High Creativity is Just an Illusion

Bob Marley, Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg are a few names of notorious marijuana advocates. Very few people would argue their talents and some would attribute their creative process to their constant use of marijuana. With the amount of THC consumed by these famous artists, it has been a common belief that marijuana opens their creative outlet and provides different state of mind for them to create their music. 

Marijuana dispensaries throughout Los Angeles romanticize the idea that marijuana provides a higher level of thinking, when in reality overuse can just get you a long stay in drug rehab centers. Recent studies have shown that marijuana does not actually make users more creative, and only creates the illusion of creativity and inhibits the creative process. 

After completing a series of cognitive tasks, participants in a study at Leiden University that were given cannabis were not able to answer nearly as many questions as those that were given a placebo. Those that were given a high dosage of the drug were not able to think nearly as clearly as those that were not administered any THC.

Contrary to the marijuana-creativity perceptions spread in Los Angeles and elsewhere, in reality, the more joints you smoke, the better your chances are of going to drug rehab centers and being stuck with terrible writer’s block.

The belief that marijuana relaxes people further fuels the illusion of it encouraging an open mind, thus providing the ability to think more clearly. As a result, many artistic people flock to Los Angeles because of the easy access to medical marijuana, with no fear of a potential stay in drug rehab centers. But even with pop culture’s efforts to portray marijuana as totally harmless, the facts clearly indicate that it is a barrier to creativity and success.

Marijuana is the ultimate form of a skewed reality. Not only are you inhibited from thinking clearly, but you believe that you are thinking more clearly and your perception of reality is just wrong. Although the dangers of marijuana are not spoken of as much as other drugs, the issues are still real and people are admitted into drug rehab centers every day because they cannot overcome the need to smoke marijuana. Whether you are an artist in Los Angeles trying to overcome writer’s block or trying a joint for your first time, be aware that marijuana will do more harm than good.