Weed and Sex: The Ultimate Combination?

Sex brings pleasure and cannabis is a substance that has been used by humans for centuries. The question is how marijuana affects a person's sexual desire and performance. 

What is Marijuana?

Cannabis plant seeds have long been used as foods and medicines because of their rich flavor. In modern times, marijuana’s popularity has broadened to recreational use, with many countries legalizing marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes.

Marijuana is a psychoactive substance. The THC in marijuana binds to cannabinoid receptors in human body, which are responsible for everything from pain perception to happiness (it is technically a trace element, many people call it “pot”).

The main psychoactive chemical in marijuana is delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This chemical activates cannabinoid receptors on human brain cells, making someone feel happy and relaxed. The THC also blocks certain chemicals that inhibit the production of new neurons — essentially causing feel sleepy.

Marijuana is illegal in most places, but an overwhelming number of American states allow it for recreational or medical reasons or for people with severe illnesses, like cancer or chronic pain; states like Oregon have decriminalized personal possession of small amounts of marijuana. Despite being legal in most countries, there have been significant problems with usage and addiction to marijuana. Marijuana use can also lead to unwanted side effects that are often much lower than alcohol or tobacco use.

These problems are caused by two factors: the addictive nature of cannabis means to use it for long periods every day; people who use it become dependent on its effects which make them less able to do other things.

It should also be noted that some people find marijuana weaker than other substances like alcohol or caffeine. When they take them regularly, they lack tolerance to these chemicals — but this does not mean they don’t get affected — just that the effect is less when taken regularly than using it infrequently.

This difference should be kept in mind while using cannabis because if someone is smoking five joints a day at average potency levels, his tolerance would be reduced after 2 years. This effect may affect his ability to absorb nutrients from food and sleep patterns which could lead someone down the wrong path.  At higher potency levels, people often get more side effects.

How Does Sex Begin?

As the world’s largest legal cannabis market grows, the question of whether marijuana is better than sex is receiving a lot of attention. The way it is framed by the media and many people seems to be: “yes, weed is better than sex,” — so why can’t it be completely legalized?

It is not necessarily true, but there are several reasons why many people are using this premise:

•           It gives them an easy way to rationalize their use

•           The perception that legal cannabis will do away with all those terrible consequences of its use (i.e., addiction and overdoses)

•           The idea that much bigger forces are at work than simple “health effects” — societal forces that should be addressed through law enforcement

Marijuana has some distinct advantages over sex in terms of recreational marijuana usage. It allows more freedom with one’s body (at least initially); it doesn’t involve as much risk, and its potential effects on arousal and performance have been extensively studied. It may also be less likely to lead to addiction.

Can Men Get Erections from Smoking Weed?

The answer is yes. Men can get erections from smoking weed, according to a recent study published in the journal: The FASEB Journal where 20 men and 18 women were exposed to marijuana-infused cannabis. They watched erotic films while they were allowed to smoke shisha (a type of hookah), which had been infused with marijuana-based cannabis. The researchers then asked everyone to rate the arousal and their ability to perform in terms of a "sexiness" scale based on how people perceive other people's sexual attractiveness.

The study results showed that regular users of marijuana-infused shisha rated themselves as more sexually attractive than non-users on the arousal scale — a result that was not seen for individuals who did not smoke weed or those who had never smoked before. 

How Does Weed Affect Sex?

The most popular theory about how marijuana affects sex is that it makes horny.  A 2010 study by the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy found that, on average, participants reported an increase in sexual arousal and a decrease in desire with cannabis use. But is this true? Most of the research done so far has been done on humans — animals cannot experience the same state of heightened sexual desire as humans do, but what if they could?

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have done a series of studies on rats and mice to answer this question. And when it comes to marijuana, they found that the chemical THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) can indeed affect behavior and memory in animals. While it does not appear that THC acts as an aphrodisiac for rodents, their findings do suggest that it might be good — even if taking the drug is fun and gender-neutral.

What are the Side Effects of Smoking Weed Before Sex?

In the last couple of years, there has been a lot of discussion about the effects of smoking marijuana. It is said that the drug increases libido, leaving someone more focused and wanting to have sex. It is also said that it can make someone tired and less interested in sex or even cause to lose interest altogether.

In other words, it either makes a person horny (and therefore more likely to have sex) or makes him not want to have sex, depending on which side effects he ascribes to smoking weed. Most people who use marijuana for pleasure feel about the same way as most people do; it doesn’t affect them in any appreciable way. And those who experience side effects are not necessarily reporting them to people who help them.

Preliminary research studies show promising results for increased sexual arousal after smoking pot. Researchers gave mice an average dose of 10mg/kg of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), or one-half the average human dose (75mg/kg) for two hours prior to anesthetizing them with ether. After inhaling ether vapor into their lungs for three hours, they started waking up again. They performed significantly better on tests of visual memory compared with both controls and mice given placebo. Marijuana users also report improved sexual performance when compared with non-users.

In another study from 2002, subjects were asked if they had smoked weed on two separate occasions within two days before a test session. They were then placed into a cage where they could freely choose whether they wanted to smoke pot before being tested on memory tasks. The results showed significant improvements in memory testing when smokers were compared with non-users, as well as improved performance during playtime after using cannabis.

When Should You Smoke Pot For Sex?

Cannabis is a popular recreational drug, and it is legal in some countries (Canada, Uruguay and some states of the U.S.). Marijuana use for recreational purposes does not always lead to increased sex drive or satisfaction. For men and women, different cannabis-related effects may be a turn-on as well as a turn-off.

A Famous study published in The Journal of Sex Research in the early 1960s showed that smoking marijuana caused an increase in sexual arousal among men, but not in women. This was an important finding at the time — back then, few people thought anything could make people feel “high”. 

It helped that this particular study was conducted on college students before they took drugs such as LSD and heroin. There are also recent studies showing that female cannabis users tend to work better than those who do not. But this did not change how people perceive pot: if it doesn’t boost performance for people who don’t use it, then doesn’t it boost performance for people who do? It was decided to see if weed affects performance for men and women on a serious task — doing penile-vaginal intercourse.

The results were interesting; yes, there was an effect from smoking weed on performance on intercourse with several different partners while both men and women felt they had improved pleasure. However, what might be most interesting is the fact that depending on the dosage, there was either a heightened desire of performance or very lethargic. This was true for both male and female participants who felt they had improved their pleasure together. In contrast, participants from both genders had enhanced their ability to have multiple orgasms.

The Bottom Line

The internet and porn have been playing a big part in the world of sex for quite some time now. But with the legalization of weed, many people are turning to it to relieve symptoms of ED (erectile dysfunction) and other ailments (such as PTSD).

Researchers in Canada looked at 4,061 patients (1,221 men & 1,114 women) with erectile dysfunction who were using marijuana and compared them to 2,441 non-marijuana users. Although the study was small and there was no control group for comparison, it certainly indicated the fact that marijuana does indeed work for erectile dysfunction.

Of course, this is only a small sample size, and a correlation does not prove causation. But it is still an interesting finding. Using any recreational substance may be beneficial for ED and someone is going through a rough patch or having trouble getting hard, then don’t hesitate to try some “medicine”.

Disclaimer: This material is for informational purposes only and should not be relied on for legal, medical, financial, or any other form of professional advice.