Look, this is not an endorsement or anything around marijuana consumption, but this is definitely a fascinating medical finding. According to a fascinating study published in the Journal of Neuroscience Research, regular cannabis users possess a greater understanding of emotions compared to folks who use it sporadically for health or recreational purposes.
The team ran some brain scans on the test participants and found that “the anterior cingulate, a region generally affected by cannabis use and related to empathy, had stronger functional connectivity with brain regions related to sensing the emotional states of others within one's own body.”
Specifically, the team studied the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), an area of the brain that is vulnerable to the effects of cannabis use and is also heavily engaged in empathy.
In addition to running MRI scans, the experts also performed the Cognitive and Affective Empathy Test (TECA) to understand the, well, cognitive and affective empathy in the two categories of cannabis users.
Now, do keep in mind the test pool was rather small and included only 85 regular cannabis users. So, don’t put on the ignorant mask and start treating every cannabis user as some kind of hyper-empathetic emotional angel.
Cannabis abuse is very much real and it has a well-documented track record of wrecking lives. Also, note that some previous studies have shown an emotional deficiency in cannabis users.
More, recent medical studies have linked marijuana with a higher risk of heart attack, damage to the immune cells in the brain, and increased depressive and anxiety signals.