Cannabis reduces short-term motivation to work for money: study

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-09-cannabis-short-term-money.html

Smoking the equivalent of a single 'spliff' of cannabis makes people less willing to work for money while 'high', finds a new UCL study.

The research, published in Psychopharmacology, is the first to reliably demonstrate the short-term effects of cannabis on motivation in humans. The researchers also tested motivation in people who were addicted to cannabis but not high during the test, and found that their motivation levels were no different to volunteers in the control group.

"Although cannabis is commonly thought to reduce motivation, this is the first time it has been reliably tested and quantified using an appropriate sample size and methodology," says lead author Dr Will Lawn (UCL Clinical Psychopharmacology). "It has also been proposed that long-term cannabis users might also have problems with motivation even when they are not high. However, we compared people dependent on cannabis to similar controls, when neither group was intoxicated, and did not find a difference in motivation. This tentatively suggests that long-term cannabis use may not result in residual motivation problems when people stop using it. However, longitudinal research is needed to provide more conclusive evidence."

[dhill926]

1. whatever....

[NCTraveler]

2. .

[Iggo]

11. Perfect.

[unblock]

3. you couldn't pay me enough to participate in a study like that, man....

[jonno99]

4. Another study? I thought the science was settled on this decades ago. nt

[HassleCat]

5. They did not really need the study.

Just a good opportunity for some people to get high. Hope they had a big supply of guacamole and corn chips.

[jonno99]

6. No Doubt. And just to be clear, I'm not saying I'd have turned down being a participant -

as long as I was adequately compensated for my lack motivation in the weeks following...

[Major Nikon]

7. ...

[tymorial]

8. And alcohol makes you think it is a good idea to test the strength of a combat helmet

By having your buddy hit you over the head with various heavy objects in your dorm room.

Study panel:. 1

Year:. 1998

Result:. That was one sturdy helmet!

[hunter]

21. Yeah, I've participated in studies like that!

Some of the "officially sanctioned" too.

[CentralMass]

9. I'd like to read it but it is too much work right now ;')

[nolabear]

10. Well if they had money they'd just spend it on pot.

Note: "Hoever, longitudinal research is needed to provide more conclusive evidence." Uh-huh.

[melman]

12. That's okay because..

[img][/img]

[Throd]

13. As a former "wake-n-baker" there is some truth to that.

[Egnever]

14. No doubt

but is that a bad thing?

I would argue that our society is entirely too consumed with money and in fact is harming itself in many ways with the constant drive to make more.

Things like http://www.cbsnews.com/news/by-the-numbers-the-american-vacation/

I would argue that is harmful in the extreme for our society as a whole and contributes to many people snapping in one way or another from the stress of trying to maintain that level of productivity.

I would love to see a study that compared the stress levels of people who do and don't smoke.

[aikoaiko]

15. Cue the Afroman video of "...but I got high"

I was ready to go to work, but I got high.
I was ready to go to work, but I got high.
Then I said whatever and I know why. Why?
Cause I got high. Cause I got high. Cause I got high.
Ratatatatada.


More seriously, I used to love that video but the police beating part is no longer easy to ignore because of BLM.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

30. Love that song. n/t

[hunter]

16. Good.

This thing we call "economic productivity" is a direct measure of the damage we are doing to the natural environment and our own human spirit.

In the "developed" nations most work is bullshit that does not make the world a better place.

We ought to be paying people to discover comfortable low energy lifestyles, not discouraging them with very real threats of homelessness and starvation.

Anything that requires the use of fossil fuels is killing the natural environments that we humans evolved in, and this is increasing human migrations away from regions that become less habitable.

Some of these climate change refugees will be U.S. citizens. Historically the U.S. response to internal refugee problems has not been positive. "Okie" was not a term of endearment.

Personally, I don't have anything to do with cannabis, it's not a drug that's helpful for any of my mental health issues, but I also think criminalizing cannabis is stupid and harmful.

If people want to smoke a bit when they get home from their crappy, frustrating jobs, what's the harm in it? And denying cannabis from people for whom it's an effective medication is simply evil. Recreational use is really no different than a pint or two of beer, and probably less dangerous than alcohol, especially for people who have trouble limiting their alcohol intake.

The entire "war on drugs" is harmful. Addicts ought to be treated just like anyone else with a chronic health problem. Addiction rates seem to be pretty consistent with or without punitive laws prohibiting certain drugs. Punitive laws make drug use more dangerous and funds dangerous gangs.

Our own U.S. DEA is, in effect, a price support agency for dangerous street drugs, removing the competition for the biggest, baddest, deadliest gangs who are able to buy some amount of "protection" from corrupt officials.

[TheSarcastinator]

35. +420

Your first sentence is the most honest and accurate thing I have read today. Well said, hunter.

[struggle4progress]

17. Freewheelin Franklin already told us

[Calculating]

18. They needed a study for this?

Smoking weed causes you to lose motivation to work and study while you're high. Big shocker. Of course, it's totally fine if you do what responsible cannabis users do and only get high after the work and study are done. If you smoke a big bowl every morning you obviously might not get much done.

[NightWatcher]

19. Sounds like they tested with Indica and not Sativa

Damn amateurs

[hunter]

22. Not correct in my personal early 'eighties experience.

Paranoia vs. anxiety, they are both bad things.

[NightWatcher]

23. All I do is an 80/20 indica hybrid in the evening

I never get the paranoia or anxiety.

[hunter]

29. It's all chemistry.

Everyone is unique.

[Wounded Bear]

20. Yeah, but...it boosts revenue at your local Taco Truck.

[LittleDuckie]

24. Duh.

Source: neighborhood pothead.

[lindysalsagal]

25. And in related news, water is wet, the earth is round.

The sky is blue, and potheads are escaping reality.

Why else would they burn the brain cells?

[Calculating]

27. Burn brain cells?

Not sure if serious....

[wildbilln864]

32. actually it's been scientifically shown...

to initiate and increase brain cell growth.

[Iggo]

26. Man!!! I gotta get me some study money! (n/t)

[spanone]

28. reefer madness continues.....

[krispos42]

31. So does a good round of sex.

Or a good meal.

Is this institute part of the N.S. Sherlock Academy?

[dilby]

33. Why would I work if you are going to give me free weed?

Seriously, I could do a study that proves Money makes you less likely to work. Let's take 10 people give each a million dollars and see which ones show up the next day for work. And that study would probably be cheaper than what they spent on this weed study.

[TheSarcastinator]

34. I don't want to work for $$$ when I'm having an orgasm, either

But that doesn't mean that orgasms are harmful and should be made illegal, thank Buddha, nor does it mean that I am "addicted" to having them.


On edit: I believe Bill Hicks accurately measured this phenomenon decades ago:

[bemildred]

36. "Cannabis fights greed!" nt

[The Sushi Bandit]

37. Sorry but i forgot what i was going to say...

at least i'm not at work!

[tenderfoot]

38. LOL

eom

[WestCoastLib]

39. I'm pretty sure this is true for any recreational activity

The "while high" part of this makes this entirely pointless. Of course people who are high don't feel like working.

The same is true if I'm doing any recreational activity. I don't want to work while I'm at a movie. I don't want to work while I'm playing a game. I don't want to work while I'm reading a book, or having sex, or taking a nap or watching TV either.

[Warren DeMontague]

40. "I got high and I no longer wanted to work at my boring, soul-deadening office job!"

"I got high and all of a sudden I didn't feel like serving in the army and killing people anymore!"

"I got high and decided my religion was hypocritical and absurd, so I stopped getting up early on Sunday to go to church"


Clearly, this substance is a menace.

[bhikkhu]

41. As one who works very hard for money, I can say it has its downside

and I don't mind that everyone doesn't chose the same path. Not everyone should have to work for a wage. When I was younger I struggled over that, being artistically inclined and emotional over many issues, but I chose my path. I don't mind that other choose a different path, and I don't even mind if some of my hard-earned dollars trend their way to support them in their own way.