CharlesU Farley
Well-known member
This headline certainly grabbed my attention:
"Chronic Cannabis Use in Everyday Life: Emotional, Motivational, and Self-Regulatory Effects of Frequently Getting High"
With an intro like this, "People like to get high.", I was hooked so investigated the article and this is one hell of an enlightening study.
Here's the tl;dr version for the reading impaired, because it _is_ a hell of a long read:
"...when chronic users got high, they were no more amotivated, no less motivated for extrinsic or intrinsic reasons, and no less willing to objectively push themselves. Likewise, people who get high very frequently (e.g., daily) are not less motivated dispositionally than those who also get high frequently, but relatively less frequently (e.g., weekly); if anything, they are more motivated (at least for external and introjected reasons."
Here's some selected quotes I cherry picked, because they're applicable to me and probably most of the people who participate on this forum... chronic, heavy users:
"Here, we use experience sampling to understand the effects of getting high among chronic users going about their everyday lives. Here, we repeatedly probe whether chronic cannabis users are high (or not) and then examine whether within-person changes in cannabis intoxication are related to discrete emotions and specific states of motivation and self-regulation"
My heart kind of sunk when I read this part, and it is a small sample size, but their statistical analysis is solid. To me, this is the only red flag in the whole study:
"Participants were recruited from Reddit, an online discussion board with many sub-communities or “subreddits” focused on specific interests. Participants were considered eligible if they were over 21, resided in the United States or Canada, and used cannabis at least 3 times a week for recreational but not medical purposes."
Now for the surprising part:
" Again, countering the stereotype of the lazy stoner, people who get high multiple times per day are not less motivated than those who get high multiple times per week."
" Not surprisingly, compared with not feeling high, feeling high for chronic users was associated with a host of increased positive emotions such as awe, inspiration, and gratitude, as well as reduced stress and fear at the within-person level. Interestingly, getting high was not associated with increased suspicion/paranoia among chronic users, contrary to popular depictions and even medical symptom lists."
They were quite aware of their limitations going into this:
" Our participants were recruited from online forums that cater to cannabis enthusiasts and growers, meaning our results might not generalize to novice or to less frequent users. Not only were our participants very heavy users, but they also needed to show diligence and care to complete an effortful study protocol over 7 days. It is possible, therefore, that our sample was quite conscientious and not representative of the broader population of chronic cannabis users, meaning that effects might be very different in broader samples. Furthermore, as our study did not compare cannabis users to nonusers, or even frequent to infrequent users, our analyses can only speak to the experience of chronic cannabis use."
All those people who think of the classic stoner "Spicoli" in Fast Times at Ridgemont High never stop and think about Carl Sagan and Anne Duryun, discussing time travel and space exploration, while enjoying a joint at home after a hard day's night.
I will add to Bib when I can.
-SamS
"Chronic Cannabis Use in Everyday Life: Emotional, Motivational, and Self-Regulatory Effects of Frequently Getting High"
With an intro like this, "People like to get high.", I was hooked so investigated the article and this is one hell of an enlightening study.
Here's the tl;dr version for the reading impaired, because it _is_ a hell of a long read:
"...when chronic users got high, they were no more amotivated, no less motivated for extrinsic or intrinsic reasons, and no less willing to objectively push themselves. Likewise, people who get high very frequently (e.g., daily) are not less motivated dispositionally than those who also get high frequently, but relatively less frequently (e.g., weekly); if anything, they are more motivated (at least for external and introjected reasons."
Here's some selected quotes I cherry picked, because they're applicable to me and probably most of the people who participate on this forum... chronic, heavy users:
"Here, we use experience sampling to understand the effects of getting high among chronic users going about their everyday lives. Here, we repeatedly probe whether chronic cannabis users are high (or not) and then examine whether within-person changes in cannabis intoxication are related to discrete emotions and specific states of motivation and self-regulation"
My heart kind of sunk when I read this part, and it is a small sample size, but their statistical analysis is solid. To me, this is the only red flag in the whole study:
"Participants were recruited from Reddit, an online discussion board with many sub-communities or “subreddits” focused on specific interests. Participants were considered eligible if they were over 21, resided in the United States or Canada, and used cannabis at least 3 times a week for recreational but not medical purposes."
Now for the surprising part:
" Again, countering the stereotype of the lazy stoner, people who get high multiple times per day are not less motivated than those who get high multiple times per week."
" Not surprisingly, compared with not feeling high, feeling high for chronic users was associated with a host of increased positive emotions such as awe, inspiration, and gratitude, as well as reduced stress and fear at the within-person level. Interestingly, getting high was not associated with increased suspicion/paranoia among chronic users, contrary to popular depictions and even medical symptom lists."
They were quite aware of their limitations going into this:
" Our participants were recruited from online forums that cater to cannabis enthusiasts and growers, meaning our results might not generalize to novice or to less frequent users. Not only were our participants very heavy users, but they also needed to show diligence and care to complete an effortful study protocol over 7 days. It is possible, therefore, that our sample was quite conscientious and not representative of the broader population of chronic cannabis users, meaning that effects might be very different in broader samples. Furthermore, as our study did not compare cannabis users to nonusers, or even frequent to infrequent users, our analyses can only speak to the experience of chronic cannabis use."
All those people who think of the classic stoner "Spicoli" in Fast Times at Ridgemont High never stop and think about Carl Sagan and Anne Duryun, discussing time travel and space exploration, while enjoying a joint at home after a hard day's night.
I will add to Bib when I can.
-SamS
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