A scientific study has recently put a spotlight on the elusive relationship between cannabis and sex.
Published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, a population-based study about the relationship between cannabis use and sex showed that there indeed seems to be a connection.
In the study, which was highlighted earlier this month by Forbes, cannabis use was associated with “increased sexual frequency” in men and women. Those who reported using cannabis daily in the study had a lot more sex—20 percent more—than those who hadn’t ever used cannabis.
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Its results also appeared to debunk that cannabis use impairs sexual function, which has long been the subject of debate.
Both of the study’s researchers, Dr. Andrew J. Sun and Dr. Michael L. Eisenberg, are affiliated with the Department of Urology at Stanford University. Their aim was to look into this mysterious connection between substance and sex because the “effects of [cannabis] use on sexual function are unclear, with contradictory reports of enhancement and detriment existing.”
The study’s analysis used data obtained from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) from over 51,000 Americans—both men and women of reproductive age—and relied on self-reporting. Responses from the study were only collected during a set period of time in participants’ lives, providing limitations.
Participants in the study were asked about their sex lives—specifically how often they had sex—within the four weeks before taking the survey. For cannabis, they were asked about their frequency of use within the last year. Survey respondents who didn’t answer questions about their sex lives were left out.
Though authors called the relationship they saw in their analysis “reassuring,” they said that the connection between cannabis use and sexual function should “warrant further study.”
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“A positive association between marijuana use and sexual frequency is seen in men and women across all demographic groups,” the study stated in its conclusion.
This certainly isn’t the first time the coitus-cannabis relationship has been put under a scientific lens. Another study in The Journal of Sexual Medicine in January 2017 looked at sexual function in women who used cannabis. “The internet is rife with claims regarding the ability of marijuana to improve the sexual experience; however, scientific data is lacking,” the researchers cited in their objective.
The conclusion of that study found that “The majority of respondents who used [cannabis] prior to sex reported a better overall sexual experience, an increase in sex drive and a more pleasurable orgasm with minimal effect on lubrication.”
Well, that certainly explains all the cannabis-related sex products out there.
