Period cramps are pretty great. SAID NO ONE EVER.
There's a new ~solution~ on the market: a marijuana suppository called Foria that you take vaginally to cure your cramps.
The suppositories are only available right now in California and Colorado, and you have to join the Foria collective to purchase them.
According to the company's website, "Users have reported a significant decrease in the pain and discomfort often associated with menstruation. The cannabinoids directly impact the immune system and the nerve endings of the uterus, cervix, ovaries and surrounding smooth muscle tissues. THC positively affects the nerves and assists in blocking out pain while also allowing for more pleasant signals to be received by the brain."
Foria also claims it can also do this "without inducing a psychotropic 'high.'”
But! Doctors aren't so sure. "[Foria] is completely untested with zero studies and the claims that are being made from the website aren't really supported in basic science," Jen Gunter, an OB-GYN and pain medicine physician, told BuzzFeed.
Gunter is concerned that not only hasn't Foria been clinically studied, but that it also claims it won't get you high.
"If it's getting into your bloodstream there is a risk of it making you high. Period. So either your medicine is completely ineffective, or it's getting into your bloodstream and then there is a risk that it will get you high," she said.
Further, said Gunter, the amount of THC in Foria is pretty extreme. "Most people consider a unit of oral administration to be 10 milligrams of THC. There's 60 in this."
But back to the main problem: No one has studied how cannaboids affect the vagina or uterus. Or what the correct doses might be.
As Gunther told BuzzFeed, "THC's direct effects on the uterus is completely unknown. There's no science to support that."
And anyway, says Gunter, "If your cramps are that bad that you're thinking about this as a solution, talk to your doctor."
