If you have ever lit up a joint and craved a snack soon afterwards, you were probably experiencing the “munchies”. Stimulating appetite is one of marijuana’s best-known and most puzzling side effects. But why does weed make you want to chow down?

The psychoactive compound in cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is what gets users high. However, THC also spikes our appetite by tapping into the body’s endocannabinoid system, a complex cell signalling network that controls everything from emotion and sleep to …