I TRIED A CBD SEX SUPPOSITORY, AND IT WAS NOTHING LIKE I
EXPECTED
If I had wanted to spend my Friday date night stoned out of my
mind, craving junk food with a mad case of the munchies and lazily curled up on
the couch with a movie, I could have spent 10 minutes inside any local, Los
Angeles dispensary and walked away dazed and happy.
But I didn’t. I
wanted an evening for two with my long-term partner, and sex-focused CBD
products lured me into a purchase of 800mg, coconut oil-based suppositories.
A week earlier, I
had spent hours online, poring over CBD products made especially for sexual
wellness. All of them promised medical – not recreational – benefits to one’s
sensual experience, including a relaxed state of mind, superior sensitivity to
pleasurable touch, and increased lubrication and arousal. However one preferred
to enjoy partner play, these products claimed to enhance everything, from
foreplay through the big finish.
Similarly, without
the presence of THC, a psychoactive chemical in the cannabis plant, CBD brands
claimed their sensual wellness suppositories wouldn’t cause any of the brain
fog or head-in-the-clouds side effects associated with recreational marijuana
use.
And boy, were they
wrong. Those 800 milligram, supposedly CBD-only suppositories, knocked me out
like a bong rip straight from a scene in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Sex was suddenly the furthest thing from my
mind.
My experience could
not have differed more from literally every piece of CBD marketing literature
I’d ever read, so I decided it was time to call in the experts to help decipher
what happened – and where everything went so horribly and inexplicably wrong.
I enlisted the
advice of Dr. Jordan Tishler, MD, a cannabis therapeutics specialist with over
23 years of experience, and Chelsea Cebara, a personal cannabis consultant and
product developer.
Dr. Jordan Tishler,
MD, is a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, President of the Association
of Cannabinoid Specialists, and CEO/CMO at inhale MD, a patient focused clinical practice.
Chelsea Cebara has
been helping humans love cannabis since 2010 as a medically-certified cannabis
consultant, product developer, and owner of Cebara Consulting at ChelseaCebara.com.
Cebara proudly formulated the world’s first water-based THC lubricant, Velvet
Swing, and co-founded the Sex
& Cannabis Professional Alliance.
Let’s begin by
walking through each step of my rather odd experience. For starters, I was
genuinely stoned after anally inserting a single suppository. Rather than the
light, relaxed, and sensual feeling I was promised in the product’s marketing,
I felt clumsy, dazed, and heavy. My partner said I looked and acted like I had
just eaten a pot brownie, and based on his observation, I completely agreed. I
indeed felt like I’d eaten a recreational cannabis edible, not a product
designed for medicinal purposes.
How did this happen?
Aren’t CBD products not supposed
to leave you feeling ‘high?’
Dr. Jordan Tishler, MD: I’m sorry that you’ve had such an unexpected and odd experience.
However, it really points out a whole bunch of problems with CBD and the
industry.
CBD should not get
you high. The fact that you were so far gone tells us that this product was
simply poorly made and tested. It had to be full of THC, whether by accident or
design. CBD products are entirely unregulated (unless from a state-legal
dispensary) and can have all sorts of things in them that shouldn’t be there,
from THC to heavy metals to pesticides and even opioids or benzos.
Worse, CBD can be
converted into other cannabinoids (like d8-THC) intentionally or inadvertently.
That conversion process requires some careful chemistry and can lead to
unexpected results if not done right, including potentially toxic by-products.
This is a just-emerging area of concern and there’s going to be more and more
about this in the near future.
If the CBD
suppository I tried had been
properly manufactured, what would have been the outcome?
Dr. Jordan Tishler, MD: As for what CBD should have done for you, there are no data to
support the claims that people are making. CBD has been shown in the lab to
cause smooth muscle relaxation in the vagina, but nowhere near as well as THC.
Chelsea Cebara: The hype around CBD
has tipped from exaggeration to outright falsehood in many cases. Much of the
trouble comes, as Jordan says, from the transposition of expectations from THC
onto CBD. Sadly, marketers either take advantage of the confusion or directly
encourage it. While useful (at sufficient dosages and in conjunction with other
cannabinoids) for inflammation, pain, or spasticity, CBD does not have the
fundamental oomph that THC does. Oomph here meaning the ability to dilate blood
vessels, which is the largest portion of the arousal-enhancing effect THC
provides.
And now for another
supposed CBD anomaly. Instead of the promised, increased lubrication, I now had
a severe case of cotton mouth, as if I’d just smoked a joint. Even worse, my
vagina was also as dry as a desert after using the suppository anally – which
I’ve now humorously deemed ‘cotton crotch.’
During a 2nd attempt
at using the suppository vaginally, again, there was no increased lubrication
except from the melting of the suppository itself. Why didn’t I experience the
increased natural lubrication everyone else raves about?
Dr. Jordan Tishler, MD: Similarly, increased vaginal lubrication is a THC phenomenon –
and incidentally, “cotton-crotch” is not related to THC like cotton mouth is –
the mechanisms are entirely different. If you had poor lubrication during these
events, it was likely due to being too stoned, and not a direct effect on your
vagina.
Now let’s circle
back my original reasons for trying a CBD suppository in the first place. These
suppositories promised to relax the muscles in and around the vagina and anus,
leading to more pleasurable and comfortable penetration. I was also led to
believe that my entire body would feel more positively receptive to sensual
touch, and my mind would feel at ease.
Again, the CBD
suppository did exactly the opposite. I became hyper sensitive to any kind of
touch or sexual act, and not in a good way. The slightest of teasing pinches
felt painful, and even the most vanilla types of sex felt starkly, disturbingly
intense. I wanted to curl up in a ball and be coddled, not copulated
with.
What happened to
make my experience so different from what I’d read about CBD and sex?
Dr. Jordan Tishler, MD: All the unpleasantness you describe is also THC related. Too
much of a good thing is, well, too much. I’ve treated many women for the issues
you describe quite successfully, but at WAY lower doses. Typically about 10mg
of THC. While Chelsea and I have differing points of view on this, I find that
local administration of cannabinoids (vaginal or anal) is less effective than
systemic. I often say: most of sexuality occurs between the ears, not the legs.
What would you
instead recommend for consumers seeking the properties usually associated with
CBD, like muscle relaxation, increased pleasurable sensations, and a calm
mind?
Dr. Jordan Tishler, MD: I don’t expect that CBD would help with these issues to begin
with, so I would be recommending THC based products. Further, as I mentioned, I
don’t find local administration to be very useful. So, I would typically advise
low dose THC by flower vaporization.
As for what low dose
means and why flower vaporization – low dose means 5-15mg with 10mg as average.
If you use a flower vaporizer and put 15-20% THC cannabis flower into it, you
get about 5mg THC per puff (defined as a full deep inhalation). So 1-3 puffs
should do it for most people.
Obviously for those
who have driven their tolerances up, this dose might not be effective, but
rather than use more THC, I would work to decrease their tolerance because
that’s safer.
Smoking produces sig
toxins and, interestingly, so do the current oil vape pens – so I advise
against them. Oral options are just too slow and unpredictable for routine use
in partnered sexual situations.
Chelsea Cebara: I am an evangelist
for topical applications for sex specifically because they do not, in most
cases, cause intoxication. The vagina is a mucous membrane and does absorb some
cannabinoids into the bloodstream, but typically not enough that the user
notices any changes in their mental state. The vagina is not part of the
digestive system. The rectum, however, very much is. Anal applications are
going to have a much, much higher bioavailability than vaginal ones, regardless
of which cannabinoids you’re using. (Though if folks want to get high, too,
great! Por que no los dos!)
Is there any way
consumers can test their CBD products to ensure efficacy and rule out the
presence of potentially unwanted chemicals?
Dr. Jordan Tishler, MD: Unfortunately, there is no way to test products yourself. In
fact, part of the problem is that even when testing is mandated, some of these
toxic chemicals aren’t detected. It’s frankly quite hard to find things you
don’t know might be there. The chemistry isn’t impossible, but this industry is
moving with such lightening stupidity that serious scientists are having
trouble keeping up. It’s easier to produce something than it is to do so
safely. While I’m not a big fan of government, this is where I do believe
regulation has its rightful role – only the government can require and assure
that these products are properly manufactured and tested.
To conclude, is
there any real evidence for CBD’s usefulness as a sexual health product, or are
consumers being fooled by marketing hype? Could CBD products be more effective
if developed and manufactured by large pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer?
Dr. Jordan Tishler, MD: There is some evidence for CBD, but it’s all in rats. Since
we’re not rats, I don’t think it’s applicable to us. Rats are a good start, but
humans have to be tested. So, yes, it’s all marketing hype.
The interesting
thing is that drug companies, like Pfizer you mentioned, spend millions because
they’re required to prove that their products are safe and truly work. While
the cost is high, this is because that’s what it takes to do the necessary
research. Cannabis companies don’t even have to prove safety. We need a better
system.
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