Cannabis consumers demonstrate greater empathy, finds study

A new study has found that regular cannabis consumers demonstrate a greater empathy towards others, highlighting a new pathway of therapeutic potential.

In the study, which was published in the Journal of Neuroscience Research, psychological assessments indicated that people who regularly use cannabis tend to have a greater understanding of the emotions of others. 

Brain imaging tests also revealed that cannabis users’ anterior cingulate (ACC)—a region generally affected by cannabis use and related to empathy—had stronger connectivity with brain regions related to sensing the emotional states of others within one’s own body.

The study included 85 regular cannabis users and 51 non-consumers who completed psychometric tests and a subset of 46 users and 34 nonusers who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging exams.

“Our study indicates a greater emotional comprehension and a greater ACC functional connectivity associated with empathy-related areas in users when compared to controls,” the researchers state.

“In this sense, the endocannabinoid activation due to chronic cannabis consumption may involve multimodal and context-dependent effects which may involve negative behaviours, such as emotional dysregulations or social stress, or positive behaviours such as social bonding and social reward.”

The ACC is one of the main regions in the body that has CB1 receptors and is heavily involved in the representation of the affective state of others.

While the study has limitations, and other factors cannot be ruled out, the authors believe that the differences shown in the emotional comprehension scores and their brain functional connectivity, could be related to the use of cannabis.

As cannabis use has generally been associated with negative mental health and behavioural outcomes, these findings are among the first to highlight the positive effects of cannabis on interpersonal relationships and potential therapeutic applications.

Additionally, it could lead to further research into the effects that cannabis could have on conditions which may impact social interactions.

Co-author Víctor Olalde-Mathieu, PhD, of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, commented: “Although further research is needed, these results open an exciting new window for exploring the potential effects of cannabis in aiding treatments for conditions involving deficits in social interactions, such as sociopathy, social anxiety, and avoidant personality disorder, among others.”

Cannabis and psychosocial health – a ‘super medication’?

A previous study from the University of New Mexico, also found that healthy young adults who had recently been exposed to cannabis, exhibited higher levels of prosocial behaviours and heightened sense of empathy than those who had not.

Investigators analysed the psychological functioning of healthy college students with varying levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in their urine.

Compared to non-users, young adults with recent exposure to cannabis scored significantly higher on standardised measurements of prosocial behaviours, empathy, and moral decision-making founded on principles of ensuring harmlessness and sense of fairness. 

The authors suggest that cannabis may cause a shift from more ego-centric self-concepts to a heightened sense of selflessness and responsibility to protect others from harm.

“I often refer to the Cannabis plant as a super medication, relative to most other conventional pharmaceutical products, because it is not only effective for treating the symptoms of a wide range of health conditions, quickly and relatively safely, but now we have concrete evidence that it may also help improve the average person’s psychosocial health,” lead investigator and Assistant Professor Jacob Miguel Vigil, UNM Department of Psychology, commented on the findings.

“Prosociality is essential to society’s overall cohesiveness and vitality, and therefore, cannabis’ effects on our interpersonal interactions may eventually prove to be even more important to societal well being than its medicinal effects.”