help

This version of DrugCocktails.ca was created for professionals to provide them with detailed information on the effects of mixing prescription medications with substances of abuse like cigarettes, alcohol and street drugs, to help support the youth they work with make safe choices.

After creating an account, professionals log into the site with their email address/username and password. Click/tap the search  icon (magnifying glass) to search our database by the generic (chemical) name or brand (market) name of a prescription medication, to see the warning information youth see, in addition to the medical details of the interaction, mechanism of interaction and clinical significance (if known). You can print this information for your reference, or print a copy for youth you are working with. Reference information is provided, and in most cases, links directly to the literature abstract in the PubMed database.

You can also click/tap the info  icon (the big letter i) to view the general health effects and risks of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or other street drugs.


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.



A Clinical Pharmacist, Youth Health Nurse and their energetic students searched all the available drug and medical resources to find the most current information on drug interactions between substances of abuse and prescription drugs commonly used by youth.

In many cases, no one has studied interactions between prescription 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.
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.