Lucy Palmer
Drinking beer and smoking weed at the same time is known as polyconsumption. While it may be a desirable experience for some, it can lead to a range of negative side effects, including dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. It can also impair your judgment and motor control, leading to dangerous behaviors such as drunk driving, which is illegal. The combination of alcohol and weed can distort your senses, including your ability to see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. It can also affect your mental health, increasing the risk of depression and anxiety. It is important to be aware of the risks associated with polyconsumption and to make informed decisions to ensure your safety and well-being.
What You'll Learn
Mixing alcohol and weed can distort your senses
Mixing alcohol and weed can have adverse effects on your senses and cognitive abilities. Both substances are depressant drugs that impair and inhibit the brain's ability to function normally. When combined, the effects of each substance are intensified, and you may experience a loss of control, or even overdose.
Heightened THC Absorption
The active ingredient in alcohol, ethanol, and the active ingredient in weed, THC, work on the same parts of the brain, including those that control sexual desire and function. When combined, alcohol increases the absorption of THC, resulting in a stronger high. This can be dangerous, especially for those who are sensitive to weed or inexperienced with its use.
Distorted Senses
Weed and alcohol can distort your senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. The more you consume, the more distorted your senses become. The prefrontal cortex, responsible for processing sensory information, is affected by both substances, leading to thoughts based on distorted information.
Increased Health Risks
Mixing alcohol and weed can lead to various short-term dangers, including distorted perception of time, impaired cognitive and motor abilities, increased heart rate, impaired decision-making, short-term memory loss, and increased risk of accidents, injuries, and sexual assault. Long-term dangers include tolerance, dependence, and addiction to both substances, as well as damage to the brain, organs, and increased risk of cancer.
Unpredictable Behaviors
The combination of alcohol and weed can lead to unpredictable and unusual behaviors. It can cause alterations in judgment, blackouts, memory loss, and increased engagement in risky behaviors. Research indicates that mixing alcohol and weed increases the likelihood of sensation-seeking behaviors and unprotected sex.
Cerebral Symptoms
The combination of alcohol and weed can expose you to extreme cerebral symptoms. The psychoactive effects of both substances can lead to intensified symptoms such as anxiety, breathing problems, headaches, impaired judgment, increased heart rate, hallucinations, memory problems, nausea, and paranoia.
It is important to understand the potential risks and adverse effects of mixing alcohol and weed to make informed decisions about their consumption.
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It can cause a range of negative side effects
Mixing alcohol and weed can cause a range of negative side effects. Both substances are depressant drugs, and when combined, their effects become more pronounced. This can lead to a loss of control and even an overdose. The active ingredient in alcohol, ethanol, and the active ingredient in weed, THC, both affect similar parts of the brain, intensifying the impact on sexual desire and function, as well as sensory perception.
The combination of alcohol and weed can distort a person's senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. The prefrontal cortex, which processes sensory information, is particularly affected by this mixture, leading to thoughts based on distorted information. The more alcohol and weed consumed, the more intense these distortions can become.
Short-term dangers of mixing alcohol and weed include impaired cognitive ability, impaired movement, increased heart rate, impaired judgment, short-term memory loss, and an increased likelihood of accidents, injuries, and violent attacks. The risk of sexual assault, sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancies also increases due to reduced inhibitions and poor judgment.
Additionally, mixing alcohol and weed can lead to an increased likelihood of hallucinations, paranoia, overdose, and respiratory depression. The risk of a bad experience, including anxiety, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, and paranoia, is also heightened.
The long-term dangers of combining these substances include tolerance, dependence, and addiction to both alcohol and weed. This can result in withdrawal symptoms if consumption is reduced. Mixing alcohol and weed can also cause damage to the brain and organs, including the liver and lungs if weed is smoked with tobacco. There is an increased risk of developing serious mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and psychosis.
It is important to note that the order of consumption also matters. Drinking alcohol before smoking weed can increase the absorption of THC, intensifying the effects of weed. On the other hand, consuming weed before alcohol may slow down the rise in blood alcohol levels, leading to reduced awareness of intoxication and potentially increasing the risk of alcohol poisoning.
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It can lead to a green out
Mixing alcohol and weed can lead to a "green out", a term derived from "blacking out" from drinking too much alcohol. Greening out refers to the adverse effects of consuming too much cannabis, including dizziness, nausea, disorientation, anxiety, passing out, and sometimes, vomiting. It is caused by consuming too much THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis, which can overload the brain's cannabinoid receptors.
When a person consumes alcohol before smoking weed, their body tends to absorb THC faster, resulting in a stronger high that occurs much quicker. This combination can cause extreme cerebral symptoms such as anxiety, paranoia, and panic attacks. It can also lead to an increased risk of alcohol poisoning as the weed may reduce the sensation of being drunk, causing people to drink more than usual.
The risk factors for greening out include having little to no marijuana tolerance, drinking alcohol while consuming marijuana, combining other substances with marijuana, dehydration, consuming marijuana on an empty stomach, and lack of sleep prior to consumption. It is important to note that a person can still green out without any of these factors, so it is crucial to monitor how much THC is being consumed and how concentrated the marijuana product is.
While greening out is not life-threatening, it can be a distressing and overwhelming experience. To manage a green out, it is recommended to lie down in a quiet room, drink water, and eat something sugary to relieve symptoms.
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It can increase the risk of alcohol poisoning
Alcohol poisoning is a serious concern when drinking beer and smoking weed concurrently. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, impairing cognitive functions such as judgment and coordination. Weed also affects judgment and can cause hallucinations and paranoia. When combined, these substances can lead to a loss of control and an increased risk of alcohol poisoning.
The effects of alcohol and weed are exacerbated when used together. Alcohol increases the absorption of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of weed. This means that when weed is smoked after drinking beer, the effects of weed are intensified. The alcoholic content of beer widens the blood vessels, allowing THC to be absorbed more quickly into the bloodstream. This can lead to a stronger high but also amplifies the adverse effects of weed, including anxiety, nausea, and paranoia.
The combination of alcohol and weed can impair judgment and increase the likelihood of engaging in risky behaviours. It can also distort a person's senses, including sight, hearing, touch, and taste. This distortion can lead to accidents and injuries, such as falls or car accidents. The increased impairment caused by the combination of alcohol and weed can make it difficult to gauge how intoxicated one is, leading to dangerous situations such as driving under the influence.
Additionally, the combination of alcohol and weed can increase the risk of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD) and mental health issues. The concurrent use of these substances can also lead to a higher overall consumption of both, further increasing the risk of alcohol poisoning.
It is important to note that the order of consumption also plays a role. Drinking alcohol before smoking weed can increase the risk of anxiety, panic, and paranoia. On the other hand, smoking weed before drinking alcohol can make it harder to control alcohol intake, increasing the chances of alcohol poisoning.
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It can cause an increased risk of dependence
Alcohol and marijuana are two of the most commonly used substances. While occasional use of both substances is unlikely to lead to major health problems, regular use of both can increase the risk of dependence on one or both of the drugs.
A 2017 review of existing studies found that people who use alcohol and weed simultaneously tend to consume more of both drugs. This higher intake may increase the risk of dependence on alcohol, weed, or both. A 2019 study supported these findings, discovering that those who use alcohol and weed together are likely to drink more alcohol more frequently.
The combination of the two drugs can also lead to unpredictable behaviours and expose users to extreme cerebral symptoms. This is because alcohol increases the absorption of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in weed, intensifying the effects of the drug.
The increased absorption of THC can also cause anxiety, panic, and paranoia. It can also lead to a "green out", an unpleasant physical reaction to a strong high, with symptoms such as dizziness, sweating, nausea, and vomiting.
If you are concerned about your use of alcohol or weed, or both, it is important to speak to a doctor or seek help from a relevant support service.
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Frequently asked questions
Drinking beer and smoking weed at the same time is known as "crossfading". The combination of the two can increase the effects of both substances, leading to a higher high but also amplifying the adverse effects of weed.
The adverse effects of drinking beer and smoking weed can include anxiety, breathing problems, headaches, impaired judgment, increased heart rate, increased appetite, hallucinations, memory problems, nausea, paranoia, and vomiting.
Drinking beer and smoking weed can lead to unpredictable behaviour and increase the risk of accidents and injury. Regularly combining the two substances can also lead to dependence on one or both of them.
Drinking beer before smoking weed can intensify the effects of weed, leading to a stronger high and potentially causing a "green out", which refers to a range of unpleasant physical symptoms. On the other hand, smoking weed before drinking beer may minimise the effects of alcohol, making it harder to know how impaired you are and increasing the risk of alcohol poisoning.
If you have a bad reaction to drinking beer and smoking weed, it is important to stay calm, find a quiet place to rest, and drink water to rehydrate. Lemon juice or crushed peppercorns may also help to reduce the effects of THC. If symptoms persist or are severe, seek medical attention.
