Medical Cannabis with Alcohol and Medicines - Interactions

Medical cannabis does not work in a vacuum. Combined with alcohol or certain medicines it can act more strongly or differently than you expect. That is why safe therapy starts with one thing: the doctor must know everything you take.

Let us go through the most important interactions.

Alcohol and THC amplify each other's effect - drowsiness and dizziness rise and coordination worsens. The combination can be unpredictable and taxing on the body. During medical cannabis therapy it is best to limit alcohol, and certainly not to combine it with the product on the same day.

Medicines with a sedative and hypnotic action, including benzodiazepines, combined with THC can excessively increase drowsiness and slowing. This is one of the more important interactions to tell your doctor about.

Cannabis can affect how the body processes some medicines - for example blood thinners (anticoagulants). In such cases caution and a doctor's supervision are needed, sometimes dose adjustment. It is likewise worth being careful with SSRI antidepressants and strong painkillers.

We write separately about combining with opioids in our article medical cannabis and opioid painkillers.

Bring a full list of your medicines to the visit - including over-the-counter ones and supplements. This lets the doctor safely tailor therapy and avoid dangerous interactions.

Do not change anything on your own either. We describe how dosing is run carefully in our article on medical cannabis dosing, and about adverse symptoms in side effects.