Well, first off, keep in mind that using both substances together can produce unique effects on the human body, and it’s vital to use them in moderation and with caution. It might seem harmless to mix alcohol and weed, but doing so can be a slippery slope toward getting overly intoxicated. Remember, consuming weed and alcohol together can make you feel either more or less intoxicated than you would if you were using just one or the other. Adding alcohol to a low dose of THC impaired driving simulator scores by 21 percent.
For example, a 1992 study had 15 participants smoke a placebo, a high dose of THC, or a low dose of THC on three occasions. On each occasion, they’d rank a different dose of alcohol, including a placebo, as a low dose or a high dose. Using weed and alcohol together can intensify the effects what does being roofied feel like of both drugs. It is safer to use either drug without the other, although the safest option is to use neither. Other forms of cannabis, including edibles, can also interact with alcohol to cause most of the same risks as smoking cannabis. Edibles are foods that contain marijuana or its active ingredients, such as THC.
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- As compared to alcohol drinkers, co-users exhibit twice the risk of driving under the influence 9.
- If they are not, there is a very high risk of the Individual returning to substance abuse.
- Additionally, alcohol can lead to addiction, which can subsequently devastate a person’s health and well-being.
- Your body, therefore, absorbs it more slowly, leading to lower blood alcohol levels.
Using marijuana before drinking alcohol may personalized sobriety gifts make it difficult to gauge how intoxicated the user is from alcohol, potentially leading to dangerous situations like driving under the influence. Using substances to cope with negative feelings may be a sign of a substance use disorder or an alcohol use disorder. Drinking large amounts of alcohol in a short amount of time can lead to alcohol poisoning, where critical parts of the brain that control breathing, heart rate, and temperature can shut down, leading to death. Because more alcohol is usually consumed when using alcohol and marijuana at the same time, users are at risk for alcohol poisoning and should pay close attention to how much they are consuming. The potency of either substance can also impact the level of alcohol and weed concentration in your blood.8 For instance, a beer has lower alcohol per volume and you tend to drink it more slowly than a shot.
What Really Happens When You Mix Alcohol and Weed?
Much clinical research on co-use of cannabis and alcohol has been concerned with investigation of pharmacokinetic interactions between the two drugs. Lukas and colleagues 71 assigned casual cannabis and alcohol users to a cannabis dose group (placebo, 1.26% THC, or 2.53% THC). During three experimental sessions, participants consumed beverages with three separate alcohol doses (placebo, 0.35, and 0.7 g/kg) and smoked cannabis corresponding to their assigned cannabis group 30 min later. Cannabis slowed the absorption of alcohol, and subsequently reduced the psychoactive effects of alcohol, ultimately suggesting that cannabis may change the bioavailability of alcohol. Using similar methodology, a second study suggested that plasma THC levels were significantly increased when subjects first consumed alcohol 72. Compared to placebo, the combination of a low cannabis dose (2.53% THC) and low alcohol dose (0.35 g/kg) increased the number and duration of positive subjective effects, and resulted in higher plasma levels of THC.
The Influence of Co-use on Successful Treatment
This can happen any time you’ve consumed to much weed — with or without alcohol. Still, there’s some evidence to suggest that regularly combining alcohol and weed may have some concerning effects over time. While there’s some research around the effects of drinking alcohol before using weed, there isn’t much about the opposite approach. But if you’re sensitive to weed or don’t have much experience using it, it’s best to avoid mixing the two. It’s also important to remember that people can have very different reactions to the same mix of alcohol and weed. If you’re out in a group, one person’s reaction might be very different than yours.
What is safe for one person could potentially trigger a lifelong mental health illness in another. Mixing cannabis and alcohol frequently over a prolonged period of time can result in damage to the brain and body does drinking alcohol affect your gallbladder that cannot be reversed through stopping either or both substances. However, use of edibles with alcohol could be unpredictable as many people do not feel the effects of the THC for a long period of time.
Recognizing alcohol poisoning
Cannabis and alcohol alone significantly impaired performance in the driving tasks, and the combination of cannabis and alcohol impaired driving performance to a greater degree. In another study by Ramaekers et al. 69, heavy cannabis users were recruited for a double-blind, placebo-controlled, three-way examination of tolerance and cross-tolerance to the neurocognitive effects of cannabis and alcohol. Subjects completed three alcohol conditions intended to sustain steady blood alcohol concentrations (0, 0.5, and 0.7 mg/ml) over 5 h. Three hours post-alcohol administration onset, participants were administered cannabis (400 μg/kg). Alcohol significantly impaired driving-related skills including critical tracking, divided attention, and stop-signal performance.
Findings from this research suggested that the performance impairment of driving-related skills attributed to alcohol were potentiated by cannabis. However, alcohol administration before cannabis administration did not significantly impact subjective ratings of “high,” heart rate, or THC plasma concentration. Similarly, Ramaekers et al. 68 assessed the separate and combined effect of alcohol and cannabis administration on driving performance during a balanced, 6-way, crossover design investigation. During separate sessions, participants were administered cannabis (0, 100, or 200 μg/kg) with and without alcohol administration (0.04 g/dl) and subsequently completed actual driving tasks.
