Injectable Naltrexone (Vivitrol) injections are given once a month, providing a way to get beneficial effects for 30 days at a time. Patients can and do drink while taking naltrexone, but it is less pleasurable, and they also take Naltrexone to prevent or decrease anticipated likely drinking events. With https://soberhome.net/10-panel-drug-test-drugs-checked-detection-window/ pre-addiction, there is a high risk of developing a substance use disorder (SUD), but the person isn’t there yet. The person in the pre-addiction phase is starting to experience social, psychological, or physical impairments due to alcohol, but these outcomes are not yet severely disrupting daily life.
Alcohol ‘more damaging to brain health than marijuana’
However, they may vary based on who is using either substance, how much they are using, and in what ways they’re using it. But as is often the case, it’s clear that heavy use of either drug may lead to serious health risks. The research on other health effects of marijuana is inconclusive but should warrant some caution.
Alcohol use disorder
The immediate effects of weed can vary quite a bit from person to person. Getting drunk or high can feel similar to some people, while others describe the sensations as very different. Of course, the way you feel when you’re intoxicated also depends on how much of the substance you consume. For example, one person may have a very low tolerance for weed but be able to tolerate alcohol well.
Alcohol Use Disorder
In this time of information overabundance, much of which is inaccurate, unhelpful, or even difficult to understand, Northwell Health is on a mission to make a difference as an honest, trusted, and caring partner. The site connects with consumers to provide them with personalized content that reduces their stress, makes them laugh, and ultimately feel more confident and capable on their healthcare journey. Before getting into more about safety, it may be helpful to understand some of the key differences between alcohol and marijuana relating to this discussion. To begin, the alcohol that can be purchased in stores is highly regulated, with a measurement of alcohol by volume printed on each container. Marijuana, on the other hand, has only more recently started to be regulated. A few states have legalized both recreational and medicinal marijuana, while others have only legalized medicinal strains.
Risk factors
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. Unlike alcohol, which slows your heart rate, marijuana speeds it up, which could negatively affect the heart in the short term. Still, the largest-ever report on cannabis from the National Academies of Sciences, released in January, found insufficient evidence to support or refute the idea that cannabis may increase the overall risk of a heart attack. At first glance, it might seem that alcohol does the most damage to our brain health and general well-being because it is more widely used. Over 85% of American adults say they’ve consumed alcohol at some point in their lives, and nearly 70% say they’ve had a drink in the past year, as reported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
- When it comes to the possible benefits of marijuana use, however, Thayer and her team note that the jury is still out, and further research is needed to reach some conclusions.
- Research shows that nearly 90% of Americans have used alcohol at some point or another.
- It is estimated that around 22.2 million people in the United States have used marijuana in the past month, making it “the most commonly used illicit drug” in the country.
- Studies in humans, on the other hand, have returned varied results, and many have been too small-scale to draw firm conclusions.
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In contrast, “we don’t see any statistically significant effects of cannabis on gray matter or white matter,” Hutchison said. Across the U.S., however, it is increasingly becoming legalized for both medicinal and recreational purposes. As a result of this changing legislation, researchers have been trying to find out more about how marijuana may benefit health, as well as the damage that it could cause. The use of marijuana, however, seemed to have no significant long-term effects on brain structure. “There are segments of the population that want to bypass the entire process, grabbing this nugget of truth … and claiming smoking marijuana can be good for your health and have medical uses,” Baler said. Because marijuana can impair coordination and balance, there is the risk of hurting oneself, particularly if someone drives or chooses to have unprotected sex while their inhibitions are lowered, Baler said.
There are also more ways to consume marijuana, such as ingesting and inhaling, while alcohol is typically consumed by ingestion via a beverage. But cigarette smoking plays a complicated role in studying the impact of marijuana smoke, Baler said. Marijuana smokers tend to smoke much less than cigarette smokers, as some may smoke one joint a few times a week. Alcohol is more likely than marijuana to interact with other drugs.
So the sheer numbers of people showing up in the ER after smoking pot are going to be a lot less than for alcohol. However, having worked in ERs since pot was legalized, I can tell you that people who smoke weed are showing up a lot more now than in the past, and those numbers are methamphetamine withdrawal climbing. Finally, an increasingly popular way of consuming cannabis in the past few years is through edibles, which are treats such as gummies or popcorn infused with cannabis. These edibles allow THC to be taken up directly into the body rather than inhaled through the lungs.
Their findings linked alcohol consumption with long-term changes to the structure of white matter and gray matter in the brain. Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder conducted a review of existing imaging data that looked at the effects of alcohol hydrocodone and alcohol and marijuana, or cannabis, on the brain. Research shows that nearly 90% of Americans have used alcohol at some point or another. Less than 50% of Americans have even tried marijuana, and a much smaller percentage are using it on a regular basis.
Still, there’s some evidence to suggest that regularly combining alcohol and weed may have some concerning effects over time. The study concluded that — at least in people with depression — marijuana isn’t an effective treatment. “Our findings revealed that cannabis users were less likely to develop alcoholic liver disease, and cannabis-dependent individuals were the least likely individuals to develop alcoholic liver disease,” said Bukong. Previous research had already found that cannabinoid receptors in the liver are potential targets for new ways to treat liver disease. A 2018 study looked at about 320,000 people with a history of both misusing alcohol and using cannabis to discover what effect, if any, using both drugs had on liver health. It’s impossible to say whether drinking alcohol or using marijuana causes violence, but several studies suggest a link between alcohol and violent behavior.
There’s also some divergence within the specific categories of harm. But alcohol’s crime risk is due to its tendency to make people more aggressive (and more prone to committing crime), while heroin’s crime risk is based on the massive criminal trafficking network behind it. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 15 million people in the United States deal with it.
But if you’ve been drinking a lot, it might be hard to tell the difference between a green out and alcohol poisoning, which can be life-threatening if not treated. But if you do decide to mix the two, start slow and keep track of how much you’re consuming of each. In each session, participants consumed a different combination of placebo, low, and moderate doses of THC and alcohol. For example, a 1992 study had 15 participants smoke a placebo, a high dose of THC, or a low dose of THC on three occasions. On each occasion, they’d rank a different dose of alcohol, including a placebo, as a low dose or a high dose.
However, is available necessarily a sign that it’s better for you? If you’re comparing alcohol vs. weed here are some pros and cons. Cannabis can be addictive but this is more a psychological dependency than a physical one. It can be more habitual or emotional in nature and can be aided by therapy and not necessarily require outside intervention. Additionally, any deficits or issues caused by heavy cannabis use can be reversible. Alcohol is highly addictive and some people can have a genetic predisposition to alcoholism.
