VANCOUVER—Using just the right amount of pot may lead to better sex, according to experts.

For those looking to heighten their passion and arousal, marijuana-based products are here to offer an answer.

Topicals and lubricants — with cannabinoid components — fly off the shelves at Cannabis Culture, one of Vancouver’s oldest pot paraphernalia shops, according to Jeremiah Vandermeer, the CEO.

“There’s a definite market,” he said in an interview. “It’s been used as an aphrodisiac for years.”

And with legalization looming by Oct. 17, the floodgates have lifted with products on the market to help everything from sexual pleasure, sleep aids, pain, anxiety or chronic illnesses.

Marijuana and sex will be the topic of a private panel conversation on Wednesday evening, hosted by Dosist — a cannabis-based health and wellness company named one of Time Magazine’s best inventions in 2016.

Anything that can make you “relaxed” has the potential to make people more aroused, said sex therapist Kim Switnicki.

“I don’t think it’s a lot different than a glass of wine,” she explained. “There is no magic pill, it’s difficult to create one.”

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But too much of a good thing can create a dependence or worse — pressure to perform. Switnicki warned with women, arousal is much more complex because the female cycle is simply different.

“We want instant gratification, but for partners to connect they need to do the work,” she said, adding the key to heighten their sexual experience is to feel “safe.”

And there aren’t long-term studies about how weed-use works with sex, she added.

Josh Kaplan, neuroscientist and panel member, said the interest in cannabis use and sex sparked in the ’60s where scientists surveyed university campuses where respondents said “indeed, this makes sex better.”

Then the science dropped off. But a study last year at Stanford University found that there was a high correlation between cannabis use and sexual frequency.

Though the study did not prove pot makes for better sex, Kaplan said it does point to how the drug affects the body and brain, particularly in reducing stress and anxieties.

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“Breaking down those barriers to sex, can make cannabis a powerful drug,” he explained, noting there’s evidence it acts as an aphrodisiac. “It can influence your reward processing in the brain.”

That means the brain gears up for excitement — anticipating a potential orgasm — and releases dopamine, a powerful chemical that plays a role in reward processing.

There are more than 100 cannabinoids — with varying effects — identified in marijuana: Current research is commonly on tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive constituent and cannabidiol (CBD) which is approved to medically treat pain for diseases such as multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.

But the biggest challenge is that academic research has fallen behind human-use patterns, Kaplan insisted. Studying the human population has been difficult because of federal restrictions in North America, which make it hard to do “gold standard” clinical analysis, he explained.

“Understanding how different components of cannabis interact and the dosing range by which, you get therapeutic benefits but also reduce negative side effects is key,” he said.

And every plant and product is different. For instance, too much THC can lead to a reduction in libido, which makes dose amounts critical, Kaplan said.

Dosist, the company based in California with plans to expand into the Canadian market, have developed two formulas to assist with sexual health. They sell vaporizer pens with specifically 2.25 mg of cannabis.

But formulas drastically vary, mixing THC and CBD constituents, depending on the desired outcome, such as passion.

“This allows people to pull back a little bit, check their egos at the door, and connect with partners on a more intimate level,” said Josh Campbell, the president.

On Wednesday, Health Canada released its regulations for upcoming legalization. But vaporizers and concentrates will not be made legal until a later date, according to a spokesperson from Health Canada.

That’s why Campbell advocated for dose control to the Senate committee earlier this year, where he said their company was the only at the table currently selling cannabis-based products.

“Every other drug has dose control as a pillar of Western medicine,” he said, pointing to prescription medications, alcohol and tobacco. “Why don’t we take the guesswork out of it, and allow people to pick up products that are much safer solutions.”

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