Pot smoking may make men impotent--study

Though research on the topic is contradictory and few studies are high-quality, a recent study finding that the penis contains receptors for marijuana's active ingredient should make drug addicts think of the long term effect before rolling a joint, the Fox News quoted lead researcher Rany Shamloul as saying.

"It's a strong message to our younger generations and younger men,” he added.

Study particulars
In order to assess the affect of marijuana use on men's sexual health, Rany Shamloul, a physician with appointments at the University of Ottawa and Queen's University in Canada as well as the University of Cairo, reviewed past researches on the drug.

Scientists first studied the co-relation between marijuana and sex in 1970s and found that cannabis ups sexual desire, and has an effect similar to love drug.

In a research, published in the 'Journal of Psychoactive Drugs' in 1982, 75 percent of men said that pot smoking prior to sex enhanced their performance on bed.

Meanwhile, another study published in the same journal the same year reported that erectile dysfunction was twice as common in marijuana smokers.

The problem is that since none of these studies used validated measurement techniques, there might have been loopholes in the procedure, Shamloul added.

"What we are really missing are clinical studies.

"We are stuck with only animal studies and molecular studies, and some clinical studies done in the '60s and '70s, most on a very small number of men… We need well-designed, placebo-control studies examining marijuana's effect in both the short-term and long-term," he said.

THC present in cannabis may lower men's sex drive
But, according to a 2010 study reported in the journal 'European Urology,' researchers found receptors for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive substance in cannabis plant, in the penis tissue from five male patients and six rhesus monkeys.

It was found that these receptors are present in the smooth muscle of penis. Some studies show that THC has an inhibitory effect on the muscle.

"This is a more serious effect on the erectile function because the smooth muscle makes up 70 percent to 80 percent of the penis itself," Shamloul said.

Interestingly, women are not immune to the green drug's side effects.

Previous studies have found that women who smoke marijuana are at an increased risk of contracting STDs. This may be attributed to the fact that female users are likely to have unprotected sex with multiple partners.