Searching for a Blunt Analysis: Cannabis Use, Personality & Addiction

For years, marijuana has been recognized as the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S. Across the country, there is a trend for legalization, with 29 states allowing medical and eight states allowing recreational use.

With the recent mass legalization of marijuana, have people’s perceptions changed on the illicit status of marijuana? If so, are people who would have never used marijuana before using now?

With the legalization of marijuana there has come a boom in product development. There are tons of product categories—flowers, topicals, drinks, edibles, blunts, shatter, dabbing, tinctures, keif, phoenix tears, vapes and so on. Someone who might not have been “down” with smoking flowers might love the idea of edibles or spicing up his or her sex-life with lubes. Has the development of new product types drawn in new types of users?

The burning question is that with all the changes in marijuana legalization and new product types, are there new types of users? Have decades-old beliefs, personality types and motivations for marijuana use been blown away?

What about strain preferences—sativa, indica, hybrids? Marijuana is a complicated substance, containing dozens of chemicals. The two most discussed are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), to which the psychological effects of marijuana are attributed, and cannabidiol (CBD), to which some of the medicinal effects are attributed.

With new strain development has come a big push to increase levels of THC in products. In the 1980s, THC level averaged around three percent; in 2012, the THC levels averaged 12 percent. Now, THC levels can reach 45 percent and above. Has the rising level of THC changed how many people use pot, or influenced why people use it?

Our knowledge on marijuana users’ personality types and motivations for use needs to be updated. And to ensure that users have the information they need, researchers need to assess risk levels of marijuana abuse. Please help answer these pertinent questions by participating in this groundbreaking study.

Deborah Daugherty, B.A. and Katherine G. Hill, Ph.D. in the Department of Psychology at Metropolitan State University in Denver are conducting a study looking at personality traits associated with medicinal and recreational marijuana use.

Contributors will be asked to complete surveys about what types of cannabis products they use and why. All information is anonymous.

To be eligible for participation, you must be at least 18 years old. Approximate completion time is 15-30 minutes. If you have any questions regarding the survey, please contact Hill via email khill26@msudenver.edu or by phone 303-556-3089.

If you are interested, please click HERE.