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Cannabinoids and the Brain
Linda A. Parker
The MIT Press, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-2620-3579-8 |
Given the social and political changes that are occurring in many countries and the slow acceptance of marijuana as a recreational drug, this tome comes at a very opportune moment. Here the reader can glimpse the current state of our knowledge respecting the neurophysiological effects of cannabinoids, mainly the active compounds THC and CBD. A word of caution to the casual reader though. This publication is an expansion of a technical review [Mechoulam R. & Parker, L.A. (2013). The endocannabinoid system and the brain. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 64: 21-47] and it reads as such. Notably, the author is still making many assumptions about the reader’s background knowledge in cell and molecular biology, genetics and animal model systems. Additionally, although modified make this more palatable as a “book”, in the end we get less of a cohesive narrative and more of a series of disjointed chapters that can be read independently from each other. Indeed the introductions of each chapter contain redundant background information, which becomes irritating when reading the book cover to cover. Nevertheless, here you will find a great starting point to get your bearings on the subject matter, including the current limits of our knowledge. Of particular interest to young students and future investigators would be chapter 12 (“Where do we go from here?”) as it poses a series of important and provocative questions that need to be answered moving forward; the kinds of things that someone might want to build a career around.
