In the world of pain relief, men and women sometimes respond slightly differently to any given medicine or intervention. This analysis under double-blind, placebo controlled conditions, set out to determine what differences marijuana (cannabis) might have on men vs. women.
Active cannabis (marijuana) with a THC level of 3.5-5.6% was compared with inactive cannabis with a THC level of 0.0%. The pain inducing activity consisted of submerging the hand in cold (4 degrees C) water. Pain sensitivity was gathered from time to report pain, and pain tolerance was time to withdraw the hand from the cold water.
Marijuana containing THC increased pain tolerance in both men and women immediately after smoking. However, THC containing marijuana produced a decrease in pain sensitivity in men, but not in women.
This study shows there are sometimes gender variations in natural medicine just as in synthetic medicine.
