Four hundred and eighty seven volunteers (243 daily users and 244 non-users) completed items from the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES). Participants responded to 12 statements regarding their own feelings of motivation on a four-point scale (e.g. Not at all; Slightly; Somewhat; Very much). Researchers have successfully used similar measures of apathy in previous studies of substance abuse and motivation.

"Participants who used cannabis seven days a week demonstrated no difference from non-cannabis users on indices of motivation," investigators found.

After quantifying subjects' responses through advanced statistical procedures designed to identify even slight differences between users and non-users, researchers still did not detect any decreases in motivation among daily users of cannabis.

"These findings refute hypothesized associations between heavy cannabis use and low motivation," authors concluded. "Thus, emphasizing a cannabis-induced amotivational syndrome in drug prevention does not have empirical support and could harm the credibility of ... [drug] prevention efforts."

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the study, "Cannabis, motivation, and life satisfaction in an internet sample," is available online at: http://www.substanceabusepolicy.com