Puff Safely: New App Shows How Marijuana Could Interact With Other Medications

With Increased cannabis use and recent drug approvals, new challenges such as avoiding drug interactions arise.

Studies have shown that Interactions between both medicinal and recreational cannabis products and other medicines are possible.

Being inhibitors of CYP450 enzymes involved in the metabolism of numerous psychotropic medicines, both THC and CBD can make them either ineffective or cause other problems, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology.

Luckily, a new, free web-based application developed by Penn State College of Medicine researchers offers a solution to pharmacists and other health care providers to help patients and to reduce unintended interactions.

The team, which included Kent Vrana, chair of the Dept of Pharmacology and project leader, Paul Kocis, clinical pharmacist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center as well as Penn State Harrisburg computer science students Samuel Wadrose, Aqib Ahmed and Rohan Gajjar, under the mentorship of Hyuntae Na, assistant professor in the School of Science, Engineering and Technology - launched the first version of the app on March 22.

Another group of computer science students is currently working on version 2, which will be more user-friendly for patients and their caregivers.

How Does It Work?

CANNabinoid Drug Interaction Review (CANN-DIR) analyses cannabinoid products, including delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, CBD, or a combination of both in a single product and evaluates them against a database of common over-the-counter and prescription medications.

Once users select the cannabinoid product and choose other medications they are using, CANN-DIR provides information on how the THC and/or CBD product could potentially affect the metabolism or breakdown of the other selected drugs.

“Some drugs can affect the way others are broken down by the body, which can be problematic in the case of medications with a narrow therapeutic index,” Vrana said. “People may not realize that THC and CBD products have the ability to change the way other drugs are metabolized, and it’s an important conversation for patients and health care providers to have with each other. CANN-DIR can help facilitate those conversations and provide useful information for health care providers when prescribing medications to their patients.”

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