In the culture war over weed, the pot-prohibitionists tend to portray the typical marijuana user as an apathetic slacker. Members of Congress who are opposed to marijuana legalization continually trot out the “lazy pothead” trope, to warn that the commercialization of cannabis is a threat to the nation’s moral fiber.

A poster boy for the stoner stereotype is Jeff Spicoli (played by Sean Penn) in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Another popular image of the spaced-out marijuana-addled doofus is “The Dude” (played by Jeff Bridges) in The Big Lebowski. And then, of course, there’s the entire oeuvre of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong.

Well, yet another scientific study has exploded this myth.

Recently released research in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology found that there’s no difference in apathy or reward-based behavior between people who use cannabis on at least a weekly basis and non-users. In fact, frequent marijuana users actually find more pleasure in life’s tasks than those who don’t partake.

The research looked at clinical data on 274 adults and adolescents who reported using cannabis 1-7 times per week over a three-month period.

The researchers at the University of Cambridge and University College London reported:

“Our results suggest that cannabis use at a frequency of three to four days per week is not associated with apathy, effort-based decision-making for reward, reward wanting, or reward liking in adults or adolescents. Cannabis users had lower anhedonia than controls, albeit at a small effect size” (see chart).

Sources: University of Cambridge, University College London

Researchers measured these psychological yardsticks in marijuana users: “anhedonia” (the inability to experience pleasure); apathy; reward-based motivation; and general reward responses. Their results were compared to a control group of those who abstained from pot.

Results showed that cannabis users were better able to experience pleasure, regardless of the frequency of use, and there was no statistically significant difference between the groups when it came to apathy.

“We were surprised to see that there was really very little difference between cannabis users and non-users when it came to lack of motivation or lack of enjoyment, even among those who used cannabis every day,” Martine Skumlien of the University of Cambridge stated in a press release. “This is contrary to the stereotypical portrayal we see on TV and in movies.”

As part of the study, roughly half of the participants were instructed to perform several behavioral tasks, such as pressing buttons to earn candy. That experiment involved three difficulty levels, and then the participants were asked to rate how much they wanted the rewards. There was no difference in behavior between marijuana users and the control group.

“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,” Skumlien said. “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.”

The researchers also found that young people aren’t at greater risk of potential negative effects of marijuana than adults.

Confirmed by other studies…

The report is confirmed by a substantial body of previous scientific evidence.

A landmark biennial report released in 2020 by Colorado state officials found that youth marijuana use in the state “has not significantly changed since legalization” in 2012.

The Healthy Kids Colorado Survey showed that 20.6% of high school students and 5.2% of middle school students reported past 30 day cannabis consumption in 2019. For the high school category, that’s 1.2 percentage points higher compared to the most recent biennial survey in 2017, but it’s still lower than the last pre-legalization report in 2011, when that group’s consumption rate was 22%.

There was no change for the middle school group from 2017 to 2019, but past 30 day use was lower than the 2011 pre-legalization rate of 6.3%.

Colorado health officials surveyed more than 100,000 students in 503 public schools in 59 Colorado counties, from 2005-2019.

In a study released July 2019, researchers from Montana State University, University of Oregon, University of Colorado–Denver, and San Diego State University scrutinized states that had legalized marijuana for recreational or medical use and the likelihood of marijuana use in the previous 30 days among high school students.

The study used data from national and state Youth Risk Behavior Surveys from 1993 to 2017. The data was collected from 27 states and the District of Columbia, where medical marijuana has been legalized, and seven states where recreational marijuana has been legalized.

The study found that recreational marijuana laws were associated with an 8% decrease in the likelihood of teens trying marijuana as well as a 9% reduction in the odds of frequent marijuana use. At the same time, medical marijuana laws had no noticeable effect on marijuana use among teens. To reiterate, marijuana legalization resulted in a decrease, not an increase, of pot use among kids.

Pot prohibition is doomed…

As I’ve just explained, cannabis prohibition is neither logical nor sustainable. Prohibiting alcohol in the 1920s made no sense; you can say the same about banning marijuana in the 2020s.

More and more states are lifting restrictions against cannabis; it’s only a matter of time before it happens on the federal level.

Major bills are pending in Congress to “de-schedule” marijuana. And when that happens, the marijuana industry will explode on the upside. Cannabis is on the cusp of becoming a $230 billion juggernaut.

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