Cannabis Sensei

HIGHly Opinionated: Let’s Debunk The “Lazy Stoner” Myth

Blog · By Arkady Kats · Updated · 5 min read

Contents

Weed doesn’t make you lazy, being lazy makes you lazy.

I’m sure you remember all those times when your high school teacher would bring up somebody like a cop or a psychologist to the front of the class so they can explain to you that smoking weed is basically the same as taking heroin.

Ok, maybe not that far, but the whole “cannabis is a gateway drug, you will become a full-on drug addict if you smoke weed, you will fail drug tests, lose motivation and basically completely fail at life and even somehow end up in jail” speech is what I’m referring to.

Well, fast-forward to 2020, cannabis is now mainstream, and everybody and their grandma is now either using some CBD cream, eating edibles, or even dabbing! Would you believe me if I tell you that a human being can lack motivation, inspiration, determination, dedication, or any other “ation” without having smoked a joint or consumed cannabis at all their ENTIRE life?

Well, as mainstream as it is, it seems like the “lazy stoner” stigma hasn’t really left. That’s not all; bringing up using cannabis in a conversation can STILL be awkward, depending on who you speak to. But discussing how you’re up to 4 bottles of wine per week just to “keep you going” is completely fine because alcohol doesn’t make you lazy?

I don’t know about you, but when there’s a hangover involved, ALL productivity and plans go out the window completely, there is no motivation whatsoever, and I pretty much become as useful as Donald Trump’s comb. There has NEVER been a time where smoking any amount of cannabis made me completely useless to the world. Don’t get me wrong, we all lose motivation sometimes, we all have lazy days, even my non-cannabis-smoking friends.

Let’s talk about AMS (Amotivational Syndrome)

What is it? Well as the name itself points out, it is a complete and consistent lack of motivation. Someone that struggles with AMS usually has trouble finding meaning in their lives and their actions. Because of that, they find it quite difficult to keep up with their responsibilities and relationships (source).

Some older research linked frequent marijuana use to AMS symptoms, but it isn’t clear, because non-users also have those symptoms. A 2023 study of 274 adults and teens found that people who used cannabis 1 to 7 days a week weren’t more apathetic than non-users; in fact, the non-users scored slightly higher on anhedonia.

alarm clock, woman sleeping

According to Dr. George Simon, “Amotivational Syndrome doesn’t necessarily go hand in hand with chronic marijuana use, but it does appear to be associated with the use of reliable, easily accessible sources of instantaneous gratification”. He goes on to explain that even though some of the AMS-afflicted individuals that he’s worked with were heavy, every-day cannabis users, many were not.

Some weren’t even substance users or abusers, it wasn’t about the substance itself, but about an addiction of some sort. People with AMS tended to be addicted to specific activities that provided IMMEDIATE (very important here) relief from stress or tension, and experience pleasure right away. (whether that’s video games, porn or anything else)

Dr. Simon also states that in each individual case that he studied, the individuals seems to have lost the motivation to persist in certain situations in life that offer milder, and way more delayed “rewards”. They’ve basically become dependant on more reliable and way faster gratification that they didn’t care about pursuing longer “routes to satisfaction”.That brings me to my next point.

EVERYTHING in moderation (yup, even weed)

Let’s all be honest with ourselves for a minute, if you smoke your first joint before you brush your teeth and you smoke your 20th joint before going to sleep that night, and you aren’t doing it for medicinal purposes…..you guessed it, you probably have a problem.

Now, there are deadlier habits than cannabis. Older estimates put alcohol deaths at 88,000 people per year in the US (source), and the CDC now estimates about 178,000 deaths a year from excessive drinking. Smoking and secondhand smoke cause more than 480,000 deaths a year (source).

That doesn’t make weed harmless. NIDA estimates that 22% to 30% of people who use cannabis have cannabis use disorder.

However, if you feel like weed is the main reason why you can’t function, then you should probably take a break and see if there are any changes. As human beings, it’s natural to always look for a reason if something isn’t working out too well, most human beings don’t look within for that reason though.

Believe me, it’s not just weed, it’s you. Since turning 30, becoming the best version of myself is pretty important to me, probably my number one priority. So if the day comes where I feel like cannabis is putting sticks in my moving tires, then I will make a very strong effort to quit.

Please Don’t Judge

Now for all the folks that don’t consume cannabis and judge us stoners and believe that we’re all half dead zombies with no ambition, you should really stop judging. I mean, nobody where I worked for years knew that I smoked joints in the morning, and at lunch time, because my productivity never dropped. (To be clear: cannabis impairs coordination and reaction time, so never use it before driving or any safety-sensitive work.)

And it’s not just me. According to Stats Canada, about 514,000 Canadian workers who used cannabis reported using it before or during work in late 2018 and early 2019. That’s a whole lot of high employees, can you imagine what would happen production-wise if all those people lost complete motivation to do anything after consuming cannabis?

lazy at work

I’d bet many of those employers had no idea, which tells you a lot of those workers were still getting the job done. At the same time, many people use cannabis for medical reasons like pain, though the CDC says evidence is limited for most types of pain. If someone feels better day to day, they’re hardly going to be less motivated, right?

With all that said, please stop giving me the side-eye when you pass me by and get hit by the wonderful aroma of that Tangerine Dream that I’m puffing on. If you’re an adult who wants the effects without smoke, you can give THC syrups a try; like other edibles, they take longer to kick in, so start low and wait.

Cannabis is for adults only: 21+ in US states where it’s legal, and 18 to 21 in Canada depending on the province.

Sources

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