What effect does drinking alcohol and taking a prescription drug or over the counter medicine have?
- The medicine reduces the effect of the alcohol
- The alcohol will help the medicine cure the cold
- The combination could multiply the effects of the alcohol ✓
- No effect, they are difference substances
Answer: C. The combination could multiply the effects of the alcohol
Drinking alcohol while taking a prescription drug or over-the-counter medicine can multiply the effects of the alcohol.
Why this is the answer
The manual warns never to drink alcohol while taking other drugs, because the combination can be dangerous and often enhances the effects of both the alcohol and the drug. It gives the example that one drink taken with a cold remedy could affect you as much as several drinks. A combination of alcohol and other drugs also severely reduces your ability to drive, so the effect is stronger, not weaker.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. The medicine reduces the effect of the alcohol — The manual says the opposite: mixing the two enhances the effects rather than reducing the alcohol's effect.
- B. The alcohol will help the medicine cure the cold — Nothing in the manual says alcohol helps a medicine work; it warns that the combination can cause serious health problems.
- D. No effect, they are difference substances — The manual treats alcohol and drugs together as a dangerous combination, not as unrelated substances with no interaction.
Remember it
Think of one drink plus a cold remedy as several drinks, not as one drink watered down.