News on the Green

Study: After-Hours Weed Doesn’t Affect Performance

A recent study found that using cannabis while not working doesn’t appear to have a negative impact on job performance.

The study, published in the journal Group & Organization Management, found that cannabis use before and during work negatively influenced task performance, reduced helpfulness to peers and promoted counterproductive work behaviors. However, after-work cannabis use was not related—positively or negatively—to job performance in any way.

One interesting correlation that was discovered was the relationship between cannabis use and “organizational citizenship behaviors.” These behaviors include “informal, spontaneous, volitional behaviors that help the organization or people within the organization.” The study’s authors concluded that workers under the influence of marijuana while on the job were less likely to exhibit these behaviors because they often are unaware of their surroundings. These workers were less likely to recognize when their peers need help. Alternately, those who used cannabis after hours were actually more likely to exhibit these behaviors during work hours than their peers who consumed no cannabis at all—strangely implying that using marijuana after hours could actually be beneficial for workers.

The study concluded that employers need to move away from looking for signs of “broad historical” cannabis use in their employees and concern themselves with “work-centric conceptualizations” instead.

MAPS Raises $30 Million For MDMA Study

The leading psychedelics research organization collected $30 million dollars in donations from a number of major U.S. business leaders to fund a study of examining the use of MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress.

Marijuana Moment reports that the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) raised the funds within six months from about 2,500 individual donors. The list of donors included executives from companies from completely outside the realm of drug policy.

Notable donors included the founder of GoDaddy, the founder of TOMS Shoes, a cofounder of Electronic Frontier Foundation ($1 million), the CEO of Dr. Bronner’s, the managing director of Tao Capital Partners, a board member of SpaceX and Tesla and celebrity tech investor Tim Ferriss.

MAPS staff said the funding will help to complete the Phase 3 trial and allow PTS patients to gain access to MDMA—known at the street level as “Molly” or “Ecstasy.” The organization says it hopes to be granted FDA approval by 2022.