Regular Cannabis Use Has Unexpected Effect On Creativity:

Studies tested how cannabis use affects creativity, error detection and neurotransmitters.

Regular cannabis users are worse at creative thinking, new research concludes.

They also find it harder to spot their own mistakes.

The conclusions come from a series of studies carried out by psychologist Mikael Kowal.

Poor at brainstorming

One of the studies tested people’s brainstorming abilities.

It showed that regular cannabis users performed worse.

Mr Kowal said:

“There is a widespread belief among users that these drugs enhance creativity.

This experiment disproves that belief.”

Another study tested how good people were at detecting their own mistakes.

Again, regular cannabis users performed poorly.

Mr Kowal said:

“It is important that we gather more knowledge about the effects of cannabis on a person’s ability to detect mistakes.

This can help with putting together a treatment programme for drug addiction.”

Dopamine disruption

In the long-term cannabis disrupts the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

One sign of this is that regular users blink significantly less than non-users.

Mr Kowal concluded:

“More research is needed on the effects of cannabis and on the individual consequences it can have on mental functions.”