A new study has indicated that cannabis is sexist — at least in as much as it doesn’t provide the same pain relief in women as it does in men. How can that be?

Previous studies on animals have shown that marijuana effects males and females differently. A more recent study that explored the differences int he pain-relieving aspects of weed has found that men get a larger amount of pain relief then women. The study focused on recreational usage of marijuana, rather than strictly medical marijuana patients.

As you probably already know, the pain relieving benefits of cannabis are due to two main compounds that weed contains: THC and CBD. The study, which involved 21 men and 21 women. It involved a placebo, in that half the group where given active marijuana, and the other half were given a form of marijuana with the THC removed (so a placebo).

As soon as they had consumed the weed, the participants were given a pain test. In the test, the participants were asked to put their hand in freezing cold water. They were asked to keep their hands in the water until they couldn’t stand it any longer. As you might have guessed, the participants were also given the pain test before they consumed the marijuana, so there was a baseline for each person. The after smoking pot results for the pain test were compared to the original pain test.

Researches from the Columbia University Medical Center found that males who smoked the active marijuana “experienced significant reduction in pain sensitivity” in comparison to the males given the placebo without the THC in it.

Women on the other hand did not experience the same. The researchers concluded, “these results indicate that in cannabis smokers, men exhibit greater cannabis-induced analgesia relative to women.”

As of June 2015, marijuana is legal for medical use in 25 states plus Washington D.C. Medicinal marijuana (or cannabis) can be prescribed for a number of problems such as sickness, pain, vomiting and it has also been used to increase a person’s appetite.