Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll baby! Ok just the sex and drugs part, but that doesn't mean your bed won't rock and roll tonight after this blog post ;) HA, ok I'll stop. Ahem... MDMA, cannabis, cocaine, LSD... all famous drugs that have an impact on an individuals sex life (in both positive and/or negative ways). How do drugs effect the way we have sex? Do certain drugs help or hurt our libido? Is high sex better than sober sex? Let's combine our curiosities around drugs AND sex and answer these questions together! ♥︎
*Alexa, play Satisfaction by Benny Benassi* Ok, now let's get talking about drugs! A topic that I know not only fasinates me, but many others. Sex and drugs, a combination that can either be a ground-breaking magical experience or a poorly done, awkward and sometimes scary experience for some. Whether you're pro-drugs or anti-drugs, taking and/or combining various drugs into sex has been done for centuries. Some people mix drugs with sex simply because it allows their minds to better connect with their bodies, allowing them to feel sex more keenly and have bigger, better, and more orgasms. Others use drugs to become disinhibited enough to have the sex they’d be too ashamed to enjoy sober. And some use drugs because they can't have sex without them. Either way, drugs can play many different roles in a persons life and that also applies to someones sex life. Drugs have always been a fascinating object of escapism to the human species and I'm curious how drugs such as cannabis, MDMA, cocaine, and LSD have an effect on an individuals sex life.
Disclaimer: I'm neither promoting nor against using drugs. Any and all individuals should be cautious when using any type or form of stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, etc. If you choose to use drugs, please be safe, cautious, and smart (and test them if you can)!!! Thanks for *cuming* to my TED talk.
CANNABIS (MARIJUANA, WEED, POT)
Ah, "the devils lettuce". When it comes to cannabis and sex, multiple studies have found that many people have higher libidos and better sex while they are stoned, according to a recent meta-analysis in Pharmacological Research. Mitch Earleywine, a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Albany and author of Understanding Marijuana, says people report having longer orgasms and longer sex overall while they’re high — not because of any sex-specific effect but because everything tends to slow down.
Though no hard evidence supports the sex-enhancing claims of these products, other research does suggest that marijuana, in general, can lead to more time in the sack. Michael Eisenberg, a urologist at Stanford University, became interested in the link between marijuana and sex after male patients started asking whether cannabis would “affect function down there.” For a study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine last year, he analyzed data from the National Survey of Family Growth, covering nearly 60,000 people, and found that people who consumed marijuana tended to have more sex. For example, women who consumed marijuana weekly had 34 percent more sex than those who didn’t; the number was 22 percent more for men.
Michele Baggio, an economist at the University of Connecticut, found an even more striking pattern. Baggio, along with her co-authors Alberto Chong and David Simon, concluded that passing medical marijuana laws led to higher birthrates. Specifically, it increased the birthrate by approximately four birth per quarter for every 10,000 women of childbearing age. So basically, pot = more babies? Interesting...
Concerning the negative side effects of cannabis and sex, Baggio and her co-authors also found that cannabis can make it harder to ejaculate and can make it harder for sperm to reach the egg (aka stoned sperm, which I found flipping hilarious).
According to thegrowthop.com, cannabis is an excellent sexual aid for those who have PTSD due to sexual trauma. THC binds to CB1 cannabinoid receptors that reside in the sexual response areas of interest, the hippocampus and amygdala. The two areas are linked to memory, the autonomic nervous system, and emotions such as fear and anxiety. Under the influence of THC, a person is less likely to experience anxiety or other negative feelings surrounding sex.
Equally notable is the fact that cannabis, specifically THC, use induces the impairment of short-term memory which is specifically suitable for keeping one’s mind in the moment during sex. When we’re not stressed out about the things waiting for us outside of the bedroom, we can relax and enjoy the sex happening on the bed (or wherever it’s happening, you animal).
From the website, thrillist.com, one user described his experience while having sex stoned with his girlfriend as: " it has felt like an eternity, when in reality it was around 40 mins. My whole body felt more sensitive and tingly every time she touched me. It felt great, but somewhat strange-- I think it was because I wasn't used to it".
From cosmopolitans article, "10 Ways Weed Affects Your Sex Life" there are multiple ways cannabis can affect your body during sex...
1. Doing it high once makes you want to do it high a lot more times 🌿
An in-depth, qualitative study from the Archives of Sexual Behavior on how alcohol and weed affect sex found that some couples say they crave "more sex after the first sexual episode on marijuana." Or in other words, they so enjoyed sex on weed that they want to keep having sex on weed.
2. It can get your vagina high 🌺
In this, our modern world, weed lube exists. If you're reading this post, you have probably heard of it. But if not: welcome. Produced by a company called Foria, the lube is totally legal (if you live in California or Colorado) and contains THC oil — the active ingredient in marijuana that gets you high. One Cosmo writer described the vagina-high feeling as "a mellow high that felt like a warm and very sexual hug."
3. It might make you hornier 😘
According to New York Magazine, ancient texts commonly refer to weed as an aphrodisiac. Lester Grinspoon, a retired Harvard Medical School professor known as "the grandfather of modern medicinal cannabis research," told NY Mag that weed has the propensity to "enhance a variety of human experiences," one being ~sexual~ experience. One 26-year-old said weed's relaxing effects make her super horny and said sex on weed is "akin to vacation sex." VACATION SEX. The holy grail of all sex.
4. Also, it might make your orgasms more intense and long-lasting 💦 One straight male told NY Mag that pot tends to make time move more slowly for him, which also means brief things seem to last longer. "Orgasms seem to last for 30 seconds and are incredibly intense," he said. "The best orgasms I’ve ever had have been while stoned, whether with another person or solo."
5. Sex might feel like it's lasting way longer... 🍌
When asked, guys generally say smoking marijuana before boning increases their sexual stamina and helps them last longer.
6. But preliminary studies suggest it actually makes it harder for dudes to ... stay hard 🍆
The thing about being high is that *you're high*. Contextualizing time isn't exactly a strong suit for stoned people. "While the conclusion that marijuana helps guys last longer in bed is tempting, we cannot rule out the possibility that this drug simply alters men’s perception of time," Justin Lehmiller, a sex educator and researcher at Ball State University, wrote in Playboy. "Sex might seem to last longer when you’re high, but the actual amount of time you spend having sex might not really be any different from when you’re sober."
7. Being high can make it so hard to focus that you can't even orgasm 😖
Lol, this is kind of funny. But also 😰. Some women from the Archives of Sexual Behavior study have reported getting high makes it so hard to concentrate that they can't quite reach orgasm. So you could be fucking forever to no (orgasmic) avail.
8. It might also make it hard for women to get "naturally lubricated." 👱🏼♀️
Think about it. What is a side effect of smoking weed? Cottonmouth. If it's capable of making your mouth feel like a desert, it's probably also capable of making your vagina feel like a desert. Some woman from the qualitative study complained that being high didn't make sex better because it just made it harder for them to get (and stay) "naturally lubricated."
9. It'll spark your appetite for some sexy, postcoital Doritos 🍕
The munchies are real, folks. What's more intimate than feeding each other piping hot Totinos pizza rolls in bed? Forget brunch and dinner — snack is the most romantic meal of the day.
10. And it also might make you attracted to people you're not usually into 😵
Some participants in that big, qualitative study on weed and sex said their partners look "more attractive" when they're high. "When I'm high ... the people I'm attracted to, I'm not at all attracted to sober," a 22-year-old woman said. "They should be called 'weed goggles,' because it's much worse on marijuana than on alcohol." If you're not the sort of person who's down to sober up and come to grips with the fact that you effed that weird dude who lives down the hall, this is probably a weed downside.
MDMA (ECSTASY, X, MOLLY, ROLL)
Molly is the nickname for MDMA, or Ecstasy that hasn't been cut with other substances. It gives you pleasure, increased energy and heightened feelings of closeness. It'll make a conversation with a bartender feel meaningful and an ice cube on your skin feel amazing. Increased energy and heightened feelings of closeness may sound like a recipe for wild sex, but some users report it actually turns you into a cuddly, loving teddy bear — and not a ravenous sex machine.
From the article, "Science Explains What Molly Does To Your Sex Life", a individual states that "sex on MDMA isn't a nonstop cumfest like its reputation likes to imply, it's more of a mental sexual stimulation rather than a physical one," Reddit user DiscoToast wrote in the subreddit r/MDMA. "It's waaaaay better if it's with somebody you truly care about."
Matthias Liechti, head of the psychopharmacology research unit at the University of Basel in Switzerland, ran a study showing porn to people on different psychostimulants. Most of the time, the drugs would enhance dopamine levels and sexual arousal in viewers. But not the people on MDMA. Liechti found that while MDMA enhances feelings of well-being and relaxation, alters perception and the sense of touch, it indirectly facilitated physical, though non-sexual, interactions.
Ecstasy, which acts as both a stimulant and hallucinogen, triggers the release of various neurotransmitters. There's norepinephrine, which increases heart rate and blood pressure; dopamine, a key player in your brain's pleasure center; and serotonin, a neurotransmitter thought to be responsible for mood balance. When the latter two transmitters combine and fire around your noggin, you feel awesome.
But like anything else that impacts serotonin levels, like the medication Prozac, Ecstasy can actually hamper sex drive — to the point that some people can't get an erection or take longer to lubricate.
However, even though serotonin might stifle the sex drive, it's been shown to release oxytocin, the "love hormone" responsible for solidifying emotional bonds. That's why your dosed-up friend keeps calling everyone beautiful and important in the grand portrait of humanity, or whatever.
From cosmopolitans article, "What Sex on Molly is Like" there are multiple ways MDMA can affect your body during sex...
1. Ecstasy doesn't necessarily make you want to have a nonstop bone session 🍆
While a majority of the participants (nearly 85 percent) reported "some form of related sexual enhancement," they didn't necessarily have a ton of sex while high. Men reported struggling to get hard, and delayed orgasm was also a major effect of the drug. "I can't perform when I'm getting at my peak," said one 21-year-old participant. "After my peak is when I get extremely horny and aroused, and that's when I can perform."
2. But it does make you super sensitive to touch 😳
MDMA is referred to often as the "love drug," and a big reason why is that it makes physical sensation feel amazing, according to the participants. "With ecstasy, my body sensations are just all in full effect," one 23-year-old participant said. "Getting touched, just anything kind of stimulates it."
3. You don't have sex on MDMA, you make love ❤️
People reported feeling sensual, not sexual. It was feelings of romance, not pure horniness. "I feel like I am making love," one 42-year-old participant said. "I hold the person even more; the kisses are more conducive; the warmth is there. It doesn't have to be penetration necessarily or any type of copulation."
4. Also, you just sorta fall in love with everything and everyone around you 😍
Again, the "love drug" thing. "For the length of time you're high, you sort of fall in love with everyone you're having sex with," said one 45-year-old participant. Other participants said the feeling was "more romantic or whatever," and said they feel like they're in love with the people who are taking ecstasy with them.
5. You're more outgoing and flirty 😘
"I get a lot more flirty when I'm on it and I'm just like, 'OK, I need to hook up now,'" said one 20-year-old participant. "I love making out when I'm on it. I'm just like, 'OK, I have to find someone.'"
6. Which means your sexual standards are lower 🤷🏻♀️
This is where things get into dangerous and bad territory. Because you're less inhibited on ecstasy, participants found they were attracted to people they wouldn't be attracted to sober. "I think my standards get lowered a lot when I'm on ecstasy," said one 19-year-old participant. "When I'm at the club and I'm hooking up with some guy, like, five minutes later when we're making out, I'm like, 'Who the hell is this?' If I become coherent, then I'll stop. Like it's easy for someone to get me in bed than it would be if I wasn't on ecstasy."
COCAINE (COKE, BLOW, SNOW)
When you think of coke, you think slinky starlets wearing Halston, supermodels doing bumps backstage during Fashion Week, and groupies snorting lines of coke off of erect rock star dicks. That shit just sounds all sorts of glamorous, dirty, and sexy at the same time.
One study in The American Journal of Psychiatry and another in Psychopharmacology found that cocaine use increases sexual desire. It also tends to make sex last longer and feel more pleasurable, but like MDMA, it makes orgasm difficult, says Earleywine. It can also cause erectile dysfunction, both immediately afterward and in the long term after chronic use, says Matthew Johnson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University.
From the website, melmagazine.com, a 34-year old female Los Angeles Writer writes "You can have sex until your vag is raw and he just can’t come, or he loses his erection mid-act,” she says of her experiences. Still, she describes sex on coke as “really fun and intense,” especially since it “makes everyone hotter, sexier, and way more interesting than they would be without drugs".
According to soc.ucsb.edu, although it produces a sense of euphoria and a surge in energy and sensory awareness, these effects often wear off quickly and can have negative consequences on both male and female sexual function. Although research is limited, studies have shown a correlation between amphetamine use and erectile dysfunction. According to a study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, amphetamine users were twice as likely to experience erectile dysfunction compared to the matched controls.5 The study found that duration of cocaine use had no effect on participants' sexual function. Interestingly, participants who used most frequently were most likely to report an increase in positive sexual function. Not enough research has been conducted to determine whether or not erectile dysfunction is a long term consequence or a short term effect.
Cocaine can lead to an over emphasis on personal desires and short-term outcomes which may decrease the likeliness of users practicing safe sex. Drug intoxication and addiction can compromise judgment and decision-making and potentially lead to risky sexual behavior, including trading sex for drugs and needle sharing. This increases a cocaine user’s risk for contracting sexually transmitted infections such as HIV and other infectious diseases such as hepatitis C.
Problems getting hard-ons, difficulty coming and less sex drive can be other side effects, especially if the dose is big or you take it for a long time.
LSD (ACID, BOOMERS, TABS)
Getting high on acid (LSD) is also known as an "acid trip" or "psychedelic experience" and is technically termed LSD intoxication. During this period of intoxication, users experience a wide variety of effects, most often visual and other sensory distortions, changes to thought processes, intense emotions, including euphoria, and occasionally for some people, surprising new insights.
An acid trip is a lengthy process, typically lasting 8 to 12 hours. With the distortions in time perception that occur as an effect of the drug, the experience can feel much longer—some say they feel like it could last forever. This can be highly enjoyable when the mood of the user and those around is buoyant or contented, but extremely unsettling when moods are low and thoughts take a somber or even macabre turn.
According to TRADE Sexual Health, LSD can make you feel horny, heighten your sense of touch and hallucinations can be erotic. Sex on acid can seem to last much longer than it actually does because the drug can lower your inhibitions and change how you see reality, it might be easier to act out sexual fantasties. Lower inhibitions can also cloud your judgement about safer sex. Because there's always a risk of a bad trip, sex on LSD is best done with someone you know well and trust.
Once the drug hits you, you just let go, while also being fully aware of all your cognitive functions. You're aware of every muscle in your body and every tiny little twitch feels like a massive sensation that envelops you entirely. However, sex on acid can be a little tricky. While it makes you more aware, it is also easy to lose concentration while having sex on this drug. Imagine being at it, full throttle, but then the thought of a double cheese lamb burger with fries hits you. BAM! Erection gone!
Found on the Cognitive Liberty UK site, here are tips and advice when it comes to mixing LSD with sex:
1. Couples wishing to explore LSD-sex should start with small doses. At very high doses, sex on LSD can become quite difficult. LSD can lead to a kind of dissociation from the body which temporarily may make sex seem unappealing and bodily urges towards sex seem distant: it can push awareness towards transcendence in which case “worldly” experiences become less interesting.
2. As with any psychedelic trip, the setting (whether physical or psychological) must be suitable.
3. Since LSD can work as an aphrodisiac, be careful who you use it with. It’s ability to cause or enhance feelings of love mean that it may be wise to use it with an existing partner, rather than with a stranger you meet at the pub! In terms of getting the most out of the experience, using LSD with a partner with whom you are already in a loving and trusting relationship is advised.
4. LSD can be used to enhance tantric or meditative approaches to sex. Try exploring these routes before/alongside using LSD.
5. There are no easy guidelines about whether to have sex on acid together or whether just one person should be on it. Some have suggested that if both people have sex on very high doses of LSD it can be ‘a bit much’, and that it is a good idea for one person to do a smaller dose, or do none at all.
6. Since in many people sex is often associated with complex emotional and psychological dynamics, be mindful, loving and caring of how your feeling and acting. LSD puts people in a very sensitive, perhaps even vulnerable, position: if some one is on LSD with you then they have put a lot of trust in you, don’t abuse it. At all times strive towards emotionally mature and harmonious resolution of any problems that arise.
7. Moderation. Be responsible. Use your common sense. Mixing LSD with alcohol or other drugs is unpredictable and can be dangerous.
8. Don’t let LSD cloud your judgements about safe-sex practices.
ALCOHOL
The relationship between alcohol and sex is a tricky one. It can help us open up to healthy sexual activities, but as you can imagine, it can lead us into dangerous situations as well. Contrary to popular belief, alcohol is not an aphrodisiac and can actually inhibit your ability to attain an erection and orgasm. So, how does alcohol affect our sex lives exactly? Here’s the good and bad of it.
From WebMD's article "8 Ways Alcohol Can Affect Your Sex Life", Laurie J. Watson, LMFT describes the ways that alcohol can affect the way we have sex...
1. Alcohol lowers our inhibitions 🍻
Though it doesn’t actually increase libido, alcohol does lower our inhibitions. It can ease our anxiety and help us move past the issues that have kept us from being sexual. Body image concerns or worries about pleasing a partner or reaching orgasm can be relaxed with a glass of wine. Alcohol may also make erotic talk seem easier. Focusing on performance suffocates a man’s instinct to initiate, and a small amount of alcohol can reduce his fear of a poor outcome and increase his sexual courage. If performance problems are psychogenic, his “going with the moment” and the lack of anxiety will improve his erections or his staying power.
2. Alcohol can help us focus on the present 🤔
Stress is one of the most common reasons for lower sexual frequency. Alcohol’s depressant properties slow down the neurons in our brain temporarily, lowering pressure and tension from our worries. And optimal sex requires us to focus on the sensations in the body letting go of our stressors and endless to-do lists.
3. Increases feelings of being attracted to our partner 😍
Studies show that people rate others as more attractive after drinking than when judging the same people without consuming alcohol. Attraction is actually a variable quantity that is influenced by how we are getting along, our feelings of connection, our own state of mind as well as what our partner looks like.
4. Makes us want to be close to someone ☺️
The effect of alcohol on our prefrontal cortex, which governs our emotions, can urge us to get close to our partner. It can make us more talkative including becoming more open about our loving feelings. If a partner needs their spouse to open up in order to make is emotionally safe to feel sexual, small amounts of alcohol may increase their relatedness. Unfortunately, in larger amounts, alcohol can nearly do the exact opposite of what is mentioned above.
5. Alcohol carries inherent risks as a substance ☠️
For some people the risk of alcoholism is very real and any drink might cause them to fall back into an addiction. Certain health conditions and medications have a contraindication for alcohol. And some research has suggested a possible link between regular alcohol consumption with cancer and other diseases.
6. Impaired judgment 😬
If we are not with a safe partner, alcohol may cause us make altered decisions about having sex with someone inappropriate or make us vulnerable to having unprotected sex.
7. Poor sexual performance 🤥
Too much alcohol often causes poor erectile functioning. For women it can dehydrate their vagina causing penetration to be uncomfortable, even painful.
8. Separate us from reality and our partner 👽
Being inebriated is sometimes a passive way to not be present with our partner or be able to understand their sexual and emotional needs.
A 2009 study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found less volume of liquid in the body in conjunction with a depressed nervous system, led to a struggle with sexual performance. This is because alcohol can dehydrate the body, decreasing blood volume while increasing the hormone associated with erectile dysfunction— angiotensin. The body is able to work at optimal capacity by staying hydrated, since major biological activities and functions utilize water molecules.
To avoid the dreaded whiskey dick, you don’t necessarily have to stop drinking alcohol. Just drink in moderation. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines moderate drinking as no more than two drinks a day for men, and one drink a day for women.
WOWZA! That was a whole lot of information. As you've read up until now, drugs can have both it's negative and positive effects on sex. Heightened sensitivity, erectile dysfunction, deeper feelings of closeness with your partner, lack of focus... all elements that can happen under the influence of drugs in a sexual setting. Whatever you decide to do involving your sex life (and whether you lean more towards the left or right picture below), just make sure it's safe, consensual, and fun! -D
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