Possible Interaction: Ethanol and Marijuana

“ Alcohol in combination with cannabis was significantly related to impairment on horizontal gaze nystagmus (p = 0.029).”

“Animal studies suggest that chronic cannabis consumption may also produce cross-tolerance for the impairing effects of alcohol , but supportive data in humans is scarce.”

“Differences in the alcohol effects between users and non-users provided evidence of cross-tolerance between cannabis and alcohol.”

“The time course of light adaptation after intense light exposure is significantly delayed by alcohol, marijuana, and a combined dose of alcohol and marijuana.”

“The combined alcohol and marijuana treatment produces little more than the effect produced by either drug alone, suggesting some antagonism between the drugs — a suggestion supported by a significantly lower blood alcohol level for the alcohol dose when combined with marijuana than when taken alone.”

“Consideration of the dose, prior experience with drugs, setting, and possible cross tolerance of marijuana and alcohol are important in evaluating the significance of the clinical effects.”

“ Marijuana and alcohol , when used separately and in combination, contribute to automobile accidents and failed sobriety tests of standing balance.”

“For many of the drug combinations, when subjects consumed ethanol they detected marihuana effects more quickly, reported more episodes of euphoria and had higher plasma THC levels than when they consumed placebo ethanol.”

“ Marihuana and alcohol are often used together, yet little is known about why they are combined.”

“Objectives: To test whether long-term cannabis use modulates the effects of alcohol on psychomotor skills and self-reported mood and sensation.”

“Rationale: Many previous studies have reported that alcohol and cannabis produce additive psychomotor effects in acute combination, but few have explicitly tested whether chronic exposure to cannabis, in the absence of acute administration, alters the effects of alcohol on psychomotor performance.”

“Results: Tracking accuracy was similar for both groups after placebo, but alcohol caused a significant deterioration in performance among infrequent cannabis users relative to regular users.”

“The results indicate that the decrements due to ethanol in performance of skills necessary to drive an automobile were significantly enhanced by marihuana in an additive and perhaps synergistic manner.”

“The relatively slow elimination from the body of the cannabinoids has safety implications for cognitive tasks, especially driving and operating machinery; although driving impairment with cannabis is only moderate, there is a significant interaction with alcohol.”