Merry Jane: Cannabis Can Increase Intimacy and Reduce Anxiety During Sex, New Study Finds

Over the past decade, a number of studies have found that cannabis can increase intimacy, help people have sex more often, and make sexual experiences more enjoyable — especially for women. The present study confirms these findings, but adds a unique twist. In most of the prior reports, the majority of research subjects have identified as straight, but the current study focuses exclusively on gay and bisexual subjects.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia recruited 41 men between the ages of 15 and 30 from the Vancouver area and interviewed them about their experiences with cannabis and sex. None of the subjects identified as straight: 3 of them identified as trans, 36 as cisgender, and the other two did not identify with a specific gender. The researchers interviewed each subject for one to two hours between January and December of 2018.

Nearly every participant in the study said that using cannabis before sex helped them feel less anxious during the experience, lowering their inhibitions and allowing for increased feelings of intimacy. Many subjects also said that weed helped them deal with anxiety connected to their own physical appearance, especially related to meeting new sex partners on hookup apps like Grindr or SCRUFF. …”