--- title: Mixing Cannabis and Alcohol Increases Blood Concentrations of THC description: A new study says that consuming alcohol with cannabis leads to a far higher blood concentration of THC than if cannabis was smoked alone. canonical: https://time.com/3899426/cannabis-alcohol-thc-car-crash-drug-safety-driving/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-28T09:51:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:07.339Z article:section: Health og:title: Mixing Booze and Pot Spikes Blood Concentrations of THC og:description: THC levels are far higher than if cannabis is smoked on its own og:url: https://time.com/3899426/cannabis-alcohol-thc-car-crash-drug-safety-driving/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e87f6588f5b19ae/698851fd06f2c1d82833a612/gettyimages-183842907.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2122 og:image:height: 1194 og:image:alt: Cannabis og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mixing Booze and Pot Spikes Blood Concentrations of THC twitter:description: THC levels are far higher than if cannabis is smoked on its own twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e87f6588f5b19ae/698851fd06f2c1d82833a612/gettyimages-183842907.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mixing Booze and Pot Greatly Increases the Amount of THC in Your Blood > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Inside the World of Medical Marijuana for Kids [Watch (HLS stream): Inside the World of Medical Marijuana for Kids](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6Ic4KUCK.m3u8) (16:16)  _Published 2014-10-21. The story of a family's illegal cross-country drive to transport marijuana oil for their epileptic 3-year-old daughter. A look inside the quasi-legal, science free world of medical marijuana for children from TIME's Red Border Films_ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 28, 2015 9:51 AM UTC  Cannabis plant Cannabis plant WIN-Initiative—Getty Images/WIN-Initiative RM by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 28, 2015 9:51 AM UTC Although marijuana and alcohol are frequently used together, there has been little research into how the two substances react. A new study [reported on](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150527112728.htm) in Science Daily, however, shows that when they are mixed the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — marijuana’s active ingredient — in a person’s blood is far higher than if marijuana is smoked on its own. Because the combination of alcohol and cannabis is the most common one detected in car accidents, the research looked at the two drugs from the point of view of vehicle safety. Scientists examined 19 people drinking alcohol, or a placebo, in low doses ten minutes before inhaling vaporized cannabis in either a low or high dose. When alcohol was consumed, a far higher blood concentration of THC emerged. When the two drugs were taken together, researchers concluded that the possibility of vehicular crashes increased considerably than if only one drug was taken, Science Daily reports. “The significantly higher blood THC … values with alcohol possibly explain increased performance impairment observed from cannabis-alcohol combinations,” said lead researcher Dr. Marilyn A. Huestis. Researchers hope the information will create better drug-related driving legislation. \[[_Science Daily_](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150527112728.htm)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3899426/cannabis-alcohol-thc-car-crash-drug-safety-driving/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3899426/cannabis-alcohol-thc-car-crash-drug-safety-driving/"},"headline":"Mixing Booze and Pot Greatly Increases the Amount of THC in Your Blood","datePublished":"2015-05-28T09:51:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:07.339Z","description":"That poses serious questions for road safety","url":"https://time.com/3899426/cannabis-alcohol-thc-car-crash-drug-safety-driving/","keywords":["Research","Alcohol","health","cannabis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e87f6588f5b19ae/698851fd06f2c1d82833a612/gettyimages-183842907.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e87f6588f5b19ae/698851fd06f2c1d82833a612/gettyimages-183842907.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cannabis","caption":"Cannabis","creditText":"WIN-Initiative—Getty Images/WIN-Initiative RM","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3899426/cannabis-alcohol-thc-car-crash-drug-safety-driving/","name":"Mixing Booze and Pot Greatly Increases the Amount of THC in Your Blood"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Inside the World of Medical Marijuana for Kids","description":"The story of a family's illegal cross-country drive to transport marijuana oil for their epileptic 3-year-old daughter. 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