Is it true that using marijuana doubles the effective dose of all your medications?

No.

It is not an accurate statement because drugs, be they prescription or recreational, have a synergistic effect when mixed. It doesn’t mean the effect of the drug is greater, but different. Mixing any drug without knowing the potential effects is dangerous. A doctor is the one to ask for particulars.

What? No. That doesn’t make any sense.

@nikipedia You must be smoking too much dope. I read a yes or no question: “Is it true that using marijuana doubles the effective dose of all your medications?”, to which the answer is no.

I think @nikipedia was question the logic of the assertion rather than declaring a misunderstanding of the question.

No.

Thanks, @The_Compassionate_Heretic.

@frdelrosario, I’m not smoking shit. I’m a scientist with extensive training in biology and from what I understand about pharmacology this question is fundamentally misunderstanding how drugs work in the body. Sheesh.

No. Not even.

Drugs (both prescription, over the counter, and illicit) mix in funny ways with each other- it takes a doctor, pharmacist, etc, to know, and even then it’s guesswork.

Without knowing anything about specific interactions, I can still tell you: No, “doubling the effect of other drugs” as a property of any pharmacological substance is way too general and cannot possibly be true. Biology is just not that simple.

No but apparently using marijuana defiantly kills the brain cells of friends.

would it be wrong for the pothead to point out the spelling error in his friends comment above?

Thanks to all of you for your prompt and useful answers. I particularly concur with @aphilotus who really hit the nail on the head, and it’s nice to see such unanimity. I did not actually believe the assertion to be true but felt I should keep an open mind, despite it being fairly obvious to me that if marijuana did affect the potency of other medications, how much of an effect would be a function of (1) how much marijuana was ingested and (2) which medication was under consideration. A simple doubling across the board is all but inconceivable from a biological standpoint.

Here is a little hint. Your doctor probably doesn’t care if you smoke weed or snort coke. They care but they will not call the cops. But the knowledge helps them make you healthy. Don’t fib to your doctor. They are there to help you.

Depends on the medication. Alcohol does interact with some medication. I would assume it’s similar with THC. For example in combination with valium depending on dosage.

I would assume that, in this particular case, both would work to reduce hypertension.

Not sure how that can be assumed to be an exact doubling or why it would be assumed to have the same effect on someone who was taking medicine for diabetes or high cholesterol or any variety of other instances.

No way. Your friend is one of those harmdoers who spreads information he heard of, rather than doing actual research. He probably believes LSD contains strychnine, and that Ecstasy contains Meth. Hell, he probably believes legalization of marijuana will “give more power to the government”. People like him believe that kind of stuff.

There is no basis for your friend’s “information”. No basis whatsoever.

@simone54: It defiantly does. It also does if you resist. (definitely)

Certainly many interactions naturally occur and it is very reasonable to assume that interactions may potentially occur between marijuana and prescription medications. However, it is not reasonable to assume that the interaction between marijuana and every prescription medication will be in the same direction and of the same magnitude.

When present:
– interactions are positive or negative (meaning that you may need less or more of the medication in question to achieve the desired effect).
– interactions can be additive (linear), multiplicative or exponential.
– multiple interactions can simultaneously occur (which also have the potential of canceling each other’s effect)
– interactions (with marijuana) are not constant (with prescription medications), meaning that the interaction between marijuana and an antihypertensive medication will not be the same interaction between marijuana and an antibiotic or seizure medication (for instance).
– interactions may occur differently among individuals taking the same medications.

The long and short of it is that your physician and/or pharmacist can research the potential interaction, whether it is present, in which direction it occurs, and to what extent it may occur, and modify your prescription accordingly.

Pot lowers your blood pressure on it’s own.

Thanks, @tinyfaery, but that wasn’t the question. I just gave lowering of blood pressure as an example of a drug. I am concerned with the effective doubling of any drug by marijuana.