Artists throughout history have praised everything from alcohol to opium as fuel for their creative genius.  Take cannabis for instance, there are no shortage of artists who attribute their creativity to cannabis. West Seattle Cannabis users say marijuana can make you relax and help you embrace your own creative process and it can also help you focus on the task at hand making you more productive. But, just because someone says it is so doesn’t necessarily make it true.  Is pot really the key to creativity?  That depends on how you frame the question.   Let’s look at whether or not pot can make you more creative.

Spikes in Creativity

Yes, cannabis does help with productivity and reducing stress and in addition to that there are a couple of studies that have linked marijuana use to spikes in creativity.  Studies on the effects of cannabis start way back in the 70’s and it linked cannabis to more original thought, newer studies have linked it to an increase in creative activities.

How Much Cannabis Does it Take

The studies that were done on the link between cannabis and creativity used only small doses of cannabis with a concentration of only 10% THC in that particular strain.  The low dose of THC is what was able to stimulate creativity, whereas higher doses didn’t have the same effect, according to researchers.  Bear in mind that the research into the connection between cannabis and creativity is limited and this is only one study.

Another theory as to how cannabis can help boost creativity involves the endocannabinoid system.  Marijuana interacts directly here and it is closely tied to the functioning of the brain.  The theory is that consuming cannabis allows your neurons to fire at will, this lack of inhibition is what allows ideas to flow while you are using cannabis.  Cannabis clears the mundane everyday thoughts that consume most of us and clouds our brains, allowing your creative juices to flow.

The Effect of Cannabis on the Brain

Cannabis increases cerebral blood flow and promotes the activity happening in your frontal lobe.  The frontal lobe is where your muse lives and it is also responsible for divergent thinking.  It’s divergent thinking that is measured in all the studies that look at the link between cannabis and creativity.  This is how science is looking to explain the creative genius that cannabis allows certain people.  Here is a closer look at cannabis and creativity.

The one thing that science does know is that artists have been consuming cannabis for thousands of years to help put them in the right frame of mind to create some amazing art, music and literature.  Artists, through the use of cannabis can allow the free flow of ideas to come to them and they are less inhibited.  Cannabis allows for relaxation while at the same time giving you the ability to focus on your medium.