Cannabis for Men and Women
Cannabis is the most extensively used illicit substance in the world, with over 181 million users. It's commonly assumed that it's predominantly a male problem: men account for three-quarters of users, consume more, and are twice as likely to get addicted. Women consume cannabis in lower numbers, in lesser amounts, and at a later age than men.
Why Men and Women Use Cannabis
Men and women generally have different motivations for using cannabis. Men, on average, are more strongly influenced by external factors, such as cannabis availability and peer use. Men also tend to have a strong cannabis-using social network.
In contrast, women are more likely to use as a result of internal factors such as coping with anxiety and relationship issues. Women are also more likely to combine cannabis with prescription drugs.
Among cannabis users who seek treatment, men consume higher quantities of alcohol and tobacco and have more criminal convictions and personality disorders.
Women experience more severe dependence and find it harder to quit. Women tend to have intimate partners who also use drugs, and have greater exposure to physical and sexual abuse.
Women are less likely to seek treatment, often because they fear losing custody of their children, because of difficulties in finding assistance for childcare and due to the lack of services for pregnant women.
Differences in Processing Cannabis
The chemicals in cannabis work by attaching to certain receptors in the brain. The density and function of these receptors are affected by sex hormones, resulting in sex variations in how cannabis impacts the brain.
Unfortunately, we know little about whether cannabis affects cognition differently in men and women. Some studies show that chronic use is associated with lower memory in women; and poorer decision-making and reaction time in men; others show no sex effects.
Few studies have examined if cannabis affects the brain differently in men and women. Neuro imaging studies are expensive and involve small numbers of participants. Almost half of the studies have focused almost exclusively on men to minimise any differences between individuals that may undermine our certainty of the results, to the detriment of women who may respond to cannabis differently.
Gender equity in Cannabis Research
When comparing men and women, it is difficult (if not impossible), to examine the pure effects of biological sex and gender (cultural and social factors associated with biological sex).
Animal studies are conducted in highly controlled environments that allow scientists to investigate sex effects, but are limited in their ability to tell us about human sex differences. In humans, we cannot fully disentangle sex from gender effects, as sex is systematically linked to many other psychological, social and cultural factors.
Men and women show different reasons for using cannabis, patterns of use and harms experienced. Unfortunately, we know very little about the role of sex on how cannabis affects the human brain and cognition, if at all.
