Abstract

Smoking a single 1-g marihuana cigarette containing 1.8% delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol induced a 30% suppression of plasma luteinizing hormone levels (P less than .02) in women during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. After marihuana placebo cigarette smoking, no luteinizing hormone suppression was observed in the same women under double-blind conditions. Marihuana may have adverse effects upon reproductive function during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle as a consequence of gonadotropin inhibition.