Drug Cocktails

DrugCocktails.ca was created for youth to help them “get the facts” about the effects and risks of mixing medications they take with substances like cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and other street drugs.

To use the website, click/tap the search icon (magnifying glass) to search our database by the generic (chemical) name or brand (market) name of your prescription medication. This lets you find out the risks of mixing that medication with 10 different groups of substances. You can even print this information out if you like. To learn about the general health effects and risks of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or other street drugs, click/tap the info icon (the big letter i).

means this cocktail could cause you SERIOUS HARM.

means there is risk with taking any substance into your body - THINK FIRST!

means 'unknown dangers'. No information was found about this cocktail, but it may still be dangerous.

The DrugCocktails.ca site does not collect any personal information from youth. You can search this website and no one will know. You can click or tap the "Hide This" icon at the top right of the screen to hide the website at any time. For added security, view the website in private mode (Explorer, Safari, Firefox) or incognito mode (Google Chrome) or delete your browsing history if you are worried someone will be upset that you looked at this website.

A Clinical Pharmacist, Youth Health Nurse and their energetic students searched all the available drug and medical resources to find the most current information for you. In many cases, no one has studied the effects of mixing medications with other substances. One of the most common messages is that “no one is certain how a person will react to medications mixed with other substances such as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or other street drugs” - in a lot of cases, we just do not know what can happen. Do not change how you take your prescription medication(s) based on the information provided on this website. Check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before making any changes to how you take your prescription medication(s).

If you or a friend needs emergency help (like if someone is unconscious, having a seizure, difficulty breathing or chest pain), call 911 immediately.

Others you can contact include your local poison control centre (in British Columbia, call 604-682-5050 or 1-800-567-8911), speak to a nurse or pharmacist with BC HealthLink (call 811 from anywhere in BC) or a 24 hour crisis centre (in British Columbia call 604-872-3311, 1-866-661-3311, or 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433). Online crisis chat services are also available (in British Columbia, visit http://youthinbc.com or http://crisiscentrechat.ca).

Make safe choices – your life depends on it !

The Drug Cocktails website – “Facts for Youth about mixing Medicine, Booze and Street Drugs” (the “Site”) has been developed as a resource for youth and staff within Children’s & Women’s Health Centre of British Columbia Branch (C&W) for Provincial Health Services Authority and its branch agencies (PHSA)(C&W and PHSA together the “Societies”). There are support systems at the Societies which may not exist in other clinical settings and therefore adoption or use of this manual is not the responsibility of the Societies. Agencies other than the Societies should use Cocktails as a guideline for reference purposes only. The contents of this website were current at the time of development in July 2013. The Societies are not responsible for information that has changed after that time, whether incorporated into the Site or not.

The Site contains best practice knowledge, but practice standards may change as more knowledge is gained. Decision making in a specific context remains the responsibility of attending professionals. Nothing on the Site should in any way be construed as being either official or unofficial policy of the Societies.

Contact information and links to websites contained on the Site are provided for convenience only. The Societies cannot guarantee that the information, links or content from these links remain current. Providing a contact or link does not mean that the Societies endorse the views, products or services that may be offered via the link. The Societies assume no responsibility or liability arising from any error in, or omission of, information or from the use of any information, link, contact, opinion, advice or similar, provided on the Site.

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Children’s & Women's Health Centre of British Columbia. Materials on this website may be copied and used for personal non-commercial purposes.