Can You Donate Blood if You Smoke Cannabis?
Donating blood is one of the most honorable ways to give back to society. In order to ensure quality donations, medical extraction facilities closely adhere to guidelines that are designed to determine if a candidate is healthy enough to donate blood.
Many people assume that smoking weed automatically disqualifies them from donating blood. After all, marijuana compounds are known to linger in the bloodstream, and drug tests rely on the medium when checking for traces of the herb. But does this mean that cannabis enthusiasts cant contribute to their local blood drive? The short answer is no (yes, you can donate blood).
Things to Consider
Before you fire up your bong and head to the nearest blood extraction clinic, there are some things you should consider. First, blood centers do not test for THC levels before the process, but you may be asked if youve recently used marijuana. Representatives may reject your donation or turn you down during registration if youre visibly high. To prevent this from happening, try smoking weed a couple of hours after finishing the rigorous extraction process.
Chances are the average person wouldn't have much of a problem smoking cannabis after giving blood. However, cannabis does lower the blood pressure (hence the reason it is useful for treating glaucoma) and therefore, as you will have lower blood pressure after donating blood, some people will likely feel light headed, a few may well faint, or in certain cases (most likely those with low blood pressure issues before donating blood) have a seizure - all are caused by low blood pressure, said Jake Elliot from Quora.
Next, for patients using medical marijuana to treat serious medical conditions, such as cancer, there is a possibility that one could get rejected for being ill (again, not because THC is present in your blood). On a side note, facilities test donated blood for infectious diseases that can be transmitted during transfusion. These prerequisites have been verified by both the American Red ...
