MIXING, SAFE OR A HORRIBLE IDEA?

As I have recently been taking a short course of medication that prevents me from drinking, I have become more and more aware of what going on around me at events. It’s amazing what being dead sober will do for your powers of observation when you are at a club or party, and recently I have noticed a lot of people mixing. Now you may be wondering what I mean by that so let me explain. When I say mixing I mean, mixing drugs like MDMA and liquor, mixing excessive amounts of caffeine and alcohol, as well as mixing multiple types of substances along with alcohol. I think it is worth mentioning that I am not a medical doctor, but that I am incredibly paranoid and aware enough of basic chemistry to know that not all chemical reactions that occur in your body are positive. In a non-scientific environment mixing chemicals can really quickly become dangerous. When you factor in that for the most part people mixing are not doing so with precise measurements or understanding of all of the chemical reactions taking place, mixing can be kind of risky, even if its something that isn’t even on your radar.

Let’s start with the most common mixture: MDMA and alcohol. Now this one may seem pretty harmless as you have probably seen a ton of people do it, but even something as commonplace as this can be pretty risky. Both alcohol and MDMA increase the risk of dehydration, which if it gets serious can result in “neural compartment dehydration,” which is a shortage of water available to your nerves. When the fluid gets pulled from your brain cells, it compromises their ability to function and can leave you with respiratory or heart failure, or even put you in a coma. Now, this is the worst case scenario, but it is a possibility. You would need a perfect storm of too much alcohol, overheating and dehydration to end up in a coma, but especially since the majority of people new to rolling may not know the appropriate dose for their body weight (it’s your weight in kg, plus 50 according to roll safe.org) the risk of an overdose coupled with dehydration from too much alcohol consumption is very high.

Dehydration leading to “neural compartment dehydration” is not the only risk of mixing alcohol with MDMA. Alcohol is a diuretic, which is why when you drink heavily you will probably find yourself needing to go to the bathroom multiple times during the evening. MDMA is the exact opposite, it actually makes it far more difficult to pee, because of urinary retraction. This means when you mix the two you are now producing more urine, while simultaneously making it harder for your body to expel it. This can lead to kidney and bladder damage, as well as urea toxicity in the blood, which in severe cases, can also put you into a coma. Do we see a running theme here or is it just me?

If that wasn’t enough to scare you away from mixing alcohol and MDMA, according to James Giordano, professor of neurology and biochemistry at Georgetown University Medical Center, the combination of the two can result in cardiac arrhythmia, or an abnormal heart rhythm that can disrupt your circulation, putting your organs at risk for damage. So to recap, mixing alcohol and MDMA can lead to extreme dehydration, heart failure, organ damage, and comas. Sounds like enough, right? Wrong, because there is one more negative effect of mixing the two. MDMA and alcohol both have effects that can lead to impairment of judgement, namely you feel good and thus aren’t aware that you have had too much to drink, which makes you far more likely to continue drinking long after you should have stopped, making the possibility of all of the horrible things I have mentioned a lot more likely.

I also wanted to mention another mixture I have seen, cocaine and alcohol, which is such a common mixture that it would seem as though there were no consequences at all. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Mixing coke and alcohol results in a chemical called ‘cocaethylene.” This chemical causes severe heart damage and liver disease and is recorded to build up in the liver of frequent users of the two substances over a long period. Cocaethylene builds up puts users at risk for severe and rapid cardiac damage. While in many cases there is a delay between the buildup and the adverse effects, in some cases the effects of cocaethylene are immediate. Cocaine use leads to increased heart rate, and when combined with alcohol can lead to levels of heart rate that result in cardiac arrest or heart attacks. Pretty scary.

So, if there is one thing I would have you take away from this, it is that mixing substances is never a good idea. There are often too many factors involved for anyone to keep things measured, and when alcohol is involved, impaired judgment is going to make it impossible to regulate anyway. I am not discouraging you from having a good time, but if you are going to use anything, be it cocaine, alcohol, MDMA or anything else, it is crucial that you use it in isolation without mixing. Even when taking one of these substances on their own there is a certain amount of risk, so combining them is only going to make it worse. Partying is fun, but safety should always be your first concern. This doesn’t just stop with you. If you notice your friends mixing substances, you should let them know the risks. Until I started noticing how prevalent this practice was and doing some research into it on my own, I had no idea exactly how dangerous it was, and odds are most of the people doing it still have no idea how big the risk they are taking is. Let’s come together and keep everyone safe.