Mixing Medications and Cannabis

For thousands of years mankind has used cannabis for ceremonial, recreational and therapeutic purposes. Even with its long and storied history mainstream western medicine has been slow to embrace cannabis as a drug that can be beneficial in treating a host of conditions. This may be due to a lack of information and education on behalf of modern trained medical professionals or a personal sigma against cannabis use in general. This has forced may prescription drug users to conceal their cannabis use from their health care providers and rely solely on what their have learned from the internet, users experienced with cannabis or from whatever information they can pick up at the local cannabis shops, from mail order marijuana websites and from online marijuana dispensaries. Drug interactions can take place where cannabis and the prescription medication combine and interrupt the way the body process different compounds resulting in less than desirable affects.

In writing this blog I spoke to my friends at the various local cannabis, mail order marijuana (MOM) websites and from online marijuana dispensaries that I am regularly in touch with and they all have stories from clients who have had drug interaction experiences. Some of the more common are the additive effect where each drug combines to produce an effect greater than the result intended when each drug is taken alone; the synergistic effect where substances combine and create an effect greater than what they would independently; and the antagonistic effect where one or more of the drugs taken together become less effective than if they were taken separately. What someone that I buy weed online from pointed out is that people often forget that cannabis is a very unique and complex drug with hundreds of compounds and on top of that, each strain varies dramatically—cannabis cannot be pegged into the traditional categories used to classify other substances as different strains can produce varying effects.

Not only can the experience of drug interactions vary from drug to drug with reactions ranging from irritabilities such as sweating, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting to more serious issues such as anxiety, paranoia and hallucinations, it is also dependent upon the physiology of each person involved. Factors such as general physical health, hydration level, age, weight, nutrition, underlying medical conditions and number of medications involved all play a role in determining the interaction affect.

As everyone from the local cannabis shops, mail order marijuana and online marijuana dispensaries stated, marijuana is unique in itself and affects each of us differently. It is many things to many people but nevertheless care must always be taken when combining any medications. If your health care provider is not able to provide any further insight beyond what you already know then perhaps it is better to not to combine medications. Perhaps in time with more research done a clearer understanding on cannabis and other drug interactions will come to light and what can and cannot be combined will be better spelled out.