In 1972, 20 women were placed in two groups in isolation in a downtown hospital. Ten of the participants were instructed to smoke cannabis every night over the course of 98 days, with increasing THC potency over time. The other 10 study participants remained sober. All were given tasks to focus on during the day — like making braided macrame belts and wall hangings —while researchers observed their behaviour. The goal of the Ontario government-funded study, dubbed Project Venus, was to find out if cannabis affected productivity. 

The findings of the study were never revealed, but the story lives on in The Marijuana Conspiracy, a Canadian indie film screening on January 18 and 19 (at 4:20 p.m. PST) at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California. Based on research about the experiment, of which there is little known, the characters in the film are a fictionalized composite of the women who took part in the study.

Writer, director and producer Craig Pryce says that the research took place when then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s government was considering legalizing cannabis. The LeDain Commission, a report that examined the recreational use of cannabis, had just been completed, and it recommended changes to the criminalization of drugs, like weed. Most of its recommendations were ignored by the federal government and the legalization of cannabis wasn’t implemented until Trudeau’s son, Justin, became prime minister several decades later.

According to the film’s director, these conflicting attitudes toward cannabis seemed to have played a role in how Project Venus was conceived and designed. 

“It was bizarre how they did this science with marijuana, there was an agenda involved,” says Pryce.

Project Venus participants weren’t allowed to go outside during the study, and were told they wouldn’t be paid if they decided to leave before it was over. According to the Toronto Star, a team of nurses attended to the women round-the-clock, measuring their vital signs as they made crafts.

After it was completed, members of both groups said they faced challenges going back to normal life after living in conditions similar to incarceration. None from the cannabis-smoking group reported any long-term changes to their health.

Since 1998, new measures have been put in place to improve the ethics around research involving humans in Canada. 

A number of women who took part in the study were shown a preview of the film, which Pryce says was emotionally difficult for some, but ultimately inspired good conversation afterwards. 

“They thought it was a very fair and truthful film and were happy that it got made,” he says. “I wanted them to see it before anyone else did. It’s not their story per se — it’s a hybrid of different people’s lives — but it gave a lot of depth and truth and insightfulness having their input, as well as having the research.”