Foria Introduces the Vaginal Cannabis Suppository

Suffering from pain or discomfort relating to your menstrual cycle? There’s a new and creatively inventive delivery method for treating your menstrual discomfort using cannabis. Foria Relief officially launched January 25, 2016, with a cannabis-infused vaginal suppository intended for relieving painful symptoms associated with menstruation. It may sound like a new concept, but cannabis has been used to treat menstrual pain for longer than you think.

Dysmenorrhea, or painful menstruation, affects thousands of women daily. Morton Barke, MD retired from gynecology to serve as Medical Director at Culver City, CA MMJ evaluation center. “We know that cannabis does help pain. We do see a lot of patients with dysmenorrhea. Dysmenorrhea is painful menstrual periods. It’s a fantastic modality to help patients,” Barke said. Dysmenorrhea is caused by severe uterine pain and inflammation.

The company asserts that vaginal suppositories are a more effective way to ingest because the bioavailability is higher than smoking or eating, and more cannabinoids are absorbed.

Historically, Queen Victoria and an entire era of women turned to cannabis-based medicines like Dysmenine to treat menstrual cramps. Women are also revisiting cannabis as a remedy for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), or “extreme PMS.”

Tim Drennan, the Director of Product Development for Foria explained, “If you view pain as frequencies, as a huge jagged piece like you’re looking at a radio signal, if you look at pleasure or baseline stimulation, it’s a long, nice, flowing, gentle wave. What THC does on the nerve terminal, is it modulates out the high frequency signals. It doesn’t allow the high frequency signals to go through. That’s how it is able to modulate pain and still not produce sensation or reduce nerve control. Whereas an opiate just blocks it.”

Foria’s vaginal suppository capsules are made with organic cocoa butter, CO2 extracted cannabis oil, and a CBD isolate. The capsules are formulated at an average pH and are safe to use with tampons. The capsules work by activating cannabinoid receptors in the pelvic region.

Each “serving” of Foria Relief comes with 60mg of THC and 10mg of CBD. “These are women [who] would not necessarily want to get high, so they could get a vaginal suppository high in CBD,” said Barke.