According to a Leafly report, health experts are not seeing evidence that shows a detriment to using marijuana before or after getting your covid vaccination.
Dr. Frank Lucido, a medical cannabis specialist based in Berkeley, California has told Leafly that if people are sticking to their regular cannabis consumption habits, he does not see a reason to be ultra-cautious around using cannabis as the body generates protective levels of antibodies against the novel coronavirus.
According to registered California Nurse Eloise Theisen, president of the American Cannabis Nurses Association and chief nursing officer for Leaf 411, Leaf 411 hotline has had an increase in questions surrounding the COVID vaccine and safety uses associated with CBD and cannabis use.
“If you are using cannabis daily and it is necessary, please continue using it…” said Theisen.
“As far as cannabis goes, we know that cannabinoids can stay in the system for 5-13 days depending on the frequency of use,” the organization said through a written response. “If you are using cannabis daily and it is necessary, please continue using it… If you are new to cannabis and have just received your vaccine, please wait 24 hours before starting a new cannabinoid treatment plan and be sure to talk with your healthcare professional to review your treatment plan.”
Leafly’s own Senior Editor David Downs reported typical THC use amid vaccination in April-May and experienced mild soreness for a day at the injection site.
Mara Gordon, of Aunt Zelda’s, has said high-dose patients might want to reduce use during vaccination.
“There is an immune response, obviously, with cannabinoid-based medicine, but I think using it at normal doses should be just fine,” she says. “People that are on extremely high doses, like over 100 milligrams of CBD and stuff like that, I think they should probably wait a while if they can, but none of our doctors have told us that we need to cut back on any of the medicine we’re recommending or that we’re giving patients.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also released guidelines for people who’ve been newly vaccinated that recommend talking to your doctor about using over-the-counter pain medication like ibuprofen for vaccine side effects. These medications, which are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), may dampen the production of protective antibodies.
Leland Radovanovic, who heads the cannabis and psychedelic PR firm Conscious Communications Collective told Leafly, “The first vaccine I got hit me really, really hard,” he says. “I was super lethargic for a week, really foggy-brained. I was having a really hard time putting a string of thoughts together and I could only work for maybe 15, 20 minutes at a time. My [cannabis] consumption was pretty low that week just because I didn’t even have the energy to consume.”
