Marijuana is a gateway drug, but not the way prohibitionists have portrayed it. Marijuana can be used as a bridge to get other drugs. New research suggests that cannabis could be a gateway to female orgasm, and hold therapeutic potential for treating women with orgasmic disorders or difficulties.
In an analysis published last week in Current Sexual Health Reports, clinical sexologist Suzanne Mulvehill explained that, despite the fact that FOD is estimated to affect 72 percent of women premenopausal, the FDA has not approved any drugs for the treatment. The cannabis therapy could be a solution to this gap.
“Psychiatrists were traditionally taught to determine legitimate prescribing through formalized pharmaceutical pathways. They also prescribed medications regularly off-label. The report states that cannabis is not included in this framework. It is important that psychiatry expands its definition of evidence-based medicine to include cannabis.
“Five decades of convergent evidence…demonstrate a consistent association between cannabis use and enhanced orgasmic function.”
Mulvehill said that to incorporate cannabis into sexual health care, “it will be necessary to openly recognize marijuana as an ally in therapy and to develop clinical competence for its responsible use.” Mulvehill rejected the antiquated frame that views marijuana as “the gateway” to dangerous substances that should “be avoided at any cost.”
Mulvehill is the founder of Female Orgasm Training Institute. She said, “This stigma has influenced society in general, including the training of therapists, psychiatrists, and psychologists.” “Yet cannabis today should be reframed: not as a gateway to illicit drug use, but as a gateway to women’s orgasm—and, more broadly, to restoring women’s sexual agency.”
The paper states that “Female Orgasmic Difficulty/Disorder remains one of most common yet least treated conditions among women.” The paper states that “the absence of FDA approved pharmacological treatment, coupled with the limited efficacy of existing psychological or behavioral interventions, reflect a fundamental mismatch” between the complex nature of orgasmic difficulties and most current treatments models. “The evidence examined demonstrates cannabis occupies a unique promising position in this gap.”
It is based on five decades’ worth of cannabis-related research that has shown “consistent improvements in orgasms frequency, ease, satisfaction and while simultaneously decreasing anxiety, inhibition, distraction cognitive and physical, all core barriers to sexual function.”
The author writes that “the integration of cannabis into sexual medicine is both a cultural and clinical shift.” “What distinguishes cannabis is not merely its ability to improve a single symptom, but its capacity to therapeutically influence multiple orgasm-facilitating and orgasm-inhibiting processes simultaneously, aligning with the multidimensional nature of Female Orgasmic Disorder/Difficulty.”
To ensure evidence-based, safe care, it will be necessary to expand the clinical perspective and look beyond existing treatment models. This requires interdisciplinary cooperation, education of providers, and clinical guidelines on dosage and administration. These developments together position cannabis as an ally that can help advance equity, efficacy, and innovation for women’s healthcare.
Mulvehill and Mulvehill’s previous review, which they co-authored in the past year, found ample evidence to support that cannabis can improve symptoms associated with FOD.
This research included an analysis of 15 observational and one randomized-controlled trial studies using data collected from 8,849 female participants. The study’s authors concluded that cannabis “appears as a promising option for treating FOD/difficulty with the majority studies reviewing reporting improvements in the orgasm functions and satisfaction of women who use marijuana.”
Another study, published in 2013, found that the use of marijuana is associated with increased sexual desire, arousal and lower levels sexual distress.
In 2024, a study found that cannabis-infused vaginal suppositories seemed to reduce sexual pain in women after treatment for gynecological cancer. Patients benefited even more from combining the vaginal suppositories and online “mindful compassion exercises”.
“The results favored the [combined] The research stated that “each group” had “an increased level of sexual arousal and lubrication and an increase in orgasm, while the sexual pain levels decreased.”
Earlier research also found that administration of a broad-spectrum, high-CBD vaginal suppository was associated with “significantly reduced frequency and severity of menstrual-related symptoms” as well as the symptoms’ negative impacts on daily life.
In terms of sexual satisfaction, an independent study conducted last year concluded that marijuana was better than alcohol at increasing sexual sensuality and satisfaction.
While alcohol increased some elements of sexual attraction—including making people feel more attractive, more extroverted and more desirous—people who used marijuana “have more sensitivity and they are more sexually satisfied than when they consume alcohol,” authors wrote.
A broad scientific review of academic research on cannabis and human sexuality published in 2024 concluded that while the relationship between marijuana and sex is a complicated one, use of cannabis is generally associated with more frequent sexual activity as well as increased sexual desire and enjoyment.
This article in Psychopharmacology also stated that low doses of cannabis may be the best for sexual pleasure, while high doses can lead to Reduced Prices In desire and performance. It was suggested that the effects of menstruation may be different for women.
Some advocates have cited the potential for cannabis to improve sexual function in women as a reason to add conditions such as FOD as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana.
A 2020 study in the journal Sexual Medicine, meanwhile, found that women who used cannabis more often had better sex.
Numerous online surveys have also reported positive associations between marijuana and sex. One study even found a connection between the passage of marijuana laws and increased sexual activity.
A second study cautions however that more marijuana does not necessarily lead to better sex. A literature review published in 2019 found that cannabis’s impact on libido may depend on dosage, with lower amounts of THC correlating with the highest levels of arousal and satisfaction. A study published in 2019 found that the majority of studies indicated marijuana had a positive impact on women’s sexual functions. But too much THC could actually have a negative effect.
Separately, a paper last year in the journal Nature Scientific Reports that purported to be the first scientific study to formally explore the effects of psychedelics on sexual functioning found that drugs such as psilocybin mushrooms and LSD could have beneficial effects on sexual functioning—even months after use.
“On the surface, this type of research may seem ‘quirky,'” one of the authors of that study said, “but the psychological aspects of sexual function—including how we think about our own bodies, our attraction to our partners, and our ability to connect to people intimately—are all important to psychological wellbeing in sexually active adults.”
Max Jackson. Photo by Max Jackson.