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Cannabis use both helps and hurts entrepreneurial creativity, study finds
Entrepreneurs who use cannabis came up with more original business ideas, but those ideas were also judged less feasible, according to a Washington State University study.
Cannabis may make entrepreneurs more original, but less practical. That is the main finding of a study by researchers at Washington State University, published in the Journal of Business Venturing.
The team describes it as the first study it knows of that looks at how any kind of drug use affects the generation of new business ideas.
How the study worked
The researchers, led by Benjamin Warnick, worked with 254 entrepreneurs.
Each participant was asked to come up with as many business ideas as possible built around virtual reality technology.
A panel of experts then rated the best idea from each person on two qualities: how original it was, and how feasible it would be to turn into a real business.
Participants also reported how often they used cannabis, along with details about their business experience and their passion for exploring new ideas.
More original, less feasible
Entrepreneurs who used cannabis produced ideas that the experts rated as more original than those of non-users.
At the same time, those same ideas were rated as less feasible. In other words, the users thought further outside the box, but their ideas were harder to put into practice.
According to the university, the pattern held regardless of whether participants were under the influence at the time of the task.
Passion and experience matter
The effect did not appear for everyone. It showed up mainly among entrepreneurs who reported a strong passion for exploring new business ideas.
It also disappeared among cannabis users who had already founded more than one business. Experience, it seems, may help people judge which ideas are realistic.
What it does and does not show
The study shows an association between regular cannabis use and the type of ideas people generate. It does not prove that cannabis causes these differences.
The researchers call for future experiments that test the effects of being intoxicated directly, under controlled conditions.
For founders, the takeaway is less about drugs and more about balance. Originality and feasibility are both needed, and a team that mixes wild ideas with practical judgment may get the best of both.