Those who smoke weed have more empathy

Since August 2022, Swiss patients have been able to be prescribed medicinal cannabis. For example, in case of epilepsy and severe pain. Perhaps in the future, social phobia or even sociopathy will also be among the indications: a Mexican research team used a questionnaire to record the empathy values ​​of 85 regular cannabis users to compare them with those of a control group of 51 people. For example, in the test, subjects were asked to indicate on a five-point scale to what extent they agreed with statements such as “When a friend is sad, I become sad too.” Ultimately, it turned out that the cannabis users were ahead of the control subjects in terms of emotional understanding. So they were better at reading the emotions of others.

An explanation for this difference was given by a functional MRI study, in which brain activities were recorded in approximately half of the test subjects. Cannabis users showed significantly more connections between the anterior cingulate cortex, the preposterior central gyrus and the left anterior insula. These brain areas not only play an essential role in emotional understanding, but also have receptors to which the main active ingredient THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) can attach.

Cannabis users are therefore particularly empathetic, and this is also reflected in their brains. This raises hopes that the popular drug, as study leader Sarael Alcauter of the National Autonomous University of Mexico explains, “will be used in the future in the treatment of disorders associated with deficits during social interactions, such as sociopathy, social phobia and anxiety-avoidance personality disorders”.

However, the neurologist also points out that his research does not provide a causal link: in principle it could be that cannabis does not make you empathetic, but that empathetic people – for example because they are particularly social – use cannabis more often than others.

For the same reason, Borwin Bandelow of the University of Göttingen also warns: “If THC attaches to any part of the brain, it does not necessarily mean that it will help with social phobia,” says the psychiatrist and psychotherapist. “We don’t know exactly where social behavior is controlled in the brain, nor what happens when the THC receptors, which are also found in many other places in the brain, are occupied.”

Still, Bandelow can imagine that cannabis can help with anxiety: “Animal experiments and some case studies point in this direction.” But this is less due to THC and more due to another active ingredient in cannabis: CBD (cannabidiol). In a Brazilian study, people with social anxiety received a single dose of cannabidiol or a placebo: after taking the active substance, they were less afraid of appearing in public. “But clinical studies on using CBD to treat social phobia are still lacking,” Bandelow points out.

The chances are high, because compared to THC, CBD poses significantly fewer risks because it does not get you high and therefore has no addictive potential. Moreover, you don’t have to be a stoner or smoker to consume it, because it can be swallowed as an oil, for example. However, this also eliminates the need to circulate the joint, which is an important aspect of sociability that should not be underestimated when it comes to reducing social anxiety.