Further Reading

Can I use marijuana and cocaine as antidepressants?

Dear Stanton:

I have been taking Prozac for almost 3 years for recurring depression that was caused by taking phentermine, a prescription diet drug. I like to smoke pot maybe 2 times a month and sometimes I like to do some cocaine, 1g at a time. I was wondering about the effects of combining the Prozac with the pot, and also with the coke. I have noticed that after not doing coke for 2 weeks now I have had some of my depression symptoms, like not wanting to talk to anyone, or leave the house. Are those symptoms of my depression, and why is coke doing that, and also are these signs of withdrawal symptoms for either coke or pot.

Thank you.

Trying to stay happy.

Liz

Dear Liz:

I am not a pharmacologist. I can't say how illicit drugs and antidepressants interact. But you say here you stopped doing coke and had depressive symptoms -- so it seems like the coke was not the cause of those symptoms. You don't say how often you take cocaine. If you limit yourself to 1 gm at a time and do not take it frequently, it seems unlikely to me that, when not taking it for two weeks, you are going through withdrawal from coke. Likewise, I just don't see withdrawal from pot if you smoke it two times a month.

I appreciate that people sometimes use a variety of methods to try to stay happy, including using pot and other drugs. I don't make any judgements against any method.

Stanton