Have you always felt like your girlfriend gets stoned or high much faster than you do? Well, science has now confirmed it. A study published in the journal Psychopharmacology has confirmed that women need significantly less cannabis to experience the same effects as men. So, while your girlfriend might be shopping online a bit more often, she actually makes up for it by putting less cannabis in her vaporizer.
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Men smoke more often than women
For this specific study, researchers attempted to simulate different smoking methods. “We know from population survey data that men use cannabis more often than women, but it appears that women experience more severe cannabis-related harm,” says study author Justin Matheson, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto.
“Animal studies suggest this is because females are more sensitive to the effects of THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, and that this may be due to differences in how THC is metabolized in females. However, there is relatively little human laboratory data suggesting sex differences in the acute effects of THC.” That has now changed.
In the double-blind study, 91 healthy cannabis users smoked a single joint—or cannabis cigarette, as the study calls it—(12.5% THC or placebo) before undergoing various tests. During these tests, subjective effects were recorded, and cognitive tests were also administered. The researchers also monitored their vital signs, such as blood pressure and body temperature. The participants used cannabis approximately 1 to 4 times per week and were between 19 and 25 years old.
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Women get high after less cannabis
The result is quite remarkable. The researchers found that while both men and women puffed on the joint for the same amount of time, the women ultimately absorbed less of the cannabis. And despite the differences in exactly how much of the joint was smoked, there were no differences in subjective drug effects, mood, or cognitive effects between the male and female participants.
“We found that women smoked less of a cannabis joint, had lower THC levels in their blood, and yet experienced the same acute effects as men. So I think the main reason is that women may need a lower dose of THC to achieve the same level of intoxication as men,” Matheson explained.
“What I want to emphasize here, however, is that participants in our study could smoke as much cannabis as they wanted. When participants smoke until they reach their desired high, we call this ‘titration to effect.’ Titration to effect is possible when smoking cannabis because THC delivery to the brain is very rapid via this route of administration, allowing users to feel the high while they’re still smoking.” The same is not possible with cannabis consumed in edibles, such as cannabis cookies or a space brownie. “In these cases, women are at greater risk of acute harm,” according to the researcher.
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The next question: why?
“Studies like ours are a kind of first step in recognizing that there are sex differences in the acute effects of cannabis. But the next step is to see why that is the case, and the answer likely relates to both sex and gender,” the researcher notes, referring to the differences between biological and sociocultural sex and gender. For example, there is evidence that estrogen (a sex hormone) influences the metabolism of THC.
