Marijuana is one of the most popular drugs for those who drink alcohol, but are there specific benefits or risks when taking them together? What happens to your body and brain when you're drunk and stoned at the same time? Alcohol affects your central nervous system by changing how your neurons communicate. It suppresses the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate and increases the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, which causes information flow to become slow, making you feel less, perceive less, and remember less. Weed, on the other hand, contains THC, which acts on the brain's cannabinoid receptors and causes some neurons in the brain to continually fire, removing their normal refractory period, making your imagination and thoughts magnify.
But because both alcohol and weed inhibit glutamate transmission, a key part of your learning process, their combined use is linked to poor memory. A study using rats found that their ability to recognize objects was severely impaired when they were drunk and high. Of course, consuming both will make you feel lit, and studies show that even after taking two shots, the THC levels in participants'blood plasma doubled compared to those who were stoned but consumed a placebo drink, meaning alcohol makes you more high. Participants also felt the effects of weed more quickly and reported a better high with a better mood and other euphoric effects.
Researchers believe that this is due to vasodilation. Alcohol causes smooth muscle cells in your arteries to relax, widening of the blood vessels, and an increased blood flow. all of which allows more THC to cross your alveolar sac, a part of the lung where gas exchange occurs with the blood.
Ultimately, the alcohol is increasing THC absorption. Other research has found that smoking dope may even reduce the damage alcohol does on your liver. When you drink, ethanol is metabolized by the enzyme cytochrome P450-2E1, but after excessive drinking, this process causes oxidative stress, making cells in the liver become fatty, known as steatosis. Cannabidiol, a chemical component of marijuana, was found to inhibit the cycle that causes this oxidative stress on your liver, protecting it from damage. But before this becomes your go-to party duo, consider that marijuana prevents vomiting.
It's one of the reasons medical marijuana is prescribed to chemotherapy patients to help ease their nausea. But in the case of alcohol poisoning, vomiting is the body's way to remove excess alcohol. So being unable to vomit poses serious health risks.
Curious how other drugs affect your body and brain? Check out our drug video playlist which explains even more from the effects of shrooms to cocaine and even coffee. And subscribe for more weekly science videos.