New research shows that people who use weed are no more likely to be unmotivated compared to people who don’t.
The lazy stoner stereotype has long been the go-to depiction of people who use cannabis in mainstream media and a pillar of anti-drug campaigns worldwide. But a new study suggests that the representation of people who use weed as lazy and unmotivated might be lazy in itself.
The study, led by scientists at the University of Cambridge, University College London, and King’s College London, and published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology last month, examined whether people who use cannabis show higher levels of apathy (loss of motivation) and anhedonia (loss of interest in or pleasure from rewards) compared to people who don’t use cannabis, and whether they were less willing to exert physical effort to receive a reward.
“We’re so used to seeing ‘lazy stoners’ on our screens that we don’t stop to ask whether they’re an accurate representation of cannabis users. Our work implies that this is in itself a lazy stereotype, and that people who use cannabis are no more likely to lack motivation or be lazier than people who don’t,” Martine Skumlien, one of the authors of the study, said.
Cannabis may of course be associated with other psychophysical effects, depending on things like the strain of the plant as well as the unique characteristics of the person using it. But a better understanding of what cannabis does and does not do can lead to a better understanding of the people who use it, and better ways to talk about the plant in general. (vice.com) Full Story