The Love Drug - Weed Influences Your Love Life More Than You May Think

Love.

It’s in the air and swirling all around us this month. Whether you’re smitten for the Super Bowl or with your partner, love is love and deserves to be celebrated. But, how does weed fit in with the feeling of love? Let’s talk about it...

Weed and intimacy have been associated with each other for well over four decades. This concept was developed in the early 1940s during the anti-war sentiments. In the 60s and 70s, the Free Love movement was described as “an absence of legal ties rather than promiscuity, as frequently misunderstood and more frequently charged in the anti-socialist press,” by PBS. When Free Love was at its peak popularity, it began to be more associated with accepting all people for who they are. Cannabis just so happened to be used by the bulk of the Free Love supporters, but they were right to do so, as new studies prove that weed can enhance most experiences with intimacy.

In a recent study conducted by the National Library of Medicine, entitled Marijuana Use Episodes and Partner Intimacy Experiences, 183 adults who regularly use cannabis, all participants are either married or living with their partner, were evaluated over 30 days. Each day they were to report when they began to consume cannabis and when they finished. The following day they would then be asked if they had an intimate conversation with their partner and, if they did, when. This was the question that helped researchers check the correlation between cannabis and intimacy. After the study was completed, researchers found that if you and your partner consume cannabis at the same time, there was an increase in the likelihood of having an intimate experience within two hours of use. If only one partner had consumed cannabis, there was still a likelihood of some form of bonding or connecting within two hours. So, that means it’s been scientifically proven that couples smoking weed together is an act of intimacy, in and of itself, whether they know it or not.

Physical love, both simple touch or sexual intercourse, can also be changed and assisted by weed. We all know that alcohol is colloquially called liquid courage, but maybe cannabis is full of courage too. According to EarthMed, cannabis can help with intimacy in countless different ways. To name a few, cannabis enhances sensations, diminishes symptoms of pain, increases erotic pleasure, boosts sex drive, and allows for a positive sensory overload. The amplification of your senses is the big one, you can enjoy touch, smell, and passion much more when everything is heightened. Some even call cannabis an aphrodisiac because of this. Cannabis can also help with the mental side of intimacy. It reduces stress and anxiety, and allows for walls to be broken down. Many people have reported that cannabis helps them be present, lowers their inhibitions, and gives them a confidence boost. It’s helpful to remember that you do not have to smoke or eat cannabis for it to help you in the bedroom. Many dispensaries offer creams, oils, suppositories, lubricants, and more just for intimate usage.

Let’s take a look at a less scientific study on weed and intimacy. OkCupid looked at various questions about weed, sex and faith. Each of the questions were asked to at least 1 million OkCupid users between 2012 and 2017. (It is important to note that less than 15 states were legalized medically or recreationally. If this study was done today, there may be different results, but it’s still fun to check.) According to polls done by the dating app, “Weed smokers of all types (past, and both varieties of current) are significantly more likely to have orgasms than their never-smoking counterparts.” They also had a poll based on which group of people would be looking for love. Based on the polls, if you use cannabis you’re equally as likely to be looking for love as you are for just a hookup, while people who do not use cannabis are almost three times more likely to be looking for love. The last poll seemed to say that most people who don’t use cannabis would not be comfortable with their partner using it. This may be due to so many states, at the time, having cannabis on the illegal drug list. Hopefully, now that cannabis is much more accessible and accepted, people who don’t use cannabis would be more accepting of those who do use cannabis.

Vice also conducted some research on weed and intimacy by asking people about their personal experiences. One of the participants, Madison, explained, “I'm not usually one to be creative on my own with weed. But it's as if smoking lets [me and my partner] get into this weird other social zone together and that dynamic lets us be more creative. It definitely brings us closer together. Whether or not we have sex after we smoke really depends on the strain—a lot of them will make us just too focused or too sleepy. But sometimes it just clicks and sex is the next thing that needs to happen. Stoned sex rules!”

Another participant, Milcah, says, “I love having a partner I can smoke with. Because cannabis is a big part of my mental health self-care practices, it feels a little alienating if my partner can't join in with me. When I was dating folks who didn't smoke, it was always a little sad for me. I love to pass a joint between my partner and me. It brings us closer together and it's one of the ways we have quality time. Get high and go for a walk. Get stoned and eat lots of food. Get high and have sex. When we're high, we just feel more relaxed in our bodies.” While these are just two accounts of weed and intimacy, it seems that for people who find cannabis to be a big part of their lives, having a partner who enjoys cannabis too is a big plus.

Sharing cannabis together might be better, in the long run, for a relationship. Participant Precious recounted their past relationship, “A relationship I was in for three years just ended, and I low-key think weed was the reason why. I smoke weed every day, at least 10 times a day. For me, I'm more myself when I'm high—more honest and real with my partner—so smoking weed is my greatest joy. But when I would get stoned, my partner would always look at me with slight irritation and annoyance. My constant weed use would always lead to fights about it. My partner would also feel bad because I would want to smoke before sex and she felt like I couldn't be sober.”

Ultimately, using cannabis to enhance intimacy between you and your partner is a decision that you need to make together. The sexiest thing that can happen between partners is consent. Always do research before trying something new, take things slow and have fun with it. Being too high during anything is not fun. In intimate moments, being too high can ruin the mood. Ending the night early is not how people want to spend special moments (like Valentine’s Day). If you and your partner do decide to use cannabis to enhance your intimacy, start slow and relax. Have a safe and happy Valentine’s Day!