Zeitschrift für Suchtforschung und -therapie

Abstrakt

Are Cannabis Expectancies Related to Subjective Drug Experiences and Schizotypy?

Emma Barkus, Tahlia Muddle, John Stirling and Shôn Lewis

Objective: There is an established literature on cannabis expectancies and how these relate to patterns of cannabis use and clinical outcomes. However increasingly we are becoming interested in how cannabis expectancies shape the subjective experiences people have during drug use, and vice versa. Here we present data reporting how cannabis expectancies relate to subjective experiences after cannabis. Additionally we will determine whether an index of psychosis proneness (schizotypy) is related to cannabis expectancies.
Method: A sample of recreational cannabis users (n=137) completed the brief Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, the Cannabis Experiences Questionnaire and the Marijuana Effects Expectancy Questionnaire.
Results: Cannabis expectancies correlated with the subjective experiences reported in the immediate high from cannabis. However, only Cognitive and Behavioural Impairment expectancies were correlated with after effects from cannabis. There were no significant correlations between schizotypy and cannabis expectancies.
Conclusion: Cannabis expectancies are related to the immediate experiences subjectively felt after smoking cannabis. Further research is necessary to determine which clinically significant personality traits shape cannabis expectancies.