What topics does this cannabis study cover?

This study covers research on: Addiction.

Where was this research published?

Published in The International journal on drug policy on February 3, 2026.

Addiction

How Cannabis Use Transforms Personal Networks and Agency

Q: What did this research study find?

**Three distinct phases of cannabis use** identified: opening, sustaining, and restricting networks

The emergence of problematic cannabis use as a network phenomenon.

The International journal on drug policy • February 3, 2026 • Relevant

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AI Summary

This groundbreaking study explores problematic cannabis use through a unique lens of network dynamics, moving beyond traditional individual-focused approaches. By examining the experiences of 23 participants, researchers uncovered a complex process of how cannabis use evolves over time, revealing three distinct phases that reshape an individual's relationship with the substance.

The research introduces a nuanced perspective on cannabis use as a dynamic, interconnected phenomenon. In the opening phase, cannabis initially expands an individual's experiential possibilities, creating new ways of thinking and moving. However, the sustaining phase sees cannabis becoming a routine, gradually embedding itself into daily life. Most critically, the restricting phase demonstrates how specific environmental elements like beds, sofas, or digital devices can limit personal agency and spatial-emotional possibilities, potentially trapping users in constrictive usage patterns.

This innovative approach offers important insights for understanding addiction and potential intervention strategies. Instead of viewing problematic cannabis use as a purely individual failing, the study suggests it emerges from complex interactions between human and non-human actors in a person's environment. By mapping these network relationships, researchers provide a more holistic framework for comprehending how substance use patterns develop and potentially become restrictive over time.

💡 Key Findings

Three distinct phases of cannabis use identified: opening, sustaining, and restricting networks

High

85%

Environmental elements can limit personal agency in cannabis consumption patterns

Good

75%

Cannabis use emerges as a networked phenomenon beyond individual vulnerabilities

High

80%

📄 Original Abstract

This study examines the emergence of problematic cannabis use as a dynamic, networked, and affective process. Drawing on Actor-Network Theory and Deleuze's concept of affect, the analysis explores how shifting assemblages of human and non-human actors shape agency over time. The data consist of interviews with 23 participants and 16 written accounts submitted by individuals who self-identified their cannabis use as problematic. Through close reading of participants' narratives combined with network mapping, three phases were identified: opening, sustaining, and restricting networks. In the opening phase, network relations expand affective capacity by opening up new ways of thinking and extending the body's range of movement in space. In the sustaining phase, these relations stabilize as cannabis becomes part of everyday routines that reproduce familiar rhythms rather than generating new openings. In the restricting phase, configurations involving specific material fixators (such as the bed, sofa, or digital devices) begin to limit spatial, emotional, and embodied possibilities, resulting in a contraction of affective capacity. These phases offer a heuristic framework for analyzing how problematic use stabilizes within socio-material assemblages, rather than as an outcome of isolated individual vulnerabilities. This perspective contributes to ongoing discussions in drug research by emphasizing relational dynamics and may inform treatment by identifying core networked actors that sustain or limit agency. Future research should examine how restricting networks may unravel and give rise to new affective landscapes.