Medical Cannabis as a Blood Thinner

Some people may use cannabis for a lot of reasons, and some have even found that it’s a natural blood thinner. Is it safe to use though? Right now, over 3 million people need blood thinners to prevent blood clots, and with more and more studies supporting this as a way to replace these blood thinners, it’s becoming more and more obvious. Marijuana to be used as blood thinners actually is great for the compounds that are there, but a lot of doctors are still a bit skeptical as saying it’s a valid treatment for issues involving the thinning of blood, and some wonder if it might impact the medications, especially with how your body responds to the different medications that are there. 

Medical Conditions That Blood Thinners Help with 


These are usually anticoagulants, and also antiplatelet, so if you make too many platelets you can use a blood thinner. Usually, you use these for the following: 

  • Abnormal heart conditions, including atrial fibrillation 

  • Congenital heart conditions 

  • Chronic blood vessel issues 

  • Ischemic heart conditions 

  • Replacing heart values 

You also may need this for surgery so if you’re getting a surgery where the blood might coagulate, you may be prescribed this. 

The Problem with Current Blood Thinners 

The thing with blood thinners is they prevent these blood clots from forming, so if you start to  bleed, you may be at risk. When your body starts to bleed, it’s done to aggregate the platelets, and usually due to the blood clotting that’s there. If you take a blood thinner, you’re in danger of hemorrhagic shock, which happens when you bleed. This is something that doctors discuss, and this can be a complication too if you have this with certain foods, even vitamins, and alcohol. Some other medications might also be a problem too with this. 



Can Cannabis Help 

Some people wonder if cannabis is a good blood thinner. The problem with this, is that most people don’t really know the mechanism that goes into blood thinning when you use marijuana for this condition. Marijuana does impact the aggregation of these platelets, to help with forming the different blood clots that are there, so it does have some antiplatelet elements to this.



Right now though, it’s not a good blood thinner. Can it ever be a means to replace the conventional blood thinners that you’re given? Perhaps. The thing is though, is we need more studies before we can even allow this. For patients that want to change this to marijuana, they must work with a doctor, and they need to be monitored quite closely for complications that are happening. 

Can weed impact the blood? Yes it can. Because it’s a blood thinner, it’s something that some people who are taking blood thinners might want to be wary about. But the problem with this, is that we don't have enough studies that confirm that the properties of this do thin the blood. If you’re going to have conventional blood thinners, and then want to substitute this with the medical cannabis that you normally take, you must discuss this with your doctor. 



Smoking can also impact the blood pressure too, and it can impact it by making it go quite low in some cases. 

So if you’re going to be taking blood pressure meds, or even blood thinners, then you’ll definitely want to discuss the possibility of having this with the doctor that you see.  You should always do this, but for those with heart conditions and on blood thinners, it’s even more of a must. 


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