‘Although further research is needed, these results open an exciting new window for exploring the potential effects of cannabis in aiding treatments for conditions involving deficits in social interactions, such as sociopathy, social anxiety, and avoidant personality disorder, among others,’ he said.
‘Empathy’ was divided into two categories for the study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience Research.
‘These findings highlight positive effects of cannabis on interpersonal relationships and potential therapeutic applications,’ said Dr Olalde-Mathieu.
‘We believe that the differences shown by regular cannabis users in the emotional comprehension scores and their brain functional connectivity, could be related to the use of cannabis.
‘However, we cannot discard that such differences were present before the users started their use of cannabis.
Dr Olalde-Mathieu added: ‘Previous research has shown that these types of psychometric results correspond with the subjective experience and behaviours of cannabis users related to a greater understanding of other emotions, less verbal hostility, enhanced pro-sociality and empathic predisposition to others’ situations.’
The study was limited by the cannabis being ‘lower quality’ in Mexico than in the US, with the former containing just 2% to 10% THC, the psychoactive ingredient.