We all know that whiskey dick is a real thing that can kill the mood. There have been studies if marijuana kills boners. But is it better to be stoned or drunk when having sex? A new study attempts to find out if it’s better to blaze up or booze up before banging.
Researchers from New York University’s Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR) gathered 24 heterosexual adults (12 male / 12 females) to take part in a series of in-depth interviews about their experiences of having coitus while under the influence of either alcohol or marijuana.
“With marijuana becoming more accepted in the U.S. along with more liberal state-level policies it is important to examine users’ sexual experiences and sexual risk behavior associated with use to inform prevention and harm reduction,” said Joseph J. Palamar, PhD, MPH, an affiliate of CDUHR and an assistant professor of Population Health at NYU Langone Medical Center (NYULMC).
“Since the landscape is changing, and marijuana continues to increase in popularity, research is needed to continue to examine if and how marijuana use may influence risk for unsafe sexual behavior,” Palamar wrote.
The study, which appears in the July issue of the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, discovered the following interesting findings from their research.
Beer goggles are real.
Both drugs lowered inhibitions, but interviewees “overwhelmingly reported that alcohol use was more likely to (negatively) affect the partners they chose.” The study found that both men and women were fairly likely to say that alcohol had the effect of lowering their standards for who they had relations with, including character and appearance.
However, those who smoked weed did not have the same effect.
“With weed I know who I’m waking up with. With drinking, you don’t know. Once you start drinking, everybody looks good,” a 34-year-old female said.
Alcohol “was commonly discussed in terms of having sex with strangers (or someone new).” Whereas weed was more often associated with people they already knew like their boyfriend or girlfriend.”
Weed makes people anxious, but alcohol makes people sick.
“Nausea, dizziness, feeling sick (and vomiting), and blacking out were commonly reported to be associated with alcohol use,” the study said (Really breaking new ground there Copernicus).
As far as weed goes, users felt distracted her from the experience. In some cases, they even felt anxious.
People felt much more regret after sex while drunk.
“Participants reported feelings of regret more frequently after sex on alcohol, but compared to alcohol they generally didn’t report poor judgment after using marijuana.”
“I want to cook the person something to eat (after sex) when I’m high,” one male interviewee said. “When I’m drunk, it’s like, ‘I’m out of here.’”
Alcohol is more of a social lubricant and marijuana tends to be used during a private affair.
“Interestingly, some users reported that the illegality of marijuana actually facilitated sexual interactions,” Palamar stated. “Since smoking marijuana recreationally is illegal in most states and smoking it tends to produce a strong odor, it usually has to be used in a private setting. Some individuals utilize such private or intimate situations to facilitate sexual encounters.”
Speaking of social lubricant, users complained about vaginal dryness from smoking weed. Dudes said they couldn’t get it up thanks to too many shots of Patron.
“Research is needed continue to study sexual effects of recreational drugs to inform prevention to ensure that users and potential users of these drugs are aware of sexual effects associated with use,” emphasizes Dr. Palamar. “Our results can inform prevention and harm reduction education especially with regard to marijuana since people who smoke marijuana generally don’t receive any harm reduction information at all. They’re pretty much just told not to use it.”
“It wasn’t surprising that alcohol use reportedly led to less post-sex satisfaction than marijuana,” the good doctor said.
Of course, this is a very small sample size, but it does paint a picture that weed may be the better drug to use if you plan on making sweet love.
[WashingtonPost]
