03 Juin Alcohol and Weed: What Happens When They Mix
On each occasion, they’d rank a different dose of alcohol, including a placebo, as a low how to store urine for a future drug test dose or a high dose. This is because alcohol increases the absorption of weed’s main psychoactive ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Marijuana use, however, appeared to have no impact on the structure of gray or white matter in either teenagers or adults.
But how much does all of this information really tell policymakers or the public? It would matter if marijuana ends up substituting alcohol once pot is legalized (since a safer substance would be replacing a more dangerous one), but the research on that is still early. Although drug policy experts generally don’t dispute the assertion that alcohol is more dangerous than pot, the study, led by British researcher David Nutt, is quite controversial. Experts see the rankings as deeply flawed, largely because they present the harms that come from drugs in a rather crude, one-dimensional manner. While men and women were more concerned with alcohol consumption in relation to addiction, appearance, or health, the most pressing concern was public behavior, which they were only somewhat concerned about.
- The way you consume weed can have a big impact on its short- and long-term effects.
- Perhaps the biggest supporting evidence for this point is a 2010 study published in The Lancet that ranked alcohol as the most dangerous drug in the United Kingdom, surpassing heroin, crack cocaine, and marijuana.
- This means you might be tipsier than you feel, increasing your risk for becoming overly intoxicated.
- That study has drawn widespread media attention, appearing in outlets like the Washington Post, the Guardian, the New Republic, and here at Vox.
- « If you are interested in trying it and it is legal for you to do so, be mindful about controlling the experience until you know how a particular product affects you, » she says.
- « You can die binge-drinking five minutes after you’ve been exposed to alcohol. That isn’t going to happen with marijuana, » said Ruben Baler, a health scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Americans’ Perceptions of Alcohol vs. Marijuana
Drinking alcohol before using weed can ramp up the effects of THC. 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.
Health Challenges
« You can go from an experience that’s reasonably pleasant to one that’s not, » says Dr. Gruber. This article has been reviewed by Dr. Anand Dugar, an anesthesiologist, pain medicine physician and the founder of Green Health Docs. Graduating from medical school in 2004 and residency in 2008, Dr. Dugar has been a licensed physician for almost 20 years and has been leading the push for medical cannabis nationwide. While both are intoxicants they can affect the body differently and can also impact your health differently. Some people may consider both substances similar because of how they make you feel.
Perspectives on People
A lot of research has also linked adolescent marijuana use with a range of negative consequences, including cognitive deficiencies and worse educational outcomes. While it’s not clear whether marijuana’s role with these outcomes is cause-and-effect, experts generally agree that people younger than their mid-20s should avoid pot. Health risks are just one way to measure whether marijuana is safer than alcohol. While pot doesn’t seem to cause organ failure or fatal overdoses, alcohol kills more than 29,000 people each year due to liver disease and other forms of poisoning.
That study has drawn widespread media attention, appearing in outlets like the Washington Post, the Guardian, the New Republic, and here at Vox. Keep in mind that combining the two may be linked to a decline in cognitive function and an increased risk of dependence. Both weed and alcohol, together and on their own, are also potentially addictive and can lead to dependence and misuse. A number of recent studies also focus on how combining weed and alcohol affects your driving. The scans revealed that the drinkers’ brains had reduced gray matter and compromised white matter.
Now while cannabis deaths caused by disease, illness or drug interactions there are some data points regarding accidents, specifically car accidents. Legalization has provided data points about the potential increase in accidents related to cannabis. While the growing increase in medical and recreational cannabis legalization is providing a larger data set there isn’t enough tracking to link specific medical deaths to cannabis. The way you consume weed can have a big impact on its short- and long-term effects. For example, smoking is rough on your lungs, but this risk doesn’t apply to edibles. This may seem like a petty academic squabble, but it’s quite important as researchers and lawmakers try to advance more scientific approaches to drug policy.