Sophie Saint Thomas: If you’re going to be physical and be intimate. First of all, I want everyone to feel good. I want your body to feel good.

April Pride: Welcome to our high five mini series where we give you practical tips for how to do the pot. I’m your host, April pride. What do you think about when you hear the word pleasure? Does the word itself please you or does it invoke feelings of guilt and confusion? Much like cannabis has been stigmatized, pleasure has long been associated with shame. Perhaps cannabis can help us get over our puritanical beliefs around pleasure while also amplifying the pleasure we allow ourselves to enjoy. This week, our guest quite literally wrote the book on weed and pleasure. She is the author of Finding Your Higher Self: Your Guide to Cannabis for Self-Care. Sophie Saint Thomas writes for Playboy, GQ, Glamor, Allure, VICE, Harper’s Bazaar. Online you can find her biweekly column, Stoned Sex at Merry Jane. Sophie shares with us practical tips for bringing more pleasure to your everyday. Number one, unknown pleasures list. If you could tell us what that is and how our listeners should incorporate it into their life.

Sophie Saint Thomas: The idea of the unknown pleasure list is that you write down anything that would give you pleasure and you would like to experience but is still unknown to you, and then as soon as you accomplish it, you check it off because it’s no longer unknown. It’s basically a bucket list but a nicer way of saying it.

The thing about cannabis that ties back to the unknown pleasures list is that I find that it just lowers your inhibitions basically through calming you down and through your anxiety and that can be a really, really amazing confidence boost.

April Pride: Number two, pleasure for one, a solo excursion into pleasure.

Sophie Saint Thomas: So I would just curate a romantic night like you’re planning a dream date night with someone, but it’s just for you. I think even people in relationships should really try to carve out time for a night in because the way cannabis enhances masturbation is just incredible. Maybe you just want to relax a little bit and lean into the CBD. If you apply CBD topically through a suppository or the many massage oils or CBD lubes, you can lower inflammation, fight dryness, and increase the blood flow while decreasing pain. THC, which will enhance your senses and just make everything feel more powerful. Solo pleasure for me would be coming home, smoking a little bit to take the edge off. I’m a big edible fan, so maybe having a low dose of edibles. I find that of all the consumption methods that edibles affect my body the most.

April Pride: So that takes us to number three, pain and pleasure.

Sophie Saint Thomas: If you have nice bath hub, I just can’t recommend a CBD or a cannabis bath enough. You can get everything from menstrual cramps to lower back pain to, if you’re at a computer all day, neck pain and wrist pain and just soak and get comfortable.

April Pride: Suppositories can be great for handling pain like menstrual cramps.

Sophie Saint Thomas: If you put one in and then just like lie down, it will knock them right out. If you’re dealing with any menopausal pain or dryness, it does the same thing, whether it’s vaginal stimulation or anal stimulation, cannabis and CBD in particular is really, really cool because it eases pain without numbing you out.

April Pride: So let’s get into number four, which is pleasure for two.

Sophie Saint Thomas: Whether it’s a friends with benefits or someone you’ve been married to for 20 years, the sex is going to be better if you’re feeling close with that other person.

So I do think that the emotional and the mental effects of cannabis are very important to talk about when we talk about its role in sex. It’s not just the physical act of sex.

It basically helps us think more positively and really can really enhance emotional connection with our partner. It’s a really delightful and a whole package. Be really empathetic and understanding and willing to be different than your partner and be willing to know that that’s okay.

Sophie Saint Thomas: If you smoke a joint and you’re set for the night, that doesn’t mean that your partner has to. They might prefer an edible. They might even not really like THC, but can get into CBD loop and just be good with their glass of wine. I would really say the best thing everyone can do is get to know themselves, get to know their bodies, get to know how they react to cannabis and CBD and THC, make it fun. As long as you two are in sync, as long as you both are doing what works for you and being loving of that, then I think anything goes.

April Pride: So number five is always my favorite because this is when we get down to the nitty gritty, like how to do the pot for pleasure.

Sophie Saint Thomas: I really don’t think there’s a one size fits all method. I think, like for instance, I’m kind of a naturally, I’m really energetic and like anxious person, so I do a lot better with something very grounding, something very relaxing just to help me get in the mood where someone else might have problems feeling lethargic or they’re not really up for sex or their sex drive is a little bit low and they might benefit from something, maybe with a little more THC that’s activating and that hits immediately like an inhalation method.

Sophie Saint Thomas: I love cannabis baths because it’s one of the best ways to use a topical on your entire body. Vapes are always a really, really handy because they don’t smell a flower does. My personal like Sophie Thomas favorite is edibles for sex. I just love them so much. I would start small.

Edibles take anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours to kick in and I find for me in addition to the enhanced, like my orgasms are stronger and I feel more connected to my partner.

April Pride: I do want to ask about smokable herbs because you mention it frequently in your book and I know you’re a huge fan of them.

Sophie Saint Thomas: I love lavender. After a work day, I drink too much caffeine, I’m stressed out about deadlines and then my boo is coming over, I love rolling lavender and cannabis spliffs. Lavender is so relaxing and it smells so wonderful. You can also roll a blunt using Rose petals. Roses, smoking weed out of a rose is just the sexiest thing to me.

April Pride: So here’s a recap of Sophie’s high five for cannabis for pleasure. Number one, the unknown pleasures list. Write out your desired pleasures. Once you’ve tried them and they’re no longer unknown, check them off your list. Number two, solo pleasure. Find that thing that best relaxes you or makes you feel good. Number three, pain and pleasure. Explore ways to turn the pain into pleasure using cannabis. Number four, pleasure for two. Getting in sync with your partner and finding what works for both of you. Number five, how to do the pot for pleasure, a bath, edibles, or your favorite way to smoke. It’s all about what you like most, what pleases you.

April Pride: Share with us something that you may be thinking of adding to your unknown pleasures list. Email us a voice memo to hi, H-I, @dothepot.com. Thank you for listening. I’m April Pride. Thanks to my co-founder, Ellen Scanlon, our marketing manager, Betsy [Calbecker 00:07:56] and our producers, Eliza Lambert and Taylor [Lincovitch 00:07:59] for Pod People. If you liked the show, please share it with someone. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and visit dothepot.com to find out more about our guests and more high five tips. You can find me on Instagram at April Pride.