Here in the UK, most cannabis users eat, smoke or vaporize weed to get high.

But in US states where it’s now legal, a very different method of using weed is emerging.

Marijuana is slowly shedding its image as a drug used by munchy-crazed potheads and becoming a medicine for people suffering from chronic pain and even a ‘wellness’ product believed to enhance healthy living.

In California though, people are using placing cannabis-based products inside their bums and vaginas to enhance sex or tackle soreness caused by medical conditions.


Weed is becoming big business in the US after it was legalised in states including California and Colorado (Image: Metro/ Getty)

We spoke to a company called Foria which makes the world’s first cannabis suppository, as well as a woman who has used weed to help overcome a history of sexual trauma and discover the joy of sex and sensuality.



These cannabis advocates told us that putting weed in unexpected places can have remarkable effects.

‘It’s not the usual method of delivery,’ says Mathew Gerson, CEO of Foria, whilst discussing his cannabis suppositories.

‘So it’s been quite challenging for us to present our product to a general consumer audience.’

Before getting involved in the ‘cannabis space’, Gerson was involved in the adult industry, where he worked on the manufacture of condoms.

He began to become aware of a ‘major gap’ between the number of pleasure products aimed at men and women, before starting to investigate the potential health benefits of weed.

One woman who advocates using weed during sex told us it ‘helps her mastubatory practice’ (Copyright: Ella Byworth/ metro.co.uk)

First, his firm released a sex oil infused with a large dose of THC – the active ingredient in cannabis – which can only be sold in states where weed is legal.

After this, he made CBD products which could be sold across the world and then two different suppositories designed for anal and vaginal insertion.

‘We had people from the EU flying to the US to try our products,’ he adds.

‘These were people who were having difficulty with intimacy and painful penetration, who then reported their first pain-free sex for many years.

‘It was transformative for them and drives our work in this space.’

This packet contains a cannabis suppositry (Image: Foria)

The suppository is designed to combat pain and boost pleasure (Image: Foria)

The entrepreneur claims weed can act as a powerful pain killer, helping with endometriosis, menstrual cramps or ovarian cysts as well as boosting ‘sexual and sensual enhancement’.

Men in homosexual relationships are also using the suppositories anally ‘for the sake of pleasure exploration’ as well as pain relief.

‘We hold a lot of tension in the anal sphincter which can cause back pain and other issues,’ he said.

The products represent a ‘high dose’ of THC, but will not get you high unless eaten during oral sex after being inserted.

‘If you take cannabis vaginally, it’s not going through the liver and most women do not report feeling any kind of psychoactivity,’ Mathew added.

‘The same applies when it’s taken rectally, which is good news for people who are more interested in analgesic benefits rather than being in an altered state.

‘It’s a way to build a relationship with the plant.

‘However, if you eat our lubricant you will get high – and if you eat the suppository you will get very high’.

Smoking weed is fast becoming old-fashioned as people find new ways to ingest a herb that’s been used for up to 10,000 years – or possibly even longer (Photo: Getty)

You might think that whopping weed up your hoo-hah is peak California, but the use of the herb in similar ways has a long and storied history.



An academic paper published in 2001 by the aptly named academic Ethan Budd Russo traced the use of cannabis in obstetrics and gynaecology back almost 3,000 years ago – although the herb was likely to be in use long before then.

The Ancient Egyptians ground weed up with honey before placing it into the vagina or rectum, he wrote, whilst Islamic doctors mixed it with other herbs to ‘treat migraine, calm uterine pains, prevent miscarriage, and preserve foetuses in their mothers’ abdomens’.

It’s even claimed that Queen Victoria herself used it as pain relief during the height of the British Empire.

Russo wrote: ‘The long history of cannabis in women’s medicine support further therapeutic investigation and application to a large variety of difficult clinical conditions.

‘Cannabis as a logical medical alternative in obstetrics and gynaecology may yet prove to be… a phoenix whose time it is to rise once more.’

Ashely Manta (left) is a sex educator based in California (Image: Ashley Manta)

To find out what it’s like to use weed to boost sexuality and wellness, we spoke to sex educator Ashley Manta, who describes herself as a ‘sex-positive, cannabis friendly, passionate sexuality educator and coach’.

She advises clients to try using weed to get a little bit high (or really high, if they can handle it) as well as rubbing it into their privates to help sex become more pleasurable.

Manta’s upbeat and breezy celebration of sensuality is all the more remarkable because she is a sexual assault survivor who has spent much of her life on a long and sometimes difficult journey of healing.


After suffering abuse as a child and assaults during her teenage and early adult years, Ashley had difficult enjoying sex and suffered vaginismus – a condition which causes the vaginal muscles to tighten and make sex prohibitively painful.

‘I started to use a THC infused sex oil in 2014 and was able to have penetrative sex for the first time without pain,’ she says.

‘And smoking it also helped with the psychological aspects of sex. Just a puff or two helped quiet my mind and stop racing thoughts, helping me calm down and stopping me from being disconnected from my body.

‘It allowed me to be present and get out of the cycle of feeling hyperarousal – which is a psychological state rather than arousal in a good way.’

Ashley Manta, who believes cannabis can help with wellness and sexuality (Image: Ashley Manta)

Ashley now wants the world to know about the benefits of marijuana.

‘I want people to know there is a pleasure after trauma because for a long time I didn’t think I could have great sex because of my past.

‘Since discovering cannabis sex products it’s night and day.

‘I am having hands down and without reservation the best sex of my life and I am so happy that I have travelled from being a survivor of sexual violence who struggled with enjoying sex to being ravenously hungry for amazing pleasure.’

Ashley says weed sex oil is not like traditional lube, but instead has to be rubbed into the nether regions and left to ‘marinate for 25 minutes before sexy fun times commence’.


‘It works just as well solo and with a partner,’ she adds.

‘The first time I used it I was by myself and it certainly enhanced my masturbatory practice.’

Whilst sex was once sore and painful for Ashley, she is now able to enjoy ‘marathon sex weekends’ with her ‘well endowed’ boyfriend in which they make love up to 20 times in a row.

This is one of Foria’s products – a pleasure oil made from cannabis (Image: Foria)

‘I’d encourage people to not get “stoned”,’ Ashley advises.

‘Be very aware of your tolerance. If you are brand new to cannabis a tiny amount is plenty,

‘May take a tiny puff of a joint, wait for it to hit you and then masturbate so you get the solo data first and remember which cannabis product made your skin feel really deliciously sensitive or made your body feel excited about simulation.

‘You don’t want to reach for a strain which is going to make you feel anxious or paranoid or that’s going to make you want to watch Netflix all night.’

Of course, here in the UK weed is still illegal so you’re not going to get the chance to enjoy its alleged sexual or health benefits without fear of the police crashing your party.

Until the day it’s finally legalised, cannabis is still a banned drug which carries penalties for possession – no matter which orifice you put it in.