From Pelvic Pain to Pleasure: The Case for Cannabis as Women’s Medicine.

From endometriosis pain to orgasmic difficulty, emerging research is pushing women’s health conditions into the medical cannabis conversation.

Growing scientific evidence and patient experience with cannabis are helping bring women’s pain, pleasure, and reproductive health conditions to the forefront of cannabis medicine and policy.

Endometriosis, female orgasmic difficulty/disorder (FOD), ovarian cysts, and uterine fibroids are women’s health conditions that affect millions of women and can impact pain, pleasure, mental health, fertility, relationships, and bodily autonomy. They are gendered health conditions with emerging evidence supporting their consideration as qualifying conditions for medical cannabis. 

Endometriosis and FOD illustrate why this matters.

Endometriosis alone affects roughly one in ten reproductive-age women and girls worldwide, about 190 million people globally. The World Health Organization describes its impact as medical, social, and economic, with severe pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, infertility, poor sexual health, and reduced quality of life. 

While there is no cure yet for endometriosis, cannabis may help reduce chronic pelvic pain and related symptoms. A 2022 systematic review of medical cannabis for gynecologic pain from Johns Hopkins University found that 61% to 95.5% of women reported pain relief. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada also notes that cannabis may be recommended for endometriosis-related pain and symptom management.

FOD has been similarly overlooked despite decades of research documenting its persistence. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5^th Edition Text Revision (DSM-5-TR) reports that estimates of orgasm difficulty among premenopausal women range widely, from 8% to 72%, depending on factors including age, culture, symptom duration, and severity.  In 2021, Marchand evaluated FOD treatments and concluded that treatment options remain limited in scope and effectiveness and that there has been little innovation in treatment since the 1980s. Finnish researchers Kontula and Miettinen published a longitudinal report in 2016 and similarly found no substantial decrease in women reporting orgasm difficulties since the 1970s. 

At the same time, a growing body of research suggests cannabis may improve orgasm frequency, ease, intensity, and satisfaction in women. In a 2025 systematic review by Mulvehill & Tishler, 16 studies including 8,849 women found consistent improvements in female orgasmic function among women using cannabis before sexual activity. In their 2024 study, cannabis use was also associated with statistically significant improvements in orgasm frequency, ease, and satisfaction in women who reported orgasm difficulty during partnered sex. 

This line of research has deep roots; the relationship between cannabis and female orgasmic function has been documented for more than half a century. Dr. Erich Goode opened the cannabis-and-sex research door in 1969, publishing The Marijuana Smokers, and reporting a woman who could orgasm only when using cannabis. The following year, Barbara Lewis published her research in a book titled, The Sexual Power of Marijuana and reported that four women learned to orgasm using cannabis. More recently, Banbury and colleagues reported improvements in several measures of sexual function among women who participated in a preliminary study of cannabis suppositories, online mindful-compassion sessions, or both following gynecologic cancer treatment. 

Unlike many conventional pharmaceuticals designed to target a single pathway, cannabis may work more like a therapeutic tool that addresses multiple symptoms simultaneously. Medical cannabis researchers Caroline MacCallum and Ethan Russo described cannabis as a “multimodal treatment.” 

This may help explain why women increasingly report using cannabis for women’s health conditions that have not been adequately addressed by conventional care. Endometriosis, female orgasmic difficulty, ovarian cysts, and uterine fibroids may present differently, yet each involves complex interactions among pain, stress, inflammation, hormonal influences, nervous system regulation, and quality of life.

The idea of cannabis as women’s medicine is not new. In a historical review, physician and cannabis researcher Ethan Russo documented cannabis use in obstetrics and gynecology across ancient and modern medical traditions, including for menstrual pain, dysmenorrhea, childbirth, and menopausal symptoms. Earlier work by Aldrich also documented the historical use of cannabis in sexual and tantric practices. 

The question now is not whether cannabis has a history in women’s health. It is whether modern cannabis medicine and policy are ready to catch up.

After petitions and advocacy from the Women’s Cannabis Project and state-based supporters, Connecticut approved female orgasmic disorder/difficulty as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis in 2024. In Illinois, the Women’s Cannabis Project, petitioner Gabriella Bova, and Chicago NORML helped advance female orgasmic disorder, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, and uterine fibroids as qualifying conditions. All four were approved together in 2025, making international news and offering a model for how women’s health can be recognized more comprehensively in medical cannabis policy.

The next frontier in women’s health is getting these conditions recognized as qualifying conditions for medical cannabis in more states and countries. 

This article is from an external, unpaid contributor. It does not represent High Times’ reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.