When we are taking medication, it is essential to be aware and cautious about what medications or drugs we can consume when we are under the influence of another medication, since it could produce unwanted effects depending on its interactions. In this article, we will talk about the relationship between marijuana and drugs. Get a medical marijuana card from a verified doctor if you want to purchase medical marijuana legally from a dispensary.
Marijuana and Medications
Drug-marijuana interactions can be very harmful and must be treated with care. We all know the “rule” not to mix drugs and alcohol for example, but many others are less widespread and almost no one reads the leaflet. With caffeine there are at least 82 different interactions that can occur between some drug substances and that can also cause moderate or severe damage to the body.
Can you consume marijuana and medications at the same time?
Interactions between marijuana and drugs are very few, and when they do occur, the effects they produce are mild. Even so, you have to be careful with cannabis and some medications, as we will see below.
As we have already mentioned before, the leaflets will not warn you if you can consume marijuana by taking medication, since it is an illegal drug. Not like with tobacco or alcohol that if they are legal and of which if they warn you in all the leaflets. Anyway, if you really want to know if you can take the drug that you have just been prescribed with marijuana, you should leave your embarrassment behind and consult with your doctor if the medication that he has prescribed can have a negative reaction when you smoke or consume marijuana.
Luckily the adverse effects are usually mild, but it is always better to avoid them than to go through the bad drink or make it happen to our body. Due to the illegality of the plant and the social taboo, there are not many cases of documented incompatibilities.
Use of marijuana with some type of medication is not recommended:
Medicines to control blood pressure
The THC in marijuana in combination with these medications can excessively lower our blood pressure.
A study carried out in 2019 reports that people who used cannabis needed to reduce their medication by 30% since the effect of marijuana under this type of medication could cause a drop in blood pressure to dangerous levels. This discovery has caused doctors to lower the dosage of the drug for cannabis users.
Anticoagulant Medications
Marijuana also contributes to blood thinning. We would be more prone to bruising and heavy bleeding.
An investigation carried out by doctors from the American College of Cardiology revealed that the use of cannabis could interact with the medications we use for the heart. The study reveals that the reaction that marijuana and these drugs make is the same since they release the same enzymes that help eliminate cardiovascular problems such as cholesterol or the formation of anticoagulants.
Antidepressant medications
With some antidepressants such as Prozac, cases of psychosis can occur.
Medicines with codeine
They work by producing a relaxation effect, just like when consuming marijuana. We could feel groggy and drowsy, even leading to severe respiratory depression.
Contraceptive pills
Here are doctors who say it does not interfere and another that does. Needed more research.
But not all the effects are contradictory, we already mentioned that they are investigating whether the use of cannabis can enhance the effect of certain types of drugs, and they are. For example, there are studies that show that cannabis reduces insulin resistance and improves its metabolism by the body. Or several cases where marijuana helps to “uncouple” patients from other harder drugs (usually opiates).
Marijuana and antibiotics
This is one of the main questions that we marijuana users have while taking antibiotics, so we will make special mention of this drug. Normally when we suffer an infection, doctors will usually prescribe some type of antibiotic.
Medicine
This chemical substance of organic origin is responsible for neutralizing the development of certain types of microorganisms. Each antibiotic will come with a user manual with strict rules on when to take it, how to take it, and what you should not mix it with.
Marijuana, being an illegal and prohibited substance, will not appear in pharmaceutical advertisements, simply for legal reasons. However, today we know that marijuana has antibacterial properties, and among many, the question has been sown as to whether you should smoke marijuana when you are taking some type of antibiotic.
The only thing we know today is that there have been no negative effects between marijuana use and antibiotics. What could happen is that cannabis reduces the effectiveness of antibiotics just like tobacco does.
Medical marijuana
Nowadays there are more and more people who substitute their lifelong medications for medical marijuana achieving notable improvements, this does not mean that all medication should be radically substituted for medical cannabis. We recommend that you first investigate what ailments it can help you with and once you have collected all the information, consult your family doctor.
Health, body, and life we only have one, and we have to take care of it even if that means leaving our beloved green gold aside for a while.
