In an era where attitudes and laws around cannabis are rapidly evolving, our understanding of this ancient plant’s impact on the lives of frequent users remains hazy at best.
Recent research examines how getting high shapes emotions, motivation, and self-regulation among the growing population of chronic cannabis consumers.
The findings challenge long-held stereotypes while revealing both potential benefits and risks of making cannabis a regular part of one’s lifestyle.
Over 200 million people worldwide used cannabis in the past year, making it the fourth most popular recreational substance after caffeine, alcohol and tobacco.
In the U.S. and Canada, (and quite a few other countries!) tens of millions enjoy cannabis on a frequent basis. Yet remarkably little is known about what drives this use and how it affects people’s day-to-day functioning and well-being.
Historically, research has tended to pathologize cannabis use, focusing narrowly on health risks and painting users in a negative light.
Rarely have studies approached chronic use with an open and curious mindset to simply understand the experience on its own terms.
A pioneering new study fills this gap, leveraging smartphone-based experience sampling to reveal how getting high (and being a frequent user in general) shape people’s emotions, drive, and conscientiousness as they navigate everyday life.
The findings offer an unprecedented window into the real-world experience of getting high.
They challenge stereotypes while shedding light on actual benefits and drawbacks of making cannabis a frequent part of one’s routine. In doing so, the research marks an important step in society’s reexamination of this fascinating plant as outdated taboos fall away.
Cannabis and the Emotional Landscape
The results paint a revealing portrait of cannabis’s in-the-moment effects on habitual users’ emotional states. Defying prohibitionist narratives focused on anxiety, paranoia and dysphoria, the data show that getting high is an overwhelmingly positive emotional experience.
Compared to when not high, cannabis intoxication triggered substantial increases in awe, inspiration, happiness, silliness, gratitude and across-the-board rises in other positive emotions among chronic users. Fear and stress notably decreased.
Surprisingly, the “paranoid stoner” stereotype was not supported, as suspicious feelings remained unchanged.
However, a more complex picture emerged when comparing heavier users (using nearly daily) to relatively lighter users (a few times weekly).
Heavier users exhibited significantly higher trait levels of negative emotions like disgust, embarrassment and fear. While getting high still boosted positive emotions, these individuals appear to be self-medicating, using cannabis to cope with emotional distress.
The study suggests that cannabis affects in-the-moment emotions differently than it does general emotional dispositions.
Getting high appears to be a predominantly positive experience that perhaps keeps people coming back. But overuse might mask underlying emotional vulnerabilities in some frequent users.
Motivation, Effort, and the Ambitious Stoner Archetype
Equally provocative were the findings on motivation and industriousness, which also defied “lazy stoner” tropes.
Neither being high nor being a daily-level user was associated with reduced effort expenditure on challenging mental tasks.
Cannabis intoxication also did not increase apathy or dent drive to pursue goals for autonomous or rewarded reasons.
If anything, relative to mere weekly-level users, those who partake near-daily reported greater motivation in general, particularly to obtain external rewards and social approval.
Rather than draining ambition, frequent cannabis use was linked to an energized, if somewhat extrinsically-driven, motivational profile.
These results complicate prohibitionist narratives around so-called “amotivational syndrome.” Getting high doesn’t make chronic users lazy or unambitious based on their actual behavior.
Heavy users even exhibit motivational advantages, perhaps thriving on cannabis as a creative stimulant or performance-enhancer. Anybody? 🙂
The nuanced motivational profile fits an emerging archetype of the high-functioning, upwardly-mobile cannabis aficionado. Far from an unproductive burnout, this “ambitious stoner” is driven to achieve, even if relying on cannabis as a motivated coping strategy.
Society’s assumptions about the effects of frequent use on initiative and industriousness appear ripe for revision.
A More Complex View of Cannabis and Self-Regulation
Where getting high does seem to create challenges for chronic users is around facets of self-regulation and conscientiousness.
While intoxication didn’t impact subjective willpower, responsibility or industriousness, it was associated with greater state-level impulsiveness, disorganization, dishonesty and rule-defiance.
Essentially, getting high appears to relax one’s self-control and orderlines while increasing willingness to cut corners. These effects were echoed (and amplified) at the trait level, with daily users exhibiting lower self-control, willpower, and regard for rules and honesty relative to weekly users.
Frequent cannabis use, it appears, doesn’t turn people lazy or unmotivated per se. But it might chip away at certain self-regulatory and organizational skills while increasing comfort with rebelliousness and rule-bending.
Over time, this disinhibited mindset could perhaps undermine achievement in school, work and relationships despite an individual’s strong drive and work ethic.
The self-regulatory profile suggests that we might think of chronic cannabis use as inducing a sort of “ambitious disinhibition syndrome” rather than amotivation.
Heavy users are driven to achieve and not at all lazy, but their self-control, regard for order and rules, and perhaps their integrity seem to loosen over time.
Reassessing Reefer. Seeing Chronic Cannabis Use with Fresh Eyes
As cannabis consumption surges on the heels of rapidly changing laws and attitudes, this research provides timely insights into the real-life experience and implications of frequent use.
The findings paint a thought-provoking portrait that challenges dated stereotypes while revealing nuances and paradoxes.
Getting high, it appears, is a predominantly positive and not at all amotivating experience in the moment – one ripe with awe, inspiration and happiness. This hints at potential therapeutic applications while explaining the plant’s enduring popularity.
However, psychological vulnerabilities seem to emerge with overuse over time, even if users remain ambitious and driven.
Heavier consumption is linked to an emotional disposition high in negative affect and an eroding of healthy self-regulatory and organizational skills. Some heavy users may be self-medicating to modulate difficult emotions.
These insights call for a more sophisticated societal conversation around cannabis use – one that avoids stigmatizing users but encourages moderation and responsible consumption. By challenging myths, the findings can inform more accurate drug education and social attitudes.
At the same time, the research identifies actual risks of overuse, particularly around emotional coping and self-regulatory skills.
Public health messaging could highlight these nuanced impacts while avoiding hyperbole. Frequent users may benefit from guidance on responsible consumption and from resources to support mental health and self-regulation.
Ultimately, these interesting findings move us beyond outdated notions of the slacker stoner wasting their life. Instead, we see driven, if somewhat disinhibited individuals using cannabis in complex ways – for enjoyment, creative stimulation, coping and self-medication. Appreciating these nuances is key as society rethinks its relationship with the plant.
