Let’s be honest, a party isn’t a real party if there isn’t a wild amount of booze and weed readily available to everyone present. The mixture of the two is commonly associated with wild college and high school parties, but the effects of being both drunk and stoned aren’t really common knowledge. Most people actually tend to stay away from mixing the two drugs because they’re afraid of the consequences. But are the results actually pretty good? Or do they need to be avoided completely for safety’s sake?
The slang name for being drunk and stoned at the same time is crossfade. After reaching out to the cannabis community to see if they had any stories to tell about being crossfaded, one particular story stood out among the rest. One gentleman told us a story about how he was at a party and got absolutely blasted. One of his buddies had actually dared him to try to make more bong hits them. Naturally, they were both drunk out of their minds already and went ahead with the challenge. After a bunch of bong hits, they both could barely see. Our interviewee claimed that both he and his friend at the time didn’t have any recollection of what happened afterwards. All they supposedly remembered is waking up in the morning with the worst hangover they’ve ever had.
So it seems fair to say that both of the gentlemen spoken of above overdid it by a lot. They crossfaded so hard they can no longer even remember doing it. So what happened, and why can’t they remember it? Time to find out. To do so we’re going to look at the science behind both THC and alcohol, as well as several studies done with respect to both.
The Difference Between Alcohol and THC
For those unfamiliar, THC is the psychoactive compound found in Cannabis. THC is responsible for the euphoria and other cerebral effects you feel when smoking weed.
The difference between Alcohol and THC is hard to explain, as there’s a lot of science involved. To make it real simple, imagine watching a very romantic movie that involves puppies and every other cute thing you can imagine. That’ll bring you to tears. Now imagine watching the most vulgar and hilarious comedy you’ve ever seen. That’ll also bring you to tears, but only because you’re laughing so hard. Now imagine you’re watching both movies at the same time. That’s a lot of tears and conflicting emotions, which makes for one confusing movie night.
Take the above example and apply it to our scenario. Alcohol is a romantic movie, and THC is a comedy. Both intoxicate you, but for different reasons. Alcohol is known to rapidly alter your motor skills, meaning your reaction time, the ability to walk and run, and more. Marijuana, on the other hand, alters your ability to accurately keep track of time, or stay focused on one thing in particular. Overall your brain becomes a mess of chemicals and hormones, and that can create either a wild ride or a horrible crash.
Time for some science. Your body contains something called a central nervous system. This particular system is responsible for how signals are sent throughout your body. These signals allow your brain to accurately control and feel various parts of your body. Alcohol works to slow these signals down, meaningless information is moved from your body to your brain. This is why it becomes harder to walk in a straight line when drunk.
THC is different in the sense that it causes the repetition of signals in your brain. Usually, different thought processes have cooldowns or refractory periods, but THC tends to cancel that out. This is why people tend to have wild thoughts when high. Their imaginations are running wild because your brain is no longer controlling them. Haven’t you ever heard someone say the colours were speaking to them? Or come up with ridiculous questions and ideas?
When consuming both alcohol and THC, you’re both slowing down the transmission of signals between the brain and body, and increasing the repetition of signals in the brain. Studies have shown that this makes it harder to remember what’s going on around you and can lead to blacking out for the rest of the night. Hence the reason why the subject of our earlier interview couldn’t remember anything after getting both drunk and high.
Swartzwelder – October 2013
In October of 2013, a study was conducted by a man named Shwartzwelder and his team at Duke University. This study focused on the effects on memory in rats when intoxicated with THC and ethanol. The study’s findings were published in a journal called Neuroscience Letters.
The study found that when the rats were high on both weed and alcohol they were impaired far beyond what they were when only on one or the other (alcohol or weed). The study also found that the rats were far less likely to explore their surroundings when high on both then that of one or the other.
Scott Lukas – August 1992
Scott Lukas of Harvard Medical School found that when consuming alcohol and marijuana at the same time, your blood alcohol level will be far lower than that of without marijuana. This is because marijuana actually alters your body’s motility rate. Motility refers to the process in which things move through your gastrointestinal tract. Further studies not only found that THC reduces BOC levels, but that alcohol actually increases THC levels.
Overall Scott Lukas conducted three studies. The first and second of course showed that Alcohol content increases the THC levels in the body, and THC reduces BOC (Blood Alcohol Content). The third actually showed that not only are THC levels higher when crossfading, but the high is actually better. Experiments were done where one group smoked weed, and other crossfaded. The crossfading group claimed their high was stronger then they’ve ever felt whereas the other group reported average highs. To sum up these studies, it seems as though the more you drink while high, the better the high is!
So Does This Mean Crossfading Is A Good Thing?
So it seems that alcohol and marijuana consumed together make for a great high, but there are some serious health hazards to keep in mind. When drinking, your body is consuming a lot of alcohol and other potentially hazardous chemicals. Your liver is responsible for filtering all this out. However, your liver isn’t perfect. Sometimes it can’t keep up. At this point, your stomach has to take action to prevent you from getting alcohol poisoning. Yes, most of our readers probably know what this is. Throwing up! When you drink too much you throw up to stop alcohol poisoning. This is where things get dangerous. Marijuana is known to be very good at stopping vomiting. If you’re unable to remove all the toxins from your body, you actually have a good chance of dying. To sum this health concern up, we definitely don’t recommend consuming both. The supposedly better high is not worth the risk to your life.
Another possible health concern is your lack of judgement when crossfading. Weed and alcohol alone already compromise your decision-making skills. Crossfading will increase this to a deadly tipping point. You run the risk of drowning (as you could forget how to swim), falling downstairs, and other related accidents.
Final Thoughts
Crossfading may seem fun at first, with the whole “better high” and all. But we believe the risks certainly outweigh the benefits. What’s the point in risking your life for a high that’s temporary? Death is a permanent consequence, not a temporary event.
If you’re going against our advice (which many do), be sure to protect yourself the best you can. Hide your keys so you can’t drive away in your car. Limit the amount of alcohol you drink, and try not to mix alcohol types. Mixing increases your chances of alcohol poisoning as your liver isn’t designed to handle half a dozen different heavy toxins at once. We recommend having a dedicated driver or someone to look out for you when you’re partying.
Also please keep in mind that weed is not legal everywhere. Before consuming weed be sure to check your country or regions weed laws. This article is not intent upon being a legal guide, nor is it a valid excuse to break any laws.
