So what happens when you mix the two? For one it greatly increases the amount of THC that reaches your brain, meaning that having a few drinks literally gets you higher. Harvard Medical School professor, Scott Lukas, published a study in 2001 that found that after people smoked marijuana and a drank a dose of alcohol equal to a couple of shots, the THC levels in their blood plasma was almost double that of people who smoked pot and consumed a placebo drink. The people who consumed alcohol and marijuana also noticed the effects of the marijuana sooner than those who did not.
If you or anyone you know has mixed the two substances, you are probably familiar with what is known as “the spins” (or “greening out” depending on where you are from.) This phenomena is just a factor of the two highs mixing with one another, as well as the intensified THC intake. As I have mentioned above, it is alcohol that intensifies the effects of marijuana, not the other way around. With this being said, smoking before you drink rather than drinking before you smoke can help to prevent “the spins.” Mixing the two is not normally viewed as something that will have fatal consequences, although Lukas is quick to point out that because the effects of mixing the two clouds the mind more than an individual is normally used to, they do face a higher chance of having an accident (driving or otherwise.) Also Australia’s National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC) states that, in vulnerable people, the combination can produce psychotic symptoms such as panic, anxiety, or paranoia (although this is obviously a pretty biased source.)
-Writer for University Primetime & Real: Activism Through Education.
-22 years old.
-Electronic music producer: https://soundcloud.com/elloeff
-Family man
-Paranoid
-Never afraid to be the only guy drinking at the party.
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