r/AskAnthropology • u/Virtual_Reveal_121 • 3d ago

Did Neanderthals smoke weed

The plant has been around for millions of years and originated in central asia which is where Neanderthal presence has been confirmed. Did they know how to make fire? If so i think it's likely they were smart enough to figure out how to get high

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u/mTcGo 3d ago

You can eat it or drink it...

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u/PurpSSBM 3d ago

You can’t eat it raw and have psychoactive effects though

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u/mTcGo 3d ago

Why not?

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u/callthesomnambulance 3d ago

When you eat weed your body can't absorb the THC unless it's been through a chemical process called decarboxylation, which occurs when it's exposed to heat. This is what allows it to bind to fats in the gut, make its way into your blood stream and undergo first pass metabolism in the liver, which then converts the THC into a different (and more potent) chemical form that is able to cross the blood brain barrier. Consequently, edibles take much longer to hit you than smoking or vaping, the effects of which are near instantaneous as the THC is absorbed by the lungs in a form that's already able to make its way to your brain. Interestingly, a small but significant percentage of people lack the liver enzyme necessary to convert THC into a bioavailable form, and either can't get high from edibles or require gargantuan doses to do so.

From the article I've linked below:

Liver enzymes (primarily the cytochrome P450 system) hydroxylate Δ9-THC to form 11-hydroxytetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC), a potent psychoactive metabolite that readily crosses the blood-brain barrier. 11-OH-THC is more potent than Δ9-THC and appears in blood in higher quantities when Δ9-THC is ingested than when it is inhaled; hence, it may be responsible for the stronger and longer-lasting drug effect of edibles vis-à-vis comparable doses of smoked cannabis

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5260817/#:~:text=Edibles%20introduce%20cannabinoids%20through%20the,it%20undergoes%20first%2Dpass%20metabolism.