If we had a dollar for everytime we heard this from our teachers and academic advisors, we'd most likely have spent it on Funyun chips and Cherry Limeades. The question as to whether smoking weed makes one lazy has been a topic of debate for centuries – or since our parents first caught us lighting our homemade bong around the back of the house. That debate looks to continue though as a new British study has concluded that weed, indeed makes you lazier. 

Our friends from across the pond used a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner to compare the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved with reward and motivation, in people who smoked weed at least three times a week along with people who had puffed no more than 10 times in their life. The scans revealed that habitual pot users produced less dopamine compared with non-smokers. The more they smoked—measured in how many days they said it took to burn through a standard one-eighth ounce—the lower their dopamine levels. 

Dopamine is the feel-good chemical in the brain that releases when you've done something right. Whether it's finally graduating college after seven years or finally getting a promotion, Dopamine is released to make you feel good. It's widely known that THC is a potent stimulator of Dopamine. As the brain tries to compensate for this extra amount of dopamine released from cannabis, it lowers the amount of dopamine it produces on daily basis. Thus each time you hit Billy Bong Thornton, researchers claim your achievements make you less happy and therefore you don't strive as hard to make the extra effort. 

Before you jump up and break your vape pen, it's important to ask, how much is too much? Researchers say one puff occassionaly is harmless. But even smoking once a week impacted dopamine levels. The jury is still out on if the affected dopamine levels are permanent or can be restored if one were to stop smoking. 

Let the great debate continue.