Admission: I was a hippie (well, a semi-hippie). In the early 1970s I lived in my van, hitchhiked around and asked people on the street, "Do you have a place we can crash?"

I still clearly remember a time I was hitchhiking with a boyfriend. A guy picked us up and we smoked a joint. As we were riding along, this guy said, "Isn't this cool? We're sitting here together like we've been friends for years."

It was true. There was no feeling of nervousness, anxiety or constraint with this stranger.

I've often thought that marijuana, at its best, activated the oxytocin system. Here's research showing  that that is the case. A study by Daniele Piomelli, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, found that -- in mice -- " it is social interaction between mice plus oxytocin—the hormone involved in social bonding—that drive cannabinoid activity in the animals’ brains."

According to the article,

The finding may also point to a possible treatment for autism spectrum disorders, which can involve social-interaction difficulties. (The team initially homed in on the interaction of oxytocin and anandamide (an endocannabinoid) while studying autism mouse model of autism.)

I'm not sure this would necessarily work for people on the spectrum, nor for those who experience social anxiety. Although my experience in that car was very positive, marijuana more often than not makes me feel paranoid and more anxious around other people. There might be something different in my brain that inhibits the pleasant social effect.

Read the article in The Scientist here.