The research findings indicate that using marijuana before sex enhances a woman’s sexual experience.
Scientists are regularly discovering more about the wide array of benefits of cannabis, showing the substance can reduce pain, manage nausea, control spasms, and even help in the treatment efforts of serious conditions like cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. Now a study published recently in The Journal of Sexual Medicine suggests that marijuana can improve sexual relations.
Marijuana Use Linked to More Pleasurable Sex
In the new study, researchers from Saint Louis University in Missouri found evidence that using cannabis prior to sex significantly enhances the experience for women.
The researchers surveyed 133 sexually active women on their marijuana use habits before sex during annual gynecology check-ups. Twenty-nine percent said they consumed cannabis shortly prior to sexual relations.
Of those women, 68 percent said that marijuana made sex “more pleasurable,” compared to 16 percent who did not and 16 percent who didn’t know.
“The majority of respondents who used marijuana prior to sex reported a better overall sexual experience, an increase in sex drive, and a more pleasurable orgasm with minimal effect on lubrication,” the study concluded.
Of the women who said marijuana use before sex made the experience more pleasurable, 72 percent said it always did and 24 percent said it sometimes did.
Almost two-thirds (62 percent) of respondents said that consuming marijuana shortly prior to sex increased their sex drive and the pleasure of orgasm.
Additionally, 16 percent of the women who reported using cannabis prior to sex said they did so to relieve the pain that interfered with it.
Visit The Journal of Sexual Medicine to access the full text of the study, “The Relationship Between Marijuana Use Prior to Sex and Sexual Function.”
Marijuana Use Also Linked to More Frequent Sex
Investigators have previously found evidence that cannabis boosts sexual health. Last year, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found a link between marijuana use and sexual activity.
Using survey data of more than 50,000 Americans, the researchers found a positive association between the frequency of marijuana use and the frequency of sexual intercourse, which applied to both sexes. Overall, those who use marijuana were found to have about 20 percent more sex than non-users.
“Frequent marijuana use doesn’t seem to impair sexual motivation or performance. If anything, it’s associated with increased coital frequency,” said one of the study’s authors, Michael Eisenberg, MD, in a statement.
While Eisenberg added that the study’s findings do not necessarily confirm a causal effect, he did admit that the results hint at such a relationship.
“The overall trend we saw applied to people of both sexes and all races, ages, education levels, income groups and religions, every health status, whether they were married or single and whether or not they had kids,” he said.
The study also revealed a dose-dependent relationship, meaning sex frequency increased steadily as marijuana use increased.
You can access the entire text of the study, “Association Between Marijuana Use and Sexual Frequency in the United States: A Population-Based Study,” at The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Learn All About Marijuana
Thirty U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, and nine plus the District of Columbia have legalized its recreational use. Visit our Education page to learn more about state and federal cannabis laws.
You can learn more about the basics of marijuana through our Cannabis 101 page, or keep up with the latest cannabis-related studies through our feed covering Scientific Research.
