High-ly Unmotivated

Weed makes you lazy.

This is hardly earth-shattering information. Those who’ve smoked and been around marijuana for generations will tell you this is one of the reasons they enjoy it.

“The rats could still do the task. They just didn’t want to,” said a researcher on the cognitive effects of marijuana.

But as society consistently hears being high is no big deal — and as advocates push for legalization of what remains a Schedule I drug — the American public really ought to be concerned about the domino effect that marijuana will have on our country.

A new study from the University of British Columbia suggests there is some scientific truth to the belief that marijuana use causes laziness, at least in rats. Published last week in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, the study found that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, makes rats less willing to try a cognitively demanding task.

“Perhaps unsurprisingly, we found that when we gave THC to these rats, they basically became cognitively lazy,” Mason Silveira, the study’s lead author and a Ph.D. candidate in UBC’s psychology department, said in a statement. “What’s interesting, however, is that their ability to do the difficult challenge was unaffected by THC. The rats could still do the task. They just didn’t want to.”

Related: The Heavy Price of Persistent Pot Smoking

Researchers looked at the effects of both THC and cannabidiol (CBD) on rats’ willingness to exert cognitive effort. They trained 29 rats to perform a behavioral experiment: The animals had to choose whether they wanted an easy or difficult challenge to earn sugary treats.

[lz_bulleted_list title=”Marijuana Use in U.S.” source=”http://www.gallup.com”]13% of adults used it in 2016|That’s up from 7% from 2013|43% of U.S. adults have tried it|4 states have legalized recreational use|25 states allow medicinal use|5 states will vote in Nov. on whether to legalize marijuana[/lz_bulleted_list]

Under normal circumstances, most rats preferred the harder challenge to earn a bigger reward.

But given the THC, the animals switched to the easier option — despite earning a smaller reward.

“This research reflects so much of what we hear from parents all over the country: The potential of kids who use a lot of marijuana is robbed,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM Action), a non-profit dedicated to defeating recreational pot initiatives.

“A lot of parents are surprised because they went through the Woodstock era unscathed,” added Sabet, who is also director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida. “But what they don’t realize is that today’s marijuana is almost like a completely different substance than what they may have tried. [New] techniques have pushed up potency, and now with the candies, sodas, and ice creams infused with THC, it is a totally different marketplace.”

“Whether you’re 14 or 23, marijuana can damage the developing brain and sap motivation,” said one expert.

He also said, “There is an industry that is openly pushing for the widespread use of marijuana. And whether you’re 14 or 23, marijuana can damage the developing brain and sap motivation.”

The effect of CBD, an ingredient in marijuana that does not result in a high, did not have any effect on rats’ decision-making or attention in the new study. CBD, believed to be beneficial in treating pain, epilepsy, and even cancer, also didn’t block the negative effects of THC.

“This was surprising, as it had been suggested that high concentrations of CBD could modulate or reduce the negative effects of THC,” said Catharine Winstanley, senior author of the study and an associate professor in UBC’s department of psychology. “Unfortunately, that did not appear to be the case.”

Given that people need to be willing to exert cognitive effort in order to achieve success, Winstanley said the findings underscore the importance of realizing the possible effect of cannabis use on impairing willingness to engage in harder tasks.

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The findings also highlight a need for more research to determine what THC does to the human brain to alter decision-making, the researchers said.