Marijuana Use and Achievement Motives: An Exploratory Analysis of Self-Reported Health Among Adult Cannabis Consumers

• Author: James Gould,David Greene,Richard Donnelly
• Published date: 01 July 2020
• Date: 01 July 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0022042620911367
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042620911367

Journal of Drug Issues

2020, Vol. 50(3) 259 –272

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0022042620911367

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Article

Marijuana Use and Achievement

Motives: An Exploratory

Analysis of Self-Reported Health

Among Adult Cannabis Consumers

James Gould1, David Greene1,

and Richard Donnelly1

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore self-reported physical health and achievement

motives in a sample of adult cannabis consumers. An online target sample (n = 181) of adult

cannabis consumers (M = 38 yoa) was obtained from a cannabis tourism company in Colorado.

Physical health and the primary benefit of cannabis use were self-reported and achievement

motives were measured using the revised 10-item version of the Achievement Motives Scale

(AMS). Results revealed five categories of benefit from cannabis consumption: stress/anxiety

reduction (40%), pain/disease management (38.5%), thinking/introspection (11%), alternative drug

(7.1%), and enhanced sociability (3%). t test results revealed no significant differences between

the stress/anxiety and pain/disease groups in self-reported health (SRH), AMS dimensions, or

cannabis consumption preferences. Regression results revealed that AMS factor fear of failure

(b = −0.224, p = .003), followed by cannabis spending per week (b = −0.217, p = .024) best

predicted SRH.

Keywords

cannabis, achievement motives, self-reported health, marijuana

The legalization of cannabis has been an important step in the ability to examine issues associ-

ated with cannabis consumption. Comprehensive medical use has been approved in 34 states,

the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada. Twelve

additional states allow use of low-delta-(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), high-cannabidiol

(CBD) products for medical reasons in limited situations (The Cannabis Act, 2019; National

Conference of State Legislators, 2019). Research on medicinal use has expanded from tradi-

tional medical illnesses such as epilepsy, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis

(Bonini et al., 2018; The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [NAS],

2017; Premoli et al., 2019; Prince & Conner, 2019; Rabiei, 2019; Wilkie et al., 2016), to psychi-

atric and mental health issues such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anorexia, anxiety,

1University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO, USA

Corresponding Author:

James Gould, Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality Program, School of Human Sciences, University of Northern

Colorado, 501 20th Street, Campus Box 132, Greeley, CO 80639, USA.

Email: james.gould@unco.edu

911367JODXXX10.1177/0022042620911367Journal of Drug IssuesGould et al.

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