Cannabis and time perception
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The effect of
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
on
time perception The study of time perception or chronoception is a field within psychology, cognitive linguistics and neuroscience that refers to the subjective experience, or sense, of time, which is measured by someone's own perception of the duration of the ind ...
has been studied with inconclusive results. Studies show consistently throughout the literature that most cannabis users self-report the experience of a slowed perception of time. In the laboratory, researchers have confirmed the effect of cannabis on the perception of time in both humans and animals. Studies have sought to explain how cannabis changes the internal clock. Matthew et al. (1998) looked at the cerebellum, positing a relationship between cerebellar blood flow and the distortion of time perception.


Psychoactive effects

Reports of the
effects of cannabis The effects of cannabis are caused by chemical compounds in the cannabis plant, including 113 different cannabinoids such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and 120 terpenes, which allow its drug to have various psychological and physiological effe ...
on time perception can be found first in arts and literature, and then in medical reports and studies. Notable discussions of the effects occur in "Le Club des Hachichin" (1846), a work by French poet
Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...
, and in '' Les Paradis Artificiels'' (1860), a work by
Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fr ...
. French physician
Jacques-Joseph Moreau Jacques-Joseph Moreau (3 June 1804 – 26 June 1884), nicknamed "Moreau de Tours", was a French psychiatrist and member of the Club des Hashischins. Moreau was the first physician to do systematic work on drugs' effects on the central nervous ...
studied the effects of cannabis with the help of Gautier and other artists who experimented with hashish in the
Club des Hashischins The Club des Hashischins (sometimes also spelled Club des Hashishins or Club des Hachichins, "Club of the Hashish-Eaters") was a Parisian group dedicated to the exploration of drug-induced experiences, notably with hashish.Levinthal, C. F. (2012). ...
. Moreau published his findings in ''Hashish and Mental Illness: Psychological Studies'' (1846), noting that hashish caused "errors of time and space" and "time dragging". Later, in 1958, South African physician
Frances Ames Frances Rix Ames (; 20 April 1920 – 11 November 2002) was a South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist, best known for leading the medical ethics inquiry into the death of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, who die ...
studied the effects of cannabis extract, noting the "disordered time perception" experienced by her subjects where "brief periods seemed immensely long".Jones, Helen Cc; Paul W. Lovinger (1985) ''The Marijuana Question and Science's Search for an Answer''. Dodd Mead. . American poet
Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
's "First Manifesto to End the Bringdown" (1966) noted that "the vast majority all over the world who have smoked the several breaths necessary to feel the effect, adjust to the strangely familiar sensation of Time slow-down."
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American physician Jerome Groopman of Harvard Medical School, reported that the "perception of time is altered, generally with perceived time faster than clock time" in people who have ingested cannabis. Multiple review studies have confirmed these reports.


In music

Most notably, cannabis has had a long association among musicians and the music industry.Fachner, Jörg (July 2001)
The Space between the Notes—Research on Cannabis and Music Perception
11th IASPM Conference, Day Two (Subjectivities and Identities). pp. 308-319.
Musicians and audiences who use cannabis often report the primary subjective effects as a distortion of time perception, which acts to augment both musical performance and music appreciation. Contrary to the effects produced by stimulant use, cannabis use is reported to give the performer or listener a subjective perception of time expansion, resulting in the overestimation of the passage of time. Dosage and method of ingestion may lessen or accentuate this effect. This subjective effect of time expansion is responsible for most of the anecdotal accounts in the literature. The effects of cannabis on musicians and those who listen to music are the subject of research in
social pharmacology Clinical pharmacology has been defined as "that discipline that teaches, does research, frames policy, gives information and advice about the actions and proper uses of medicines in humans and implements that knowledge in clinical practice". Clinic ...
and
music therapy Music therapy, an allied health profession, "is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music t ...
.


See also

*
Alice in Wonderland syndrome Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS), also known as Todd's syndrome or dysmetropsia, is a neuropsychological condition that causes a distortion of perception. People may experience distortions in visual perception of objects, such as appearing sma ...
* Frederick T. Melges


References


Further reading

*Gautier, Theophile (February 1, 1846). Le Club des hachichins. ''Revue des deux Mondes''. * {{Cannabis Cannabis research Music therapy