It’s no secret that drugs alter the chemistry of our brains, but what about our bodies? Perhaps you’re new to drugs or perhaps you’re an experienced veteran, but sex and drugs aren’t paired together as often as one might think. Street, therefore, is here to clue you into the best and worst sex/drug pairings.
Marijuana
Pot is probably the most commonly used drug around campus, known for its calming, mellowing effects. In general, however, pot doesn’t particularly enhance the quality of sex or significantly alter the user’s experience during intercourse. *Sarah (C ’20), a semi–frequent drug user, explains, “I don’t know if having sex on pot makes it that much different because I think it’s just like having sex on what you would expect…you feel like, I don’t know, hazy…” For Sarah, though, she did notice smoking before sex made her especially tired: “It wasn’t like lethargy, it was more like just on a cloud, floating… It just relaxes you—it relaxes every aspect of you.” Though not drastically different from sober sex, Sarah explains she would definitely have sex again high.
*Pat (C '18) had a similar experience to Sarah. For Pat, however, the experience was a little more out of body: “Definitely in comparison to sober sex, I felt like it was…not surreal, but just I felt like removed almost… Less present, less in control.” Echoing Sarah’s sentiment of fatigue and tiredness, Pat laughingly explains, “I definitely get tired way quicker, way lazier… You think a lot more and you think you’re doing more things than you’re actually doing.” Though Pat did enjoy having sex high, he decides he prefers sober sex a lot more.
For *Katy (N '19), her experience was pretty similar to both Pat’s and Sarah’s. Her story includes the same elements of haziness, fatigue and emotional distance. Yet, perhaps because she’s a nurse, she also noticed something that’s anatomically different about high sex: “For me, it wasn’t too spectacular. You get drier, right, when you’re high,” she explains, referencing a common side effect of smoking called "cotton mouth," where the user’s mouth feels dry, brittle and in need of water. “I don’t know if it works the same way down there, but at least psychologically feels like that.”
MDMA
Also known as Ecstasy or Molly, MDMA is a common rave drug. Definitely a little less common than pot, Molly induces sensations of joy, euphoria and heightened sensitivity to both touch and light. Unlike pot, however, Molly seemed to create different sexual experiences depending on the time of the roll and the environment. Mary* (C'17), explains how she normally feels on Molly: “You feel tingly and your head like spins, but with clarity.” Mary has used Molly a number of times, chiefly at large concerts. Though she didn’t actually have sex on Molly, Mary remembers DFMOs she’s had while rolling.
“I made out with everyone…[because] you literally have to kiss everyone you see because you love them and they love you," she said.
The experience, though nothing more than just a random hookup, was more intimate because it felt so responsive and synchronized. "You feel a lot more connected to the person…You know what the other person wants: there’s never a wrong move—like that person is the best kisser, even if they suck as I later found out one did.”
For Katy, however, sex on Molly wasn’t as electric as Mary’s DFMOs. She confesses, “It wasn’t super spectacular either… I think it was kind of the opposite of pot—you were on edge.” But perhaps the on–edge feeling Katy described stemmed more from the physical effects of the drug, rather than the mental ones: “You’re still excited and more energized and stuff, and like so the sex like itself, the activity, is fun…but physically I like don’t feel that my mind was on that.” She concludes by saying, “If it did feel better, I didn’t notice a dramatic better feeling.”
Cocaine
Cocaine is a stimulant that inhibits the re–uptake of neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, essentially resulting in a short burst of energy, happiness and focus. Short–lasting, coke is widely known for having a bad come–down, leading to spells of agitation and irritability. For Katy, the come–down definitely made the sex sub–par. Apart from the anatomical struggles of her partner, Katy found herself tense and annoyed.
"Guys get coke dick…so it doesn’t stay hard for very long,” she explains, “It’s also not as enjoyable. Unlike Molly, there’s no happiness—you’re just on edge and tense, and especially if it’s been a while after, you’re just on the come–down, in a shitty mood, and everything kind of pisses you off a little bit, and sex is kind of just the last thing you have on your mind.” Katy has found that coke sex has been bad for both her and her partner and is something they have tried to stop doing altogether.
Katy concludes, “Your mind’s not really in it. Personally I’m just irritated.”
*Names have been changed for legal reasons.
