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Updated: Apr 23, 2026

Brain Morphology of Cannabis Users With or Without Psychosis: A Pilot MRI Study
Published on: August 18, 2020
Cannabis and creativity: highly potent cannabis impairs divergent thinking in regular cannabis users
Mikael A Kowal1, Arno Hazekamp, Lorenza S Colzato
1Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB, Leiden, The Netherlands, m.a.kowal@fsw.leidenuniv.nl.
Rationale:
Cannabis users often claim that cannabis has the potential to enhance their creativity. Research suggests that aspects of creative performance might be improved when intoxicated with cannabis; however, the evidence is not conclusive.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to investigate the acute effects of cannabis on creativity.
Methods:
We examined the effects of administering a low (5.5 mg delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC]) or high (22 mg THC) dose of vaporized cannabis vs. placebo on creativity tasks tapping into divergent (Alternate Uses Task) and convergent (Remote Associates Task) thinking, in a population of regular cannabis users. The study used a randomized, double-blind, between-groups design.
Results:
Participants in the high-dose group (n = 18) displayed significantly worse performance on the divergent thinking task, compared to individuals in both the low-dose (n = 18) and placebo (n = 18) groups.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that cannabis with low potency does not have any impact on creativity, while highly potent cannabis actually impairs divergent thinking.
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