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Mind

Time seems to slow down when you're high – why does that happen?

Cannabis does strange things to our sense of time passing, possibly by over-exciting neurons in a brain region that helps regulate our body clock

By Joanna Thompson

17 November 2023

Artists representation of cannabis and time

Cannabis messes with our perception of time

Shutterstock/Alena A

“All I can remember really is that it felt like time had completely stopped,” says James Stone. “It felt as if I’d be stuck there forever.”

A neuroscientist at King’s College London, Stone is describing a feeling that is very commonly reported by people after they use cannabis: time seems to slow down. When Stone volunteered for a cannabis study 15 years ago, he experienced this strange sense of time dilation firsthand.

The episode stayed with him, and it sparked his interest…

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