ACS was proud to welcome Suzanne Mulvehill of the Female Orgasm Research Institute and Jordan Tishler MD, President of ACS, as its two speakers on the topic of Cannabis for Sexual Health.
Sexual Dysfunction
Dr. Tishler began the talk by sharing (and dispelling) some myths about sexuality, such as “Women aren’t interested in sex” or “Male sexual dysfunction is just erectile dysfunction”. He also considered the problem of few people ever seeking or receiving care for sexual issues.
Dr. Tishler lectured on the biopsychosocial understanding of sexuality and its influence. He also covered the categories of sexual dysfunction and noted that for both men and women cannabis use can help across all phases.
Research on the Female Orgasm
Ms. Mulvehill then shared her research with us. She started by explaining that 41% of women experience orgasm difficulty, and this statistic has not changed in 50 years. Additionally, cannabis has been suggested as a treatment for 50 years.
The objective of Ms. Mulvehill’s research was to see what the effect of cannabis use is before partnered sex on women with and without orgasm difficulty. To do this, she ran an IRB-approved study from March to November, 2022.
Surveyed participants were questioned on cannabis use and ease of orgasm, and the results showed that cannabis increased frequency, ease, and satisfaction of orgasms. The data also showed that frequency of cannabis use is tied to increase of orgasm frequency.
One staggering take away from Ms. Mulvehill’s research is the connection of women with orgasm difficulty to other factors. Data showed that 52% these women were diagnosed with PTSD, 32.9% were sexual abuse survivors, 24% were diagnosed with other mental health issues, and 22% more prescription drug use. This certainly warrants further study.
Ms. Mulvehill is currently working toward petitioning states to recognize cannabis as a treatment for Female Orgasm Disorder. She is currently launching a website, but in the meantime, go to www.femaleorgasmresearch.org and hit “Subscribe” on the pop up – this will add you to the list for when petitioning comes up in your state.
A recording of the Student Education Series: Cannabis for Sexual Health has been added to our video channel. You can view that here.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Association of Cannabinoid Specialists, click here. https://www.cannaspecialists.org/member
If you are a student, email us at [email protected] for information on a free membership.
Dr. Tishler is a Cannabinoid Specialist physician. He is the President of the Association of Cannabinoid Specialists & faculty at Harvard Medical School & Mass General Brigham. He was awarded Clinician of the Year by Americans for Safe Access & Marfan’s Society. He is advisor to MA Cannabis Commission & Council for Federal Cannabis Regulation.
Suzanne Mulvehill, MBA, BSW, is a Clinical Sexologist, Orgasmologist, PhD Candidate, and the Executive Director of the Female Orgasm Research Institute, a 501-(c)3 non-profit organization. Through the Institute, Ms. Mulvehill is committed to conducting research to identify scientifically-based treatments to help women heal orgasm difficulty, which affects up to 41% of women worldwide, a statistic unchanged for 50 years.
Ms. Mulvehill recently completed research for her dissertation that revealed statistically significant findings that cannabis helps women who have orgasm difficulty. Ms. Mulvehill has presented research, theories and literature reviews that reveal that cannabis may be a treatment for female orgasm difficulty. She presented her cannabis and female orgasm research at the 2021 World Conference on Sexual Medicine and for the last three years at the Cannabis Clinical Outcomes Research Conference.
Ms. Mulvehill launched and operated several international organizations, and in 2020 she sold her company to return to school for her PhD. In addition to authoring two business books, she developed entrepreneurial training programs and taught thousands of entrepreneurs throughout the USA and the UK. She was a guest lecturer at several universities, including; Essex Business School, in Southend-On-Sea, England, the University of Economics in Krakow, Poland, and Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. Ms. Mulvehill wrote a cover story for Entrepreneur Magazine and was a featured guest on NBC's The Donny Deutsch Show. She served two terms as an elected official in Lake Worth, Florida from 2008-2012. Ms. Mulvehill has two adult children and two grandchildren and enjoys traveling in her spare time.