VARIABILITY IN SUBJECTIVE RESPONSES TO MARIJUANA - INITIAL EXPERIENCES OF COLLEGE-STUDENTS

A short self-report questionnaire that probed initial and most recent experiences with marijuana was administered to 197 undergraduate psych ology students. Measures of Global Positive and Global Negative respon ses to marijuana use were obtained. There was substantial variability in the response to marijuana on both of these scales, which were moder ately correlated with each other. The self-reported Global Positive sc ore for initial use of marijuana was correlated with latency to next u se of marijuana and with lifetime use of the drug, suggesting that abu se potential of the drug is related to magnitude of initial positive e ffect. Self-reported Global Negative scores for initial use did not co rrelate with either of these outcome measures. These data are compared and contrasted to those from a study that examined these responses to cocaine. The findings suggest that the abuse potential for both of th ese drugs is related to the magnitude of the positive response to firs t use.