This article was originally published on April 27, 2021.
Marijuana isn’t a drug you secretly use at parties anymore, thanks to increasing legalization. And like marijuana, alcohol can also cause feelings of relaxation, get rid of social inhibitions and make you feel downright giddy.
While alcohol and cannabis affect the brain differently, they share a similar target called the dopamine reward system. The release of dopamine helps achieve a pleasurable drug experience and increases reinforcement behavior to do it again in the future, explains Joseph R. Volpicelli, medical director of the Volpicelli Center, an addiction treatment facility in Pennsylvania. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that drinking and smoking simultaneously, otherwise known as crossfading, is a common practice.
