First published: September 2022 | Last Updated: February 10, 2026
You've heard the legends. Louis Armstrong called cannabis "an assistant, a friend." Steve Jobs said marijuana made him "relaxed and creative." Lady Gaga admits she smokes "a lot of pot" when writing music. And then there's Snoop Dogg, who's basically built an empire while being one of cannabis culture's most visible ambassadors.
But here's the million-dollar question nobody seems to ask: Is cannabis actually making these artists more creative, or were they creative geniuses who just happen to enjoy weed?
We dove deep into the latest research, and what we found will either vindicate your pre-writing ritual or make you rethink everything.
The Plot Twist Nobody Saw Coming
A groundbreaking 2023 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology threw a wrench into the cannabis creativity narrative. Researchers at the University of Virginia and University of Washington ran two experiments where participants were randomly assigned to either use cannabis or stay sober before completing
creativity tasks.
The finding? Cannabis didn't boost actual creativity at all. But here's where it gets interesting, it did make people think their ideas were more creative than they actually were.
The study found that cannabis induces a state of "joviality" (basically, you feel happier and more joyful), which creates a positive bias in how you evaluate ideas—both your own and other people's. So while you're convinced you just wrote the next "Bohemian Rhapsody," outside observers might rate your work as... perfectly average.
"Cannabis probably won't actually make you any more or less creative," said study author Christopher Barnes, a professor at the University of Washington. "But it will make you think you are more creative, and make you think others are more creative as well."
The Dose Makes the Difference
Before you toss out your stash entirely, there's more nuance here. A well-designed 2015 study in Psychopharmacology tested vaporized cannabis at different doses and found something critical:
- Low dose (5.5 mg THC): No significant impact on creativity. Basically the same as placebo
-
High dose (22 mg THC): Actually impaired divergent thinking (the ability to generate multiple original ideas)
Translation? If you're barely buzzing, you're probably fine. But if you're absolutely blasted, you might struggle to come up with anything useful, let alone brilliant.
The researchers put it bluntly: "The frequently reported feeling of heightened creativity could be an illusion. Smoking a joint may not be the best choice when in need of breaking 'writer's block.'"
Wait... So What About All Those Creative Cannabis Users?
Here's where it gets really fascinating. A major 2017 study in Consciousness and Cognition compared over 700 cannabis users and non-users on creativity tests. The cannabis users did score higher, but when researchers dug deeper, they found something crucial.
Cannabis users tend to score higher on a personality trait called "openness to experience"—one of the Big Five personality dimensions. People high in openness are naturally curious, imaginative, and drawn to novel experiences. They're also more likely to:
- Use cannabis in the first place
- Score well on creativity tests, regardless of whether they're high
When researchers controlled for openness to experience, the creativity advantage of cannabis users completely disappeared.
In other words: creative people are drawn to cannabis. Cannabis doesn't necessarily create creative people.
"Cannabis use does not increase creativity, but certain personality traits tend to increase the likelihood that one will use cannabis, and that they will also be more creative," explained lead researcher Emily LaFrance.
The Entrepreneur Angle: Original But Impractical
For those trying to use cannabis to brainstorm business ideas, a 2021 study in the Journal of Business Venturing offers an intriguing trade-off.
Researchers found that cannabis users generated venture ideas that were more original—but less feasible—compared to non-users. So you might come up with a revolutionary concept, but good luck explaining it to investors.
The study also found this effect was strongest among entrepreneurs with passion for inventing but less experience. Veterans who'd already launched companies showed less of this originality boost, suggesting that real-world knowledge can ground the more far-out tendencies cannabis might encourage.
The Brain Science Behind the Buzz
So what's actually happening in your head? When THC binds to CB1 receptors in the brain, it reduces certain inhibitory signals that normally keep your thoughts organized and linear. This temporary "loosening" of cognitive control allows the brain to make unexpected connections between distant ideas.
A 2025 brain imaging study of over 1,000 young adults found that heavy cannabis use was associated with reduced activation during working memory tasks—the very capacity you need to hold onto ideas long enough to refine them into something great.
This creates an interesting paradox: cannabis might help you generate ideas by loosening mental constraints, but it simultaneously impairs your ability to develop those ideas into finished work.
So Should You Light Up Before Creating?
Look, we're not here to tell you what to do with your creative process. What we can say is that the science is more complicated than the stereotype suggests. If you're already a creative person who feels that cannabis helps you access a looser, more playful mental state, you're probably not imagining it. That feeling of reduced self-censorship and enhanced connection-making is real, even if the objective measurement of "creativity" doesn't capture it.
But if you're hoping cannabis will transform you into the next David Hockney or Louis Armstrong? The research suggests you might be disappointed.
The most honest take comes from a 2024 analysis that compared cannabis to other creativity-adjacent activities: exposure to different cultures, walking habits, and even periodic sleep deprivation all have similar or better documented effects on creative thinking.
The bottom line: Creativity is a habit, not a high. Cannabis might be a fun companion to the creative process for some people, but it's no substitute for the discipline, practice, and openness to experience that actually produce great work.
