International project

Cannabis policies are changing worldwide, yet critical questions about the true impact of cannabis on the brain and mental health remain unanswered. Our project aims to move beyond the polarized “harmful or beneficial” debate by taking a balanced, evidence-based look at cannabis use and its effects.

Supported by an NWO-VIDI grant, awarded to Prof. dr. Janna Cousijn, our team at the Neuroscience OF Addiction (NOFA) lab is conducting a two-year longitudinal cross-cultural study to understand how cannabis use interacts with mental wellbeing and cognition, both in daily life and over longer periods of time. Furthermore, we aims to identify which user characteristics (such as product type, method of use, motives, and cultural context) shape positive and negative effects.

In a second part of this project, we will explore perceived harms and benefits of cannabis use among regular cannabis users, the general public, scientists, and health professionals and compare this to scientific evidence for these harms and benefits to reveal gaps between subjective experiences and objective data.