Coffee And Cannabis: A Love Story

Love Cannabis? Love Coffee? This one is for you. As a lover of both, the idea of combining them is ever-appealing, but is it safe to do so? Research on the combination of coffee and cannabis is still in its’ early stages but its been determined that we are looking at the two sides of the coin. On side believes that there is potential for the cannabis and the coffee to cancel each other out, while the other side states that combining the two may enhance some of the effects of cannabis. 

Cannabis and coffee are two of the most used psychotropic substances in the world. The pair also have a long history of use by humans. As per usual, everyone reacts differently to the use of both. For example, the caffeine in coffee tends to energize most people, but may not affect you in that manner and the compounds in cannabis can make you feel lazy, but it may also affect you by giving you tunnel vision for maximum productivity. However, there are some norms to expect.

Health Benefits of Coffee:

• Boots energy levels.
• Improves physical performance. 
• Provides your liver with benefits. 
• It can reduce depression.
• Promotes weight loss.
• Assists in preventing gout. 
• It can assist in lowering the risk of diabetes.
• Assists in lowering risks and onset of conditions and illnesses such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. 

What Happens When Cannabis Interacts with Coffee:

• Caffeine from coffee may increase the short-term memory loss often associated with cannabis.  It seems logical that the caffeine would counteract this cannabis effect since coffee can make you more alert. Caffeine and lower doses of cannabis seem to impair the working memory, more than the cannabis would on its own. 
• Lower levels of caffeine in the coffee may prolong the effects of cannabis and may enhance the effects of cannabis. In a research study, subjects were given around 1mg of caffeine, and then they were provided with unlimited cannabis. When they had caffeine in their system, they were less likely to self-administer cannabis multiple times or in higher quantities. This is due to lower levels of caffeine enhancing the effects of lower levels of cannabis. 
• Coffee and cannabis can both give us euphoria. Both of these substances increase levels of dopamine in the brain, which is the hormone of happiness. 
• Cannabis and coffee can increase your heart rate. They are known to cause tachycardia which is an increased heart rate. If you have any underlying heart problems or problems with heart arrhythmias, consuming either separately or alone can cause heart complications. 

What Are There Risks?

Besides the increase in heart rate, there are no reported cases of risks or extreme side effects from combining cannabis with coffee. It is always better to take caution, especially since we all react differently. 

Tips for Combining Cannabis and Coffee:

• Use slightly less of each than you would on their own.
• Allow your body at least 30 minutes to adjust and process the pair before you have more of either. 
• Remember to pay attention to how much of what you are taking and when to avoid unfortunate situations with undesired effects such as locking you on couch potato mode. 

Love Affair or Redundant Duo?

If we can manage to find the perfect balance between strain, caffeine content as well as cannabis quantity, it would be a love affair. Just like edibles, you need to find the right strain for you with the effects you’re looking for as well as experimenting with what the minimum quantity for maximum effects would be for yourself. If you have don’t make an effort to find that balance, the duo would be redundant as effects from each worsen or rule out effects of the other.  Ultimately, we want the love affair that increases the desired effects from cannabis while using less cannabis to get it. 

Remember, trial and error is the best tactic to figure out what the optimal dosage is for the effects you desire, as long as you make use of the tips in doing so. Also, keep your eyes out for further development in research on the interactions between cannabis and coffee.