Enhancer of Empathy and Sexual Desire
Sexuality is another powerful force behind the will to live, and marijuana’s ability to fire both fantasy and fulfillment is well known throughout the world. If circumstances are right, it enhances in both genders the temporary rise in blood levels of androgens that is the hormonal hallmark of lust. Androgens, including testosterone and related compounds, are the so-called male hormones, which are produced in smaller quantities in females as well. Marijuana is the only aphrodisiac known to directly facilitate sexual desire, as opposed to erectile potential, the aspect of sex upon which Viagra acts.
Marijuana’s enhancement of sensory pleasure combines with its tendency to evoke empathy. The result can be exquisite sensitivity to a partner’s response. The slowing down of perceived time encourages patience. Lovemaking becomes less rushed, more than a performance. Masters and Johnson surveyed 1,000 cannabis users; 83 percent of the men and 81 percent of the women said it enhanced their sexual pleasure. R. Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), once remarked, “If you think you need Viagra, you haven’t tried cannabis.”
No significant effects of cannabis on fertility have been noted in animal studies or statistical research on large populations of users. A few scientists in the early 1970s claimed to have shown dramatically lowered testosterone levels from high THC intake in rats or heavy pot smokers, but their conclusions were disproved by later, more careful work. Very high doses of THC slightly reduce the rate of ovulation and testosterone production in animals, and probably in humans, but these rates return to baseline even with continued dosing at the same level.
