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No cannabis link to ?Amotivational Syndrome? |
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Written by Paul Armentano
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Thursday, 30 March 2006 |
Study: Cannabis users prove just as motivated as anyone else
Cannabis use — including daily use of the herb — does not impair
motivation, according to survey data published in the current issue of
the Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy journal, online
at www.substanceabusepolicy.com.
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.”
The full text of the study, “Cannabis, motivation, and life satisfaction in an internet sample,” is available online at: www.substanceabusepolicy.com
* Armentano is Senior Policy Analyst at the NORML, 202-483-5500.
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Paul Armentano |
| About the author: |
| Paul Armentano, 28, has been writing on drug policy, film, health reform, and other issues since 1994. His writing resume includes more than 120 published articles in textbooks, academic journals, newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet. His most recent short story, "Reflections of a Hitchhiker," is featured in the collection, Where The Road Leads (Chapbooks for Learning, 1999). |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 August 2006 )
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