Carl Sagan, Salvador Dali, William Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, Paul McCartney, Norman Mailer and Jack Nicholson. They can be artists from different decades and different areas, but they do have one thing in common: the close relationship with cannabis.
Indeed, the list of accomplished creative people who have claimed a positive influence from their use of cannabis is truly impressive.
Highly talented individuals have used marijuana and some spoke of it as a miracle tool that helps them not only be more creative, but also remove long term blocks and improve their imagination in general.
Whether they’re writing songs or painting photos, people who smoke weed really seem to have a great hold on the arts.
Cannabis, after all, isn’t just about getting high. This plant can really help us to find new ideas and accept alternate possibilities to what we previously thought.
What is creativity?
Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Basically, it involves two processes: thinking, then producing. If you have ideas, but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.
That’s why creativity requires passion and commitment.
A creative person is able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. It’s not about the number of alternatives that people can generate, but the uniqueness of those alternatives.
Does cannabis really boost creativity?
However being creative takes a lot of really hard work and practice, it certainly has a magnificent potential to do so.
Part of creativity is the way that you can think in new ways, ways in which other people don’t think. Cannabis can boost the mind’s ability to make connections between things that are not linked. This process is also known as the “Aha!” moment.
In addition, marijuana also ups the production of dopamine in the brain, which gives stoners the calm euphoric feeling they love so much. With this calm feeling comes the absence of the “inner filter”, or the small voice inside your head that critiques you while you’re painting, writing, or performing.
The big truth is that marijuana only enhances what’s already there.
Anyways, for those who smoke to create, here comes an advise:
Keep a notebook handy so as not to loose that next million dollar idea amongst a rapid thought process. You never know what creativity might strike you while you’re high.
What do artists say?
Bob Marley
“Music and herb go together. It’s been a long time now I smoke herb. From 1960s, when I first start singing.”
George Carlin
“Pot…changed my thinking. It fostered offbeat thinking…Then it changed my comedy….I became more myself. The comedy became more personal, therefore more political, and therefore more successful…So, suddenly, I also became materially successful. People started buying albums. I had four Gold albums in a row.”
Alanis Morissette
“As an artist, there’s a sweet jump-starting quality to [marijuana] for me. I’ve often felt telepathic and receptive to inexplicable messages my whole life. I can stave those off when I’m not high. When I’m high – well, they come in and there’s less of a veil, so to speak. So if ever I need some clarity… or a quantum leap in terms of writing something, it’s a quick way for me to get to it.”
Rihanna
“I’ll never be a victim,” she said. “That’s why I’m posting pictures of myself smoking pot, to tell the truth about myself. I’ve got so much to think about — why bring all this extra sh*t by being dishonest?”
Justin Timberlake
“The only thing pot does for me is it gets me to stop thinking. Sometimes I have a brain that needs to be turned off. Some people are just better high”
Lady Gaga
“I have been addicted to it, and it’s ultimately related to anxiety coping, and it’s a form of self-medication, and I was smoking up to 15 to 20 marijuana cigarettes a day, with no tobacco”
Milley Cyrus
“Those are happy drugs — social drugs. They make you want to be with friends. You’re out in the open. You’re not in a bathroom.”
