How to ‘Crossfade’ The Right Way
- What does the term ‘crossfade’ mean?
- The effects of alcohol and cannabis together
- Signs of having the ‘Greenies’
- How to crossfade and have a fun time doing so
If you have been in a situation where you’re holding your beer and glancing at a bong longingly that has been passing through the room, chances are that you drained your beer with a big gulp before eagerly sucking in a bong rip.
But without being responsible and learning a simple, yet essential rule is that as you ‘crossfade’ (ingesting alcohol and cannabis at the same time) you could quickly get the ‘Greenies’ - a pretty pronounced feeling of nausea when you feel sick and overwhelmed after getting too high. And worst-case scenario experience, suffer a blackout if you’re not careful.
There are different levels of being crossfaded, and it can be both depending on the person’s body, and which of the substances were ingested in the body first.
In this article, we will explain what crossfading means, the effects of combining alcohol and cannabis together, and some rules you should follow to have a good night.
Table of Contents.
What does the term ‘crossfade’ mean?
The Online Slang Dictionary refers to the term ‘crossfade’ as ‘to be under the influence of both marijuana and alcohol.’
According to Jayne Leonard in MedicalNewsToday, both drugs are often used together because they have similar effects on the body and mind, including drowsiness, slowed reflexes, and chances in judgement and time perception.
Other symptoms of crossfading include:
- Feelings of euphoria
- Feeling buzzed and invincible
- Feeling relaxed
The effects of alcohol and cannabis together
When used alone, alcohol and marijuana produce different effects. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that affects the drinker’s motor skills and impacts how our brain and body communicates.
Cannabis on the other hand, is a psychoactive mood-altering drug that affects the brain itself, leading to cognitive effects that leads to anxiety and paranoia.
Users who drink an alcoholic beverage before consuming cannabis can find themselves higher faster than just smoking or drinking alone.
Scott Lukas, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at Harvard Medical School, conducted tests of the use of alcohol and cannabis together.
One study looked at how drinking alcohol affects the absorption of THC, and the other looked at how smoking weed affects the absorption of alcohol.
In these studies, Lukas found that smoking cannabis activates your body’s cannabinoid 2 receptors (CB2), which can affect how quickly your body absorbs alcohol.
A more recent study in 2015 found that if you drink first and then smoke, it causes the levels of THC in your blood plasma to escalate, which intensifies your high from the cannabis.
The reason is that alcohol opens up blood vessels in your digestive system, and THC gets absorbed quicker.
Signs of having the ‘Greenies’
- Shortness of breath
- Pale and sweaty
- Feel dizzy like the room is spinning
- Nauseous
- Vomiting
- Memory loss
- (extreme cases) blackout
Good news is that it is virtually impossible to fatally overdose on cannabis, but it is possible to get sick from being over-stimulated by too much THC in your brain’s cannabinoid receptors, triggering a number of negative side-effects.
Both alcohol and cannabis consumption can cause ‘orthostatic hypotension’ which is low blood pressure when you abruptly sit or stand up.
Orthostatic hypotension happens as THC and alcohol is absorbed in your bloodstream, the blood vessels dilate and your blood pressure suddenly drops. This can cause decreased blood flow to the brain and you can possibly faint.
If you keep up a slow pace throughout, you can avoid these and have fun. Here are some trips from The CannabisPlace team out of their personal experiences with crossfading.
How to crossfade and have a fun time doing so
Always smoke weed before drinking any alcohol. Drinking widens your blood vessels and increases blood flow. If you drink first, you will feel the effects of weed much faster and more acutely as alcohol increases the absorption of weed’s main psychoactive ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Wait around 30-45 minutes after your last drink to smoke. Take it nice and easy - there’s no race. Sip on your drink now and then, have a couple of puffs before chatting with good company for a while.
Avoid edibles if you are drinking alcohol. The lack of predictability (especially for your first time) with edibles makes the combination of alcohol and cannabis hard to control.
Hydrate your body every now and again. We produce more urine as we drink alcohol. Our bodies tend to become dehydrated as we lose more fluid and ingesting alcohol and cannabis together intensifies this effect.
Do not drive. Science Daily reported that when alcohol and cannabis were taken together, researchers concluded that the possibility of vehicular crashes increased considerably.
Find out what works best for you over time. Building up a tolerance would make a difference. Trying different combinations of liquor and cannabis or beer with cannabis but remember to go SLOW.
References:
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/weed-and-alcohol
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11543984
- http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/crossfade
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1326277
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150527112728.html
- https://time.com/3899426/cannabis-alcohol-thc-car-crash-drug-safety-driving/
Constance Williams
Constance is a medical journalist that critically analyses and reports on how Australia can benefit from the cannabis industry in the future.
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