CBD With Medications & Alcohol
By Jon Vought – Rescue 1 CBD
We know CBD has its potential benefits and a google search will probably provide you with an exhaustive list of all the outlandish ailments that CBD claims to work on. As I’ve written about in the past, CBD is in its infancy and so is the research. The things that show it’s promising do in fact show a lot of promise, but we also have to be cautious when we’re taking CBD with other substances too.
What happens to medication with this interaction?
CBD inhibits an enzyme in your liver (called CYP450) that breaks down several different medications and can make them stronger than they’re intended to be.
This means that if you’re taking medication, you need to inform your doctor so that he or she can make your treatment plan based on this information. You can check on CBD’s interaction with medication by going to the Medscape Drug Reference database, it’s an easy-to-use tool that allows you to put in cannabidiol (CBD) with any medication and it will display any conflicts the two may have. This isn’t supposed to replace medical advice, but it’ll give you an idea of how CBD can react with medication at times.
Medications in particular that are often cited as having a significant increase with CBD are epilepsy medications, opiates, benzodiazepines, and tricyclic antidepressant medications.
With alcohol, CBD is less understood but really interesting.
Research in humans has shown that CBD will not work to increase intoxication if taken with alcohol. This means you won’t get more intoxicated by combining the two. However, it did show to protect against liver damage in mice when given before drinking binges. It also has an effect on lowering blood alcohol levels, but again, it doesn’t affect the level of intoxication.
These studies are with really small groups and are in the earlier stages of CBD knowledge with substances but we do get the question about CBD and alcohol a lot so we wanted to reference what information is out there, albeit limited.
Many CBD researchers often point to the interaction with medication to say that CBD can be unsafe for some users. I think this is a valid point and we need to be honest about what ALL the effects of CBD are instead of just the potentially good ones.
Don’t disregard the fact that you’re taking meds, a lot of doctors out there are very comfortable with the research on CBD!
Interaction of cannabidiol and alcohol in humans
Drug Interactions Checker – Medscape Drug Reference Database
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