Alexander Kobulnicky

THC
14” x 24”
2009
Acrylic on canvas
$600

THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the main psychoactive constituent of marijuana. Although several other compounds have been found in marijuana that contribute to its effects, including cannabidiol, cannabinol, and 63 known others, THC is by far the most famous, and is the only cannabinoid to be be produced synthetically, and marketed as the pharmaceutical Marinol, prescribed for nausea and appetite loss in AIDS patients.

Unlike the vast majority of plant-based drugs, THC and other cannabinoids are not alkaloids, containing no nitrogen groups. Coupled with its terpenoid structure, this makes THC insoluble in water, but very well soluble in fat, and accounts for the popularity of preparations that cook marijuana in butter, a technique known since ancient times in India, and continued in the “haschich fudge” of Alice B. Toklas.

THC acts on the cannabinoid receptors in the brain, which are involved in pain response, appetite, and short-term memory. So closely are the compounds in marijuana associated with the brain’s cannabinoid system that they were for a long time the only compounds known to be involved with it. Although it was long suspected to exist, only in 1992 did researchers discover the neurotransmitter, anadamide, that activates cannabinoid receptors.

These molecules are rendered as space-filling models, in a natural, low-energy conformation, and displayed from an angle that shows off as much of their structure as possible. The atoms are color-coded, with carbon being black, hydrogen white, and oxygen red. They are painted in artist-quality acrylics, on gessoed canvas