Are cannabis smokers really ‘more chilled’ than everyone else? Science has the answer

The stereotype of cannabis users is that they’re forgetful, slightly hopeless and probably not very hygienic – but very, very relaxed.

But is it actually true?

Researchers from Washington State University recruited a group of cannabis users who had used the drug every day for nearly a year to find out.

The researchers tested the 40 drug users against 40 non-users – using anxiety-inducing tests, the Washington Post reports.

One particularly fiendish test saw volunteers dunking their hands in a container of cold water, then being told to count backwards from 2,043, being told off by lab workers whenever they made a mistake.

MOST POPULAR STORIES FROM YAHOO UK:

Benefits cheat who claimed £81,000 as she could ‘barely walk’ caught snorkeling in Maldives
Britain’s worst roundabout had SIX crashes just hours after opening
Churchwarden faces jail for having sex with ‘obscene’ life-size child sex doll
One in eight young people admit they’ve never seen a cow
Free movement of EU citizens to Britain will end in 2019

The researchers found that – even though they hadn’t taken the drug on the day of the test – the cannabis smokers were less stressed.

The researchers established this by testing for the ‘stress hormone’ cortisol in their saliva.

The researchers write, ‘Despite abstaining from cannabis use on the day of testing, cannabis users exhibited no increase in salivary cortisol concentration in response to the stress manipulation compared to non-users.’