While marijuana legalization remains to be a hot button topic because there is still a lot we do not understand about the short and long term of effects of marijuana use, the silver lining is that the states that have taken a more relaxed stance on the drug have paved the way for new research on the drug.
New research, conducted at Colorado State University, sought to determine the effects of marijuana on the emotional process, Science Daily reports. The researchers found that marijuana use can affect one’s ability to recognize, process and empathize with emotions, such as anger, happiness and sadness. The findings were published in PLOS ONE.
The researchers connected 70 legal cannabis users to electroencephalograms (EEG) and showed them pictures of faces depicting four separate expressions, according to the article. The expressions include:
- Angry
- Fearful
- Happy
- Neutral
"We're not taking a pro or anti stance; but we just want to know, what does it do? It's really about making sense of it."