What Happens to Your Body and Brain When You Combine Different Drugs?

In addition, as there’s generally no easy way to tell what substances, or what quantities of substances, are in laced drugs, users may wind up taking something they don’t intend to. This can be particularly consequential for those who have a bad reaction to either marijuana or ecstasy. The last risk worth mentioning is some experts we spoke with believe mixing cannabis and psychedelics can increase your chance of developing Hallucinogen Perception Persisting Disorder (HPPD). HPPD is a condition characterized by lasting visual distortions (like tracers and halos), and possible depersonalization once your psychedelic experience has ended. I don’t mean to scare anyone, but the risk does seem to increase if you mix multiple drugs, including cannabis, and your frequency of psychedelic use may also play a part.

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Studies show how the drug can reduce anxiety and lead to profound states of introspection and personal reflection. Research shows that MDMA stimulates the release and inhibits the reuptake of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. When you take MDMA, your body breaks it down into MDA through a process called demethylation, mostly in the liver. MDA is an active byproduct of MDMA and contributes to the overall effects of MDMA. Also known by their street names “Molly” and “Sally,” MDMA and MDA are popular party drugs. The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

What about combining MDMA with other drugs?

We also did not ask participants to directly compared sexual effects across substances. Combined, however, THC and MDMA significantly impaired working memory, which was evidenced by impaired choice accuracy in the delayed alternation component, but no effect in the spatial discrimination component of the maze task. Experiment 1 therefore provides strong evidence of a synergistic mnemonic impairment by co-administration of the two drugs. In Experiment 2 (medium doses), the administration of THC or MDMA alone or in combination had no significant effect in the spatial discrimination task of the double Y-maze. THC, but not MDMA, significantly impaired choice accuracy in the delayed alternation component. The combined drug treatment led to a further impairment of choice accuracy in the delayed alternation.

Peripheral endocannabinoid concentrations are not associated with verbal memory impairment during MDMA intoxication

LSD and weed are synergistic, which means marijuana can make hallucinogenic visuals more intense. In contrast, the authors of that survey had previously surveyed ten men, some of whom had taken tricyclic antidepressants. This unique class of antidepressant reportedly made some LSD trips more potent, not less.

In other studies, 7% of subjects in the highest dose conditions fit the criteria for acute psychotic reactions. These events were confined to the acute phase and were managed by interpersonal support. Prolonged adverse effects of hallucinogen use such as psychosis and depression are found to be “exceedingly rare” in experimental settings. In another review, no incidences of prolonged psychotic reactions or precipitations or schizophrenia spectrum disorders were identified out of 110 subjects. However, one experienced symptom of emotional instability, anxiety, and depression which lasted for several weeks. A few subjects described mood swings, “excessive pensiveness and introversion” and memory/concentration issues after the drug session, which generally resolved after a few weeks (69).

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Therapy is typically directed by a substance use clinic or health care provider and involve supportive care and behavioral and group therapy. Damage to brain serotonin neurons can occur; serotonin is thought to play a role in regulating mood, memory, sleep, and appetite. MDMA exerts its primary effects in the brain on neurons that use the chemicals serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine to communicate with other neurons. The highest risk from this combination comes from people not recognizing their drug problem.

Second, our intervention date captured only the opening of the first (recreational or medical) cannabis dispensary. We were unable to account for number of dispensaries in a specific state owing to lack of availability of longitudinal dispensary data spanning the study period. Lastly, the study data captured only opioids prescribed in outpatient setting; thus, we were unable to shed light on changes in opioid use in hospital and emergency department settings after cannabis legalization. For each treated state with a cannabis law, we identified control states as those that had not yet implemented the cannabis law and had the same confounding opioid laws as the treated state during the year before cannabis law implementation. Research in psychedelics and clinical implementation of psychedelic-assisted therapy for treatment of SUDs and psychiatric disorders is gaining interest and attention both within and beyond the medical field. Therefore, at minimum, given their known and shared serious risks of psychosis, development of psychotic disorder, and cardiovascular events, research of these potential adverse outcomes with psychedelic use in persons who use cannabis should be conducted.

“When we asked people [in the Global Drug Survey] a few years ago what they thought the most dangerous [drug combination] is, most of them said ketamine and alcohol,” says Winstock. “That is a smart answer, since alcohol hugely increases the bladder problems triggered by ketamine because of the dehydration. Also, it gets you sedated and you lose your balance, which increases the risk of getting into a K-hole.” This is a pretty common combination, with many casual cocaine users only really taking the drug if they’ve already been drinking. Unsurprisingly—given that one’s an upper and one’s a downer—it’s not a mix that’s very good for your heart, or your general wellbeing. However, it does create a whole new different kind of high in itself, which is possibly why so many people end up reaching for their phones once they’ve got a few beers inside them. Data were analyzed separately for each task component by two-way (treatment by delay) repeated-measures ANOVA using SPSS version 11.

While we deleted ‘not sure’ responses for various sexual effect variables, we did conduct sensitivity analyses combining ‘not sure’ with ‘no difference’ and results were nearly identical. The results of the present study add to a growing body of evidence that THC acutely impairs memory (Essman, 1984; Heyser et al, 1993; Lichtman and Martin, 1996; Mallet and Beninger, 1998; Varvel et al, 2001). In addition, results revealed that MDMA alone did not significantly affect memory at the low or medium doses tested, but MDMA at these doses interacted with THC to produce an impairment of memory that was greater than that observed with THC alone. The results of the three-way ANOVAs revealed that MDMA and THC acted synergistically to impair memory in a delay-dependent manner for the low doses, and in a delay-independent manner for the medium doses. To our knowledge, this is the first report that MDMA potentiates THC-induced memory impairment in a supra-additive manner. Mean (+ or −SEM) percentage of correct responses in the delayed alternation task across three delay intervals following administration of vehicle, MDMA, THC, or MDMA+THC combined.

We work with leading medical professionals, scientific researchers, journalists, mycologists, indigenous stewards, and cultural pioneers. If you suspect someone is experiencing an overdose, it’s crucial to seek immediate medical help by calling emergency services. The individual experiences of each drug can vary, and their effects can depend on factors such as dose, purity, individual physiology, and setting. MDA and MDMA are both classified as stimulant drugs and can increase the release of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine in the brain. Similar to MDMA, MDA’s action on serotonin receptors can lead to negative psychological aftereffects such as depression, anxiety, and fatigue that may be experienced for several days following use. MDMA also consistently leads to adrenergic effects, such as increased heart rate and blood pressure, primarily attributed to the release of norepinephrine.

As shown in Table 2, two-thirds of participants (66.8%) reported feeling more attractive on alcohol, 6 out of 10 (60.6%) reported feeling more attractive on ecstasy, and a quarter (25.3%) felt more attractive on marijuana. Attraction to others was similar, with the most participants (72.3%) reporting alcohol use as leading them to be more attracted to others, followed by ecstasy (64.3%), and then marijuana (27.0%). Increased social outgoingness https://sober-home.org/ was reported by the majority of users of alcohol (77.1%) and ecstasy (72.3%), yet only a quarter (26.1%) of participants reported that this increased when using marijuana. In fact, over a third (36.4%) reported that being high on marijuana decreased social outgoingness. Similarly, increased sexual desire was reported by the majority of users of alcohol (62.3%) and ecstasy (58.3%), but this was reported by far fewer users of marijuana (31.6%).

Several rats paid particular attention to their genital area to the exclusion of other activities. Performance in both tasks of the maze was so disrupted that errors could not be confidently ascribed to a deficit of memory, and the results of the high dose combined treatment group were therefore excluded from the analysis. As far as risks, experienced users say they’d be wary to offer the combo to those who are new to either substance, or to their friends for whom cannabis can increase their anxiety. Some even claimed cannabis had “ruined” an acid trip, so it can be a tricky area to navigate that is unique to everyone. Regarding the risk of addiction, development of a psychedelic use disorder is relatively low among recreational users, and in therapeutic studies using psilocybin there have been no reports of increased subsequent use of that or any other illicit drug (71). Given the partially overlapping adverse potential of cannabis and psychedelics, risks common to the two substances, and risks elevated in persons with chronic cannabis use, should be considered.

If you are in a crisis or if you or any other person may be in danger or experiencing a mental health emergency, immediately call 911 or your local emergency resources. If you are considering suicide, please call 988 to connect with https://sober-home.org/alcohol-and-insomnia-possible-risks-and-more/ the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. As far as risks go, it’s important to point out that both cannabis and MDMA can increase your heart rate, especially if you’ve taken an ecstasy pill, which will likely include speed.

“There are different boxes of substances, stimulants, sedatives, hallucinogens, dissociatives. Combining more than one from each of those boxes can increase your risk,” says Dr. Owen Bowden-Jones, founder of the CNWL Drug Club Clinic. In fact, polysubstance use—a grand term for “getting fucked up with more than one drug”—tends to be the norm rather than the exception for most drug users. We did not control for gender in multivariable models as there were very few gender-specific bivariable differences. We did test models controlling for gender (e.g. for sexual dysfunction) and results were nearly identical so to remain consistent we simply present all unadjusted ORs. Multiple testing can increase Type I Error rates, so we applied a Bonferroni correction when we interpreted results.

For some, consuming cannabis while already under the influence of MDMA enhances its stimulant effects. For others, usually once the MDMA is already wearing off, the cannabis helps mitigate the “come down” from the energetic high. Regardless, simultaneous use of MDMA and weed is likely to exacerbate racing heartbeat (tachycardia), which is a common side effect of both substances.

It’s similar to both hallucinogens and stimulants in that it increases energy while distorting perception. The FHE Health team is committed to providing accurate information that adheres to the highest standards of writing. If one of our articles is marked with a ‘reviewed for accuracy and expertise’ badge, it indicates that one or more members of our team of doctors and clinicians have reviewed the article further to ensure accuracy. This is part of our ongoing commitment to ensure FHE Health is trusted as a leader in mental health and addiction care.

This plot suggested no association of cannabis law implementation with opioid outcomes in most states. Cannabis use disorder (CUD) is prevalent in ~2–5% of adults in the United States and is anticipated to increase as restrictions to cannabis decrease and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content in cannabis products increase. No FDA-approved medications for CUD are currently available, despite trials of dozens of re-purposed and novel drugs.

1. While interpretations are hampered by the limited AUD and SUD severity and small size of the sample, that AUD and PTSD symptom improvements were correlated allows for speculation if co-morbid CUD could improve following successful treatment of PTSD with MDMA.
2. If you suspect someone is experiencing an overdose, it’s crucial to seek immediate medical help by calling emergency services.
3. The informed consent page described the study and recruiters were available to answer questions.
4. The effects and safety of this combination are highly unpredictable and may lead to undesirable consequences.
5. Many people across the country feel that marijuana is not dangerous or addictive.

Furthermore, when 5HT2A receptors are directly acted upon, they appear to enhance psychological domains noted above, such as insight, self-efficacy, and spirituality, suggesting potential for targeting serotonergic receptors for CUD treatment (29). MDMA, a stimulant with mixed pharmacological effect which include the increase of oxytocin, has shown tremendous promise as a novel treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and therefore has undergone increasing study and scrutiny (41). Given the higher prevalence of cannabis use and CUD in those with PTSD compared to the general population (42), it should be anticipated that MDMA could be therapeutically administered in persons with co-morbid disorders. Thirteen of the 21 participants with past, but not current, AUD received MDMA and had significant reductions in comparison to the placebo group of self-reported AUD and at-risk symptoms, which correlated to improvements in PTSD symptoms. In combination with the CUD participants, eight of the additional 14 participants with past, but not current, SUD received MDMA and had no significant change in self-reported SUD and at-risk symptoms (35). While interpretations are hampered by the limited AUD and SUD severity and small size of the sample, that AUD and PTSD symptom improvements were correlated allows for speculation if co-morbid CUD could improve following successful treatment of PTSD with MDMA.

Risperidone yielded significant improvement in her symptoms of psychosis but had no effect on those of HPPD (36). While the individual acute effects of MDMA and THC are well documented, their combined effect has received little attention. THC primarily acts through cannabinoid receptors located in several brain areas, with particularly high densities found in outflow nuclei of the basal ganglia, the hippocampus, and the cerebellum (Herkenham et al, 1990). Cannabinoid receptor activation produces several effects, including stimulation of meso-prefrontal dopaminergic transmission (Diana et al, 1998) and enhanced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (Chen et al, 1991). MDMA exerts its unique combination of behavioral and mood effects by widespread activation of the brain’s serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine systems (Climko et al, 1986). It is therefore conceivable that the combination of MDMA and THC may produce additive, subtractive, or synergistic effects.

When marijuana is intentionally adulterated or “cut” with other drugs, such as MDMA, it is typically done to enhance the effects of the cannabis or to deceive consumers. It is essential to note that individual responses to this combination can vary significantly, and adverse effects, including anxiety, paranoia, or cognitive impairment, may occur. The combination may also have negative consequences on memory and cognitive function. Regardless, a huge barrier to research on both MDMA and THC (let alone the interactions between them) is that both are controlled substances (DEA Schedule I in the US), which means that they are considered to have no medical value and a high potential for abuse. Another barrier to understanding possible drug interactions is that MDMA works on multiple systems in the body – increasing the chances for additive, synergistic and/or antagonistic interactions when combined with other substances. Of course, like anything else we put into our bodies, cannabis can also cause a range of relatively mild side effects including dry mouth, fatigue, temporarily impaired cognitive function, red eyes and short term memory deficits.