A recent study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine proves what all of us who use cannabis already know—that cannabis and sex are a perfect match!
The study, conducted by Stanford University School of Medicine and sponsored by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was the result of a retrospective analysis of data on 50,000 Americans, aged 25-45, that was compiled by the National Survey of Family Growth between 2002 and 2015.
In the study, respondents were asked how many times they had heterosexual intercourse in the past four weeks and how frequently they had smoked marijuana over the past 12 months. Turns out women who consumed cannabis on a daily basis had sex an average of 7.1 times during the previous four weeks, while women who denied using marijuana in the past year had sex just 6.0 times in the past month. Among men, daily cannabis users reported having sex an average of 6.9 times in the previous four weeks, compared with just 5.6 times for those who denied using.
“In other words, pot users are having about 20 percent more sex than pot abstainers,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Michael Eisenberg, assistant professor of urology at Stanford. “I think if you asked a man or a woman, 20 more times to have sex over a year, that would seem like a lot,” continued Eisenberg.
Indeed it does, but perhaps even more interesting is when those respondents were actually smoking cannabis. While many of us who enjoy cannabis are very familiar with the heightened sensations it brings to sex, it’s still widely thought that couples mostly smoke after sex. However, Eisenberg said that the study’s findings show that the opposite is true for “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.”
While the study clearly shows a strong correlation between enjoying cannabis and enjoying a more active sex life, Eisenberg did caution that the study “doesn’t say if you smoke more marijuana, you’ll have more sex.” Still, the findings are a welcomed validation for all of us who tout the many benefits of cannabis, of which a better, more active sex life is clearly one of them. Now if only next time they ask us to participate.
