What Happens When You Mix Cannabis in Your Coffee

People drink coffee for the lift. It has caffeine, a stimulant and drug. It’s an individual pleasure and a social drink, pulling people together in cafes for music, conversation, and fun. But, the Dutch government is closing coffee shops throughout Amsterdam.

You see, the Dutch Parliament approved the Weed Pass. The Weed Pass prohibits non-Dutch tourists from visiting Holland’s coffee shops where cannabis consumption is legendary. They made a compromise with the City of Amsterdam.

If Amsterdam closes coffee shops located within 275 feet of a school, other coffee shops can remain open without interference. The idea is to keep cannabis away from the nearby school children.

What happens when you mix marijuana smoking with coffee in Amsterdam’s coffee shops has been creating enjoyable experiences for generations.

The question remains: What happens when you mix cannabis in your coffee? What happens when you add it to your drink or infuse the coffee itself?

How to mix cannabis in your coffee —

• CannaButter offers healthy proteins and fats. Green butter can replace cream, flavored creams, or powdered creamers. Done right, the CannaButter can add distinctive flavors.
• Chocolate adds sweet to your bitter coffee, but it also makes a delicious mocha latte or iced Frappuccino. All you must do is add a chocolate cannabis edible to your beverage.
• Dairy comes from almonds, coconuts, cows, soy, and other sources. You can infuse the milk with cannabis to create a soothing or energizing coffee creamer. 
• Honey is extracted from CBD and THC. You can buy it in straws that you can stir into your coffee. Convenient and portable, the straws will sweeten a coffee, tea, or juice with a stir of the straw.
• Sugar, infused with cannabis, is widely available in medical cannabis and adult-use dispensaries. It comes in various strengths and strains. You can carry these portable and convenient, sugar packets for discreet use.

When you mix cannabis in your coffee —

The issue is what happens when you mix two drugs. And, once again, we lack adequate research, and are left to studies on monkeys. The only fact we have is that pot users enjoy their weed with coffee.

Caffeine, CBD, and THC each have psycho-neurological effects. And, some of them would seem to counteract the others. Caffeine, for example, has traditionally been used to sober people up after using inebriants. So, you might expect the coffee’s caffeine to ruin the relaxing CBD high or the caffeine might defeat the THC’s euphoria.

Still, there must be something to the common user habit that associates coffee and cannabis. Apparently, there is some synergy between their chemical properties.

AARP’s Healthy Living points out that coffee has shown positive influences on risks presented by Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, oracle cancers, and stroke. Of course, it has documented negative effects on high blood pressure, insomnia, thyroid problems, diabetes, and so on.

Interestingly, studies on cannabis have shown positive effects on Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and tumor control. And, both caffeine and cannabis release dopamine. These correlations may indicate commonalities between the properties of the two elements.

Caffeine and cannabis affect the central nervous system. The caffeine may offset the edginess produced by some strains of THC, and it may bring alertness to CBD’s sedation. Users may in time find their individual balance depending on their choice of cannabis strain, strength of caffeine option, and frequency of use. And, these variable factors defy research.

• A study published in Addiction Biology studied squirrel monkeys who could select their own feed options. Once they consumed low amounts of caffeine, the monkeys consumed less THC. But, it did not lessen their interest in cocaine.
• Monkeys in the same study would go for more THC if they were given a high dose of caffeine. You could infer that individuals have a benchmark for tolerance and addiction. 
• The fact that caffeine does not help you sober up after smoking indicates that both compounds produce some degree of euphoria. Coffee produces alertness and clarity, but strong coffee produces jitters and anxiety. Depending on the dosage, THC will do the same.
• Nothing supports the claim that smoking while drinking coffee boosts the high. It may reduce your smoking and lead to the assumption that it betters the experience. That satisfaction in the combination effect can be addictive.
• Both cannabis and caffeine affect the centers for memory, and that presents concerns about adolescents combining the elements.    

The question of what happens when you mix cannabis in your coffee has been energized by the introduction of cannabis-infused coffee products now hitting the market.

• Mountain Medicine’s Chocolate Espresso Buzz Bites hold 10mg THC in chocolate bites that include an espresso bean.
• Catapult k-cup, Brewbudz, Pot-O-Coffee, House of Jane are just a few of the Keurig coffeemaker pods for a quick brew of cannabis-infused coffee, some with whopping loads of THC.
• Steep Fuze infuses whole bean coffee with CBD-oil and removes the negative coffee effects.

They present a new problem in how products are defined as “safe” or not. With no history of serious research on human subjects and quality control standards, the safety of such products remains unclear.

So, is the jury still out?

Well, yes and no. Quality research would clarify the question. Absent that, you must rely on the limited research on monkeys and dated to 2010.

On the other hand, if you are a sensible coffee consumer who enjoys a joint or cannabis additive with your morning brew, you will learn with experience what combination works best for you. If you are a sensible user of both, you will use in moderation understanding the too much of a good thing is likely a bad thing.