Alcohol or Marijuana: Which is Worse for Your Brain?

This post will explore all the differences between these two intoxicants and explore their impact on your health and society at large. Because denial is common, you may feel like you don’t have a problem with drinking. You might not recognize how much you drink or how many problems in your life are related to alcohol use. Listen to relatives, friends or co-workers when they ask you to examine your drinking habits or to seek help.

What are the Main Differences Between the Effects, Risks & Safety of Alcohol vs Weed?

Both legal and public opinion of cannabis is changing in America. According to the National Institutes of Health, cannabis use among young adults reached an all-time high in 2021. But we shouldn’t conflate the potential therapeutic uses of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis with products sold in dispensaries. Many products in dispensaries may have contaminants, may not actually contain CBD and may be the difference between mdma ecstasy and molly high in THC concentration. If my patients are using cannabis, I ask them if they’re using it for a medical reason and suggest alternatives that have more rigorous scientific support. If they’re still planning on using, I advise against smoking and vaping to protect their lungs, and I suggest using products with low concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or trying cannabidiol (CBD) instead.

Several studies link alcohol with violence, particularly at home. That has not been found for cannabis.

Additionally, cannabis is not always the only drug or substance that someone might be using. This also skews any data because someone engaged in an accident or having a health issue may have more than cannabis in their system. Alcohol and cannabis are vastly different but often get lumped together because they are intoxicants. The way they make you feel may make them seem similar but their impact on your body and any lasting damage are not remotely the same.

1. The CDC, in turn, cites a 2015 JAMA Psychiatry study based on data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.
2. 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.
3. For instance, heroin and crack cocaine are fairly close in the rankings.
4. Similar to alcohol, it’s possible to consume too much too quickly.

Levels of Care in Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment

Alcohol, tobacco, and prescription painkillers are likely deadlier than other drugs because they are legal, so comparing their aggregate effects to illegal drugs is difficult. Some drugs are very harmful to individuals, but they’re so rarely used that they may not be a major public health threat. A few drugs are enormously dangerous in the short-term but not the long-term (heroin), or vice versa (tobacco). And looking at deaths or other harms caused by certain drugs doesn’t always account for substances, such as prescription medications, that are often mixed with others, making them more deadly or harmful than they would be alone.

It’s a tough call, but based on the peer-reviewed science, there appears to be a clear answer. People’s responses to each substance can vary greatly, so what seems safer for one person might not work for someone else. While one person might feel relaxed while drunk, another might feel restless. There break the cycle of addiction with these strategies to keep dopamine in check are countless cannabis products on the market and a number of consumption options, from vaping to edibles. Study co-author Kent Hutchison, also of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, notes that to date, studies that have investigated this association have produced mixed results.

Weed Vs Alcohol On Brain

This is because alcohol increases the absorption of weed’s main psychoactive ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It’s also important to remember that people can have very different reactions to the same mix of alcohol and weed. If you’re out in a group, one person’s reaction might be very different than yours.

Some animal research, for example, hints that at least some cannabinoids, the compounds in cannabis, may be protective for the neural system, Hutchison said. Studies in humans, on the other hand, have returned varied results, and many have been too small-scale to draw firm conclusions. When it comes to addiction profiles, risk of death or overdose, and links to cancer, car crashes, violence, and obesity, the research suggests that marijuana may be less of a health risk than alcohol. On the other hand, low to moderate drinking — about one drink a day — has been linked with a lower risk of heart attack and stroke compared with abstention. James Nicholls, a director at Alcohol Research UK, told The Guardian that those findings should be taken with a grain of salt since “any protective effects tend to be canceled out by even occasional bouts of heavier drinking.” But how much does all of this information really tell policymakers or the public?

It can overall slow your reaction time and your general perception of time and distance which can increase your likelihood of getting into an accident. They ultimately found a 5.8% increase in injury crash rates and a 4.1% increase in fatal crash rates when comparing the data of cannabis being legalized and when states opened recreational sales. They did find that recreational sales did not increase crash rates as much as the initial legalization did.

This disorder also involves having to drink more to get the same effect or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking. Alcohol use disorder includes a level of drinking that’s sometimes called alcoholism. Keep in mind that combining the two may be linked to a decline in cognitive function and an increased risk of dependence. Both weed and alcohol, together and on their own, are also potentially addictive and can lead to dependence and misuse. Remember, consuming weed after drinking alcohol might make you feel less intoxicated, which can lead you to drink more than you usually would. A study from 2011 evaluated performance on cognitive tasks among 21 heavy weed users who had consumed alcohol.

Keep in mind that there are dozens of factors to account for when comparing the health effects of alcohol and marijuana, including how the substances affect your heart, brain, and behavior, and how likely you are to get hooked. At first glance, it might seem that alcohol does the most damage to our brain health and general well-being because preventing nicotine poisoning in dogs 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. Compare that to just 18% of Americans who said they used marijuana in 2019, according to the CDC.

Even if two drugs score similarly in Nutt’s analysis, the underlying variables behind the scores can be completely different. For instance, heroin and crack cocaine are fairly close in the rankings. But heroin scores much higher for mortality risk, while crack poses a much bigger risk for mental impairment.

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. The team notes that any reduction in the size of white or gray matter or a loss in their integrity can lead to impairments in brain functioning. Gray matter is the tissue on the brain’s surface that primarily consists of nerve cell bodies.

There is also a need for more research into the interaction between alcohol and cannabis, Hutchison said, especially because people who use these substances tend to use both. In contrast, “we don’t see any statistically significant effects of cannabis on gray matter or white matter,” Hutchison said. The research shouldn’t be taken as the be-all and end-all in the great debate over whether cannabis is bad for the brain.

Those who combined the two had reduced cognitive performance than those who only consumed alcohol. For example, you might feel like you’re good to drive, but your blood alcohol level may be well over the legal limit. 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.