«The first answer always has to be neither,» Dr. Aaron Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, told CBS News. But then he acknowledges they’re not exactly equivalent — and he considers alcohol much more dangerous. Through careful design and application of the self-report measures, we have tried to mitigate those issues. Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. Stephanie received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
It’s time to clear the smoke
If you take medication, talk to your doctor before using weed, alcohol, or both. They may weaken the effectiveness of your medication or increase your risk for certain side effects. Adding alcohol to a low dose of THC impaired driving simulator scores by 21 percent.
- Using weed before drinking alcohol may minimize the effects of alcohol.
- Some people may consider both substances similar because of how they make you feel.
- For comparison’s sake, cocaine hooks about 20% of those who use it.
- Varieties of cannabis that contain low levels of THC (less than 0.3%) are classified as hemp, while those with more than 0.3% THC are considered cannabis.
Combining these can heighten side effects like dizziness, impaired coordination, and cognitive issues. Always check with your doctor before using any new medication or supplement. Keep in mind that combining the two may be linked to a decline in cognitive function and an increased risk of dependence.
As the name implies, SNRIs increase the serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain. These chemicals help regulate moods, pain, and other important bodily functions, and Cymbalta influences the levels of those chemicals in the brain. But if you’ve been drinking a lot, it might be hard to tell the difference between a green out and alcohol poisoning, which can be life-threatening if not treated. Usually, a bad reaction to mixing weed and alcohol will pass within a few hours. If you’ve mixed weed and alcohol and are having a bad reaction, it’s probably because alcohol seems to make the high from using weed stronger. This can happen any time you’ve consumed to much weed — with or without alcohol.
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And while serving as a social lubricant, drinking alcohol actually leaves you dehydrated. The body needs a certain level of hydration and blood flow for sexual arousal. Drinking too much makes it difficult for men to have an erection and for women to feel pleasure from natural lubrication, studies have shown. Except for going out in public, people were much more inclined to carry on normally if they’d ingested marijuana compared to drinking alcohol.
The bottom line in terms of brain health and cognitive impairment along with overall well-being, is to eliminate or reduce the use of both these substances. At first glance, it might seem that alcohol does the most damage to our brain health and general well-being because it is more widely used. Over 84% of American adults say they’ve consumed alcohol at some point in their lives. And nearly 64% of Americans aged 12 and over say they’ve had a drink in the past year, as reported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). «Some people say they feel the effects of cannabis-infused drinks within 15 to 20 minutes, which is much faster than when people eat a cannabis gummie or brownie,» says Dr. Gruber.
Weed Vs Alcohol On Brain
As a result of this changing legislation, researchers have been trying to find out more about how marijuana may benefit health, as well as the damage that it could cause. The use of marijuana, however, seemed to have no significant long-term effects on brain structure. Although cannabis is less addicting than some drugs, it can be as severe as other substances.
Animal studies have indicated some possible impact on reproduction. Additionally, there is evidence marijuana can worsen psychiatric issues for people who are predisposed to them, or bring them on at a younger age. Finally, Baler said, because the drug is typically smoked, it can bring on bronchitis, coughing and chronic inflammation of the air passages. While both are intoxicants used recreationally, their what drugs was eminem addicted to legality, patterns of use and long-term effects on the body make the two drugs difficult to compare. Caulkins and Peter Reuter, a drug policy expert at the University of Maryland, suggested a model in which all the major risks of drugs are drawn out and each drug is ranked within those categories.
Those who consumed just alcohol had worse cognitive functioning than those who only consumed THC. Those who combined the two had reduced cognitive performance than those who only consumed alcohol. A study from 2011 evaluated performance on cognitive tasks among 21 heavy weed users who had consumed alcohol. Still, there’s some evidence to suggest that regularly combining alcohol and weed may have some concerning effects over time. Weed appeared to slow down the rise of blood alcohol levels after consuming a high dose of alcohol. However, this study was pretty small, making it hard to draw any firm conclusions.
THC, the psychoactive chemical in cannabis, is almost instantly absorbed and quickly reaches high blood concentration after inhalation through the lungs. Binge drinking leads to a litany of serious consequences, such as injuries, violence, risky sexual behavior, unwanted pregnancy, and more. Let’s take a closer look at some of the worst consequences of drinking and marijuana.
It can also lower your inhibitions making you more likely to make riskier or rash decisions that can lead to an accident. Cannabis can affect your ability to pay attention, memory, and decision-making. It can overall slow your reaction time and your general perception of time and distance which can increase your likelihood of getting into an accident. Suffice to say that alcohol causes more deaths due to violence, accidents, car crashes, and disease than cannabis to the point where there are ever-growing statistics tracking these numbers. While there is the possibility for occasional deaths and accidents caused by cannabis use there isn’t sufficient data to compare it to alcohol. They ultimately found a 5.8% increase in injury crash rates and a 4.1% increase in fatal crash rates when comparing the data of cannabis being legalized and when states opened recreational sales.