Can cannabis make people nicer?
Can using cannabis make people nicer?
It might. Or nicer people may be more likely to use cannabis. Either way, there's some evidence of a correlation.
A study published last month in Scientific Reports shows an association between cannabis use and prosocial behavior such as empathy, harmlessness, fairness, and agreeableness.
The study tested 146 college students' urine samples, in New Mexico, and found about half of them tested positive for THC. They then administered a series of seven questionnaires to all the students, designed to measure prosocial behavior in each group, the users and non-users.
The cannabis users scored higher on 'moral fairness,' 'moral harmlessness,' and empathy quotient.' Female cannabis users scored higher on 'aggression.' Male users scored higher on 'agreeableness.'
Cannabis users also scored lower on 'in group loyalty.'
If you're interested in reading the study and seeing the data for yourself, it's located here.
There's also an excellent article on ProjectCBD that explains the Scientific Reports study as well a few others that explore adjacent topics, including one on animal studies.