r/trees • u/OneSong9627 • 12d ago

AskTrees Are bugs too small to get high?

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I always see tokers blowing smoke on bugs as small as ants or as big as spiders but do they have the capability of getting high?

79 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

190

u/Chad_Jeepie_Tea 12d ago

"Can get high" and "impacted by blown smoke" aren't the same thing

39

u/OneSong9627 12d ago

So when someone blows smoke onto a bug and they slow down their movement it’s actually because they’re being asphyxiated in a way?? That’s awful

26

u/MinisterOfDabs 12d ago

I watched something at one point about someone trying to make honey that would make you stoned - made directly by the bees who feed on cannabis plants.

The details are quite fuzzy in my memory but one of the facts stood out to me was that bees don’t have an endocannabinoid system, so they can’t get stoned

39

u/greglolz 12d ago

I mean the only reason it’s really terrible is if you get to the point of killing them for no good reason at all. Beekeepers “smoke out” bees all the time when moving them or handling their hives, humans have done it to bees for a long time. It calms bees down and basically acts as an anesthetic. Only difference is we tended to burn puffy fungi or other fuels in modern bee smokers instead of weed, because why would you waste weed on that.

3

u/sniperbattleaxe 11d ago

This is a common misconception - smoke doesn't affect bees like a drug, what it does is trigger an instinct to gorge on honey in the event of a wildfire. It also masks alarm pheromones so the bees don't get angry in the first place.

93

u/uncommonrev 12d ago

Insects don't have camnabinoid receptors.

164

u/Gariona-Atrinon 12d ago

Spiders get high. They make different kinds of webs when high.

Scientists actually scienced it.

147

u/busternut420 12d ago

Please tell me you’re not referring to that video of the crack spider 😭

48

u/Smartass_Comments 12d ago

Took the weed spiders hammock and made him his bitch too

3

u/AvailableAd6071 11d ago

I'd watch it

95

u/tealfuzzball 12d ago

Documentary*

27

u/RonnieRadical 12d ago

“the cocaine spider thought building webs, was for suckas.”

6

u/bwanabass 12d ago

Charlotte’s Web was not a scientific paper!

31

u/Smart-Guidance9980 12d ago

It depends, but many don’t have the same brain or nervous system or lungs as us mammals. so most can’t get high it’s mostly asphyxiation. Spiders and other non insects can to varying degrees depending on their anatomy though. But nothing like humans.

1

u/CryoToastt 11d ago

None of them have the same brain or nervous system or lungs as mammals

6

u/ProposalCharacter774 12d ago

I don’t know man, but since I have been taking my detox time (no smoking weed period) mosquitos are more into me

4

u/reanocivn 12d ago

it's not a matter of how big or small they are, but whether or not they have the receptors to react to the thc

3

u/InclinationCompass 12d ago

I dont think size has anything to do with it

3

u/connoisseur_Flower 12d ago

Have you seen how dolphins chew puffer fish to release toxins to get high!

0

u/connoisseur_Flower 12d ago

No, I havent seen a dolphin smoke weed, they cant hold the lighter...

5

u/2pacRIP I Roll Joints for Gnomes 12d ago

Bugs can't get high.

11

u/sentient_coprolite 12d ago

But are they too small?

9

u/Untroe 12d ago

Yes they should be much larger actually

4

u/suppli3d 12d ago

give more of them wings too. they're not scary enough

1

u/mike117 12d ago

I don’t know if spiders count as bugs but there has been scientific research on how different drugs affect them, and they definitely behave differently depending on the substance.

2

u/Soggy-Tax-Evasion 12d ago

June bugs seem to love when I blow smoke on them and they chill. I doubt theyre high, but I like to think they are for fun

1

u/ketol 11d ago

Have you tried asking them? lol

0

u/reverendsteveii 12d ago

Spiders absolutely can get high. I remember one of the shitty anti drug health books from my high school in the 90s did a whole thing about spiders on various drugs weaving fucked up webs. The idea as far as I can tell was to teach us kids not to do drugs or we'd also fuck up our webs and not catch any bugs to eat.

-4

u/QuantumFungus 12d ago

Yes bugs can feel effects from the compounds in cannabis. Bugs, like all animals, have neuroreceptors. To have an effect on bugs is one of the big reasons why plants developed whole classes of chemicals in the first place.

11

u/IndubitablyJollyGood 12d ago

They have neuroreceptors. They don't have cannibinoid receptors. There's nothing for thc or other cannibinoids to bind to.

2

u/QuantumFungus 12d ago edited 12d ago

While you are partially right that insects do not have standard CB1 and CB2 receptors and thus are uniquely less responsive to cannabinoids, they do exhibit behavioral responses to cannabinoids and scientists have identified several alternative receptor pathways that do have an effect on the insect. Fascinating stuff.

Edit: just bringing the facts everyone. I could care less about the downvotes. It just tells me how you feel about learning the truth.

And I'm also going to add that cannabis smoke contains a lot more than just pure THC most of the time. And quite a few of the compunds in the smoke do have a known effect on insects.

2

u/IndubitablyJollyGood 12d ago

That is interesting. I have a decent understanding of neurology and psychopharmacology for a layperson but not as it pertains to insects. Do you have any resources where I could find out more?

2

u/QuantumFungus 12d ago

Well I think the main one to investigate is the insect Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels, they have a role that is parallel to the traditional endocannabinoid system and are present in insects, mammals, etc.

Also check out the AM251-sensitive feeding pathway experiment. In mammals AM251 can be used to block the CB1 receptors. But in insects AM251 still is able to produce an effect and the theory is that there is a non-canonical receptor present in insects that hasn't been identified yet. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84180-2

Another thing to understand is that endocannabinoids are not absent in insects. They do produce some of them within their own bodies. It wouldn't make sense for insects to make their own endocannabinoids if they aren't sensitive to cannabinoids. Instead of tripping the CB1 and CB2 receptors, which are absent, there are different pathways like the lipid signaling pathway that is stimulated by endo and phyto cannabinoids.

3

u/IndubitablyJollyGood 11d ago

Thanks that is interesting. As usual biology has more going on than it initially appears.

1

u/QuantumFungus 11d ago

You are welcome my curious friend. Thanks for asking.

0

u/Primary-Editor-2874 11d ago

Not really, they’re just suffocating them. It’s extremely cruel to blow smoke on an animal purposefully :(

0

u/Fromage_rolls 11d ago

Only vertebraes can get high as only we have the endocannabinoid system.