Maybe I'm just trying to make up for the bikini shot I posted last night (hey, it had pot leaves on it!) but I spent my Friday night wonkily reading results from some interesting research published in 1976, when marijuana was still spelled with an "h" (see above).
Researchers from Stanford University and the Veteran's Administration in Palo Alto put 220-item
questionnaires into the mailboxes of an entering class of first-year law
students and of medical students and house officers at the University
hospital. The questionnaire asked respondents to rate each of 38 possible
effects of marijuana or alcohol as a major
reason to take it, a minor reason, not a reason, or having no effect. Forms were returned
anonymously. The data gathered are based on the 51 respondents who used both
marijuana and alcohol with a frequency of greater than once a month for some
six-month period of their life.
Ranked in order of the percentage who cited the effect as a
major reason for taking the drug, marijuana’s top effect was “increases enjoyment
of sights and sounds,” with 45% of respondents calling that a major reason for
using it; this effect didn’t make the cut for alcohol users. The top reason for
using alcohol was “increases my feeling of sociability,” which appears ninth in
the rankings for marijuana.
Coming in at #2 for alcohol was “relieves anxiety or
tension,” something not attributed to marijuana as a reason for use. For
marijuana, “enables me to experience a different state of consciousness” was
the #2 reason; for alcohol that was #6. “Makes me feel euphoric” earned large
enough percentages to rank #3 on both lists.
The research was supported by a National Institute for Mental Health grant and the VA administration. It found that marijuana had several effects like, “enables me to think
more creatively,” “enables me to get insight into myself,” and “provides
philosophic or religious insights” which weren’t attributed to alcohol. "Marihuana is valued as a drug for experiencing and thinking about things in a new way," the authors wrote. "Since much of psychotherapy is based on helping people to achieve new perspectives and insights, marihuana might be considered as an aid for psychological problem solving and growth."
While 17% of respondents said alcohol “makes me feel more attractive to others,” only 26% said alcohol “enhances sexual sensation” while 70% said marijuana did (as a major or minor reason). "When performance anxiety leads to male impotence or female frigidity, marihuana might enhance sexual sensation, permitting enough success to break out of the vicious circle of failure leading to anxiety leading to further failure." Take that, Viagra. (No bikini required.)
Walton T. Roth
Jared R. Tinklenberg
Bert S. Kopell
Dept of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Stanford University
And
Veterans Administration Hospital
Palo Alto
Supported by a NIMH grant and the VA administration.
Source:
The Therapeutic Potential of Marijuana, 1976
Edited by Sidney Cohen and Richard C. Stillman
Plenum Medical Book Co, NY and London
