Unfortunately, when you use weed and beer at the same time, the situation can escalate to a lot more than a bad high.

Mixing weed and beer is pretty common practice. The combination results in a very specific kind of high. Commonly called a crossfade high, those who have experienced it report feeling especially relaxed. This appears to be because alcohol increases the absorption of THC, ramping up the effects of the high, according to Drug Alcohol Dependence. 

Here’s the thing: The feel-good nature of this high isn’t the only outcome of mixing marijuana and alcohol. Instead, a lot of people have a really, really unpleasant high. This could be in the form of greening out, which is basically getting really nauseous, vomiting, and even getting sweaty and pale. Others might get really paranoid.

Unfortunately, when you use weed and beer at the same time, the situation can escalate to a lot more than a bad high. In some cases, the user could wind up with alcohol poisoning, which can sometimes lead to death. Here’s what happens when you mix weed and beer.

Weed Changes The Way Your Body Process Alcohol

The reason why some users have such a terrible time after mixing beer and weed is because marijuana totally changes the way your body deals with alcohol. According to older research published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, it seems that marijuana impacts to bioavailability of alcohol, or how much actually absorbed by the body. In this study, this resulted in marijuana users having a lower blood-alcohol level than they would have if they had skipped the weed and stuck with just drinking. 

It makes sense that this could result in excessive drinking, which could in turn cause alcohol poisoning with symptoms like passing out, hypothermia, slowed breathing, and seizures.

Marijuana Helps With Vomiting, Which Can Be Dangerous When Drunk

Another issue to consider is that marijuana is known to reduce vomiting and nausea. This might be a good thing in some circumstances, like when you’re dealing with the side effects of chemo, but when you’re drinking it can have serious consequences.

When we consume excessive amounts of alcohol, our body often responds by making us throw up. As much as it sucks, that’s a good thing and a way to prevent alcohol poisoning when we’ve had too much. Weed could prevent this from happening, increasing the risks of the dangerous consequences of excessive drinking.  

Should You Mix Beer and Weed?

So, should you completely avoid the mixing of beer and weed ? That’s kind of a hard question to answer. Careful consumption of the two may produce the desired crossfade high, but over-doing could be incredibly dangerous. 

It is probably best to just be really careful, to stick with a small amount of alcohol and a small amount of weed and stick with a controlled environment, like you’re home, to make sure you’re safe.