to caffeine and is forced to compensate for the unrecognized chemical reaction. This is not the case with cannabis as the brain already receives its own cannabinoids and does not alter itself to cater to the cannabinoids consumed when using cannabis. When the cannabinoids from cannabis bind with the natural cannabinoids in our brain it is a natural chemical reaction. This is why most drug abuse institutes rate the addictions of marijuana lower then caffeine. Furthermore, because cannabis is relatively non toxic compared to other legal and illegal drugs, there has never been a recorded death of cannabis in the world, with marijuana having no capability of inducing a lethal amount for someone to overdose. This leads us to the answer that yes caffeine is worse than weed on our brain’s and body.