Pot and Sex

Is pot good for sex? A lot of people believe it is. Many men say that it increases their endurance (in fact, their sense of time may be distorted by the drug), and many women rapturously report that it increases their enjoyment. But watch out. Long-term puffing, a new report concludes, can interfere with the production of reproductive hormones, suppressing the supply of the male sex hormone testosterone enough to produce impotence or infertility.

Earlier studies linking marijuana use to lowered sexual prowess have been largely discounted because they lacked proper controls. But the new study by researchers at the Reproductive Biology Research Foundation of St. Louis and the University of California at Los Angeles will be harder to dismiss because it was so carefully conducted. The researchers found 20 men who volunteered for the study and confined them to the metabolic research ward of U.C.L.A.'s Neuropsychiatric Institute. There they were forbidden to smoke cigarettes or drink coffee or alcohol, and given no marijuana for eleven days before their testosterone levels were measured. Only then were they allowed to smoke pot. Each man was given a daily average of five marijuana cigarettes containing a known quantity of pot's active ingredient and monitored closely throughout the three-month test.

Dramatic Drop. After four weeks, the researchers noted significant drops in the men's production of luteinizing hormone, one of the substances that cause the testes to produce testosterone. After the fifth week, the researchers recorded decreases in the men's testosterone levels. By the end of the eighth week, manufacture of follicle-stimulating hormone, which is also involved in sperm production, was down dramatically too. Within nine weeks, the men's testosterone levels had decreased by an average of one-third--and in some cases to within the range where impotence and infertility could occur.

Dr. Robert Kolodny of the St. Louis group expressed doubt that casual marijuana use would have any serious effect on a man's sexual performance. But citing the study and more personalized interviews with 500 steady marijuana users who experienced sexual problems, he warned that those who smoke too much pot may find more than their inhibitions lowered when they get into bed. Their problem, however, need not be permanent. The study also showed that every subject's testosterone level--and ability to perform sexually--returned to normal two weeks after giving up the weed.

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