Cannabis Use Not Linked To So-Called "Amotivational Syndrome"

[Urdedpal]

Cannabis use, including daily use of the drug, does not impair motivation, according to survey data published in the current issue of the journal Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy.

Four hundred and eighty seven volunteers (243 daily users and 244 non-users) completed items from the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES). Participants responded to 12 statements regarding their own feelings of motivation on a four-point scale (e.g. Not at all; Slightly; Somewhat; Very much). Researchers have successfully used similar measures of apathy in previous studies of substance abuse and motivation.

"Participants who used cannabis seven days a week demonstrated no difference from non-cannabis users on indices of motivation," investigators found.

After quantifying subjects' responses through advanced statistical procedures designed to identify even slight differences between users and non-users, researchers still did not detect any decreases in motivation among daily users of cannabis.

"These findings refute hypothesized associations between heavy cannabis use and low motivation," authors concluded. "Thus, emphasizing a cannabis-induced amotivational syndrome in drug prevention does not have empirical support and could harm the credibility of ... [drug] prevention efforts."

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the study, "Cannabis, motivation, and life satisfaction in an internet sample," is available online at: Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy | Home page

Cannabis Use Not Linked To So-Called "Amotivational Syndrome" - NORML
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy | Home page

 

[scorpdahoodlum]

great post-already new but a good thing to see at the start of the day

 

[HappyOneHit]

Everyday I see pot in science news its usually positive, the only negatives I've ever seen deal with busts and so called "criminals". Occasionally I see the moron who asks the police for pot but in every village there has to be one idiot.

 

[IshmarRodriguez]

Marijuana smokers have known this since day 1. This is one of the things that people learned from propaganda videos. That if you smoke marijuana you will become boring and lifeless.

However, even after this study people will still quote amotivation in anti-marijuana debates. That's the power of propganda injected into our minds for since childhood.

I even read some articles of marijuana activists saying that amotivation is true. These people are pro-legalization, but still succumb to the brainwashing tactics that our goverment has imposed on us since TV\Radio\Newspaper was invented.

 

[alanwatts420]

Marijuana.......Assasin of Youth!
Doesn't my sig say it all?