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. Thankfully, as more states legalize cannabis and recreational sales we can observe more data about the effect on death and accident rates. One study examined these data points exploring when cannabis was legalized vs. when retail sales began. Additionally, cannabis is not always the only drug or substance that someone might be using.
Sian Ferguson is a freelance health and cannabis writer based in Cape Town, South Africa. She’s passionate about empowering readers to take care of their mental and physical health through science-based, empathetically delivered information. On the surface, weed appears to be safer, but there’s simply not enough evidence to declare a winner. It’s also important to remember that there aren’t many high-quality, long-term studies on weed and its effects.
Co-use of Alcohol and Cannabis: A Review
Hartman and colleagues 70• investigated the effect of cannabis on driving with and without alcohol on THC blood concentrations in a mescaline benefits within-subject study with six conditions. Participants drank alcohol (placebo or low dose) and inhaled 500 mg vaporized cannabis (placebo, 2.9%, or 6.7% THC) ad libitum for 10 min before completing a driving simulation. An interaction between cannabis and alcohol was observed in time spent at high speed; thus, cannabis may have diminished the propensity to increase driving speed following alcohol consumption.
Other Psychiatric Disorders and Mental Health Symptoms Related to Co-use
- But people are less familiar with the effects of cannabis in general — and of cannabis beverages in particular.
- However, dosing with edibles can be imperfect and take time to ascertain so when using edibles it’s best to pace yourself and examine how you feel.
- The same trend occurred in Canada, as documented in a recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Alcohol and marijuana are both intoxicants, but one study from Columbia University researchers estimated that alcohol multiplies the chance of a fatal traffic accident by nearly 14 times, while marijuana nearly doubles the risk. Drug experts broadly agree that individuals and society would arguably be better off if marijuana became the most accepted recreational intoxicant of choice instead of alcohol. Jon 2cb effects Caulkins, a drug policy expert at Carnegie Mellon University, gave the example of an alien race visiting Earth and asking which land animal is the biggest.
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If health and wellness are the ultimate goals, does smoking weed have similar effects as drinking liquor? Here’s what we know about how the alcohol and weed impact the body and mind. 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.
Recent Findings
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.
A few drugs are enormously dangerous in the short-term but not the long-term (heroin), or vice versa (tobacco). And looking at deaths or other harms caused by certain drugs doesn’t always account for substances, such as prescription medications, that are often mixed with others, making them more deadly or harmful than they would be alone. Their findings linked alcohol consumption with long-term changes to the structure of white matter and gray matter in the brain. With marijuana legalization on the rise, an increasing number of studies are exploring the drug’s potential harms and benefits. However, a new study suggests that when it comes to brain health, alcohol is more damaging. The research on other health effects of marijuana is inconclusive but should warrant some caution.
The analysis may be flawed, but its simplicity and accessibility have won over many policy circles. half life of soma One way to develop a healthy relationship with cannabis is to use it intentionally. If you want to seek out medical marijuana for a specific condition consider finding a doctor with Green Health Docs. Getting a medical marijuana card can ensure that you have access to regulated medical marijuana simply and easily.