If you enjoy getting high, as well as getting drunk, then you’d probably assume the combination of the two is a match made in heaven. WRONG. While being drunk and high at the same time CAN produce a positive experience, it is more often the converse. Pull up a chair, it’s time to discuss what it means to be crossfaded.

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What does it mean to be crossfaded?

It sounds funky, but being crossfaded simply means to be drunk and high at the same time. The experience can go either way: fun feelings or nightmarish feelings. Most of the time when people discuss being crossfaded, they’re referring to the negative version of the experience.

How does being crossfaded feel?

There are two ways the crossfade can go: the fun euphoric way or the bad anxiety-driven way. The fun euphoric crossfade feels like floating on a world on no inhibitions. This is when you feel like the world is your oyster and all of your wildest dreams are within reach. It’s the super-duper feel-good high that sometimes hits when the tequila shots and bong tokes join hands in perfect harmony. The second, and most common crossfade, is the bad anxiety one that makes you feel the dreaded spins. The spins are when you get all disoriented and dizzy, and if you close your eyes, the world starts to spin around your brain at 6 million miles per hour. It’ll have you nauseous and ready to throw up, and the worst part about it: you know how if you throw up while drunk, it makes you feel better? With the crossfade, you probably won’t even be able to throw up. And if you do, it only removes the alcohol poisoning from your body, but the crossfaded effects stay until they’re done with you.

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Why do we get crossfaded?

The inconvenient truth is that cannabis is still federally illegal. That means scientists could get locked up for studying it. This is the sole reason we still know so little about the plant, why it makes us feel the ways it does, and how we can specifically control those experiences. With knowing that, you’re then able to see why there is even less scientific research into the crossfade. Here are few studies that have been published on the subject:

All in all, the results of these studies suggest what your anecdotes already confirm: consuming both alcohol and cannabis together gets you double fucked up.

How to stop being crossfaded

Another inconvenient truth is that there is no way to stop being crossfaded. Once it takes hold of you, you’re on the ride until it decides to stop. Think of it like a common cold: there has never, and may never be a cure, just steps and medicine you can take to treat yourself while your body goes to war with the sickness.  Here a few steps you can take to navigate a negative crossfaded experience: 

  • Drink water
  • Find a cool environment
  • Find support in a colleague
  • Sleep it off
  • Wait it out

Drink water

Both cannabis and alcohol dehydrate the body, which is why each time you’re too drunk or too high, you’re advised to water up. Water can also help reduce your blood alcohol level, which then would help you sober up fast. Considering that alcohol is what sends the THC in your body into overdrive, we’d advise chugging a little H20 when you’re feeling too crossfaded.

Find A Cool Environment

Being crossfaded will have you feeling all hot and bothered. Finding a cool environment to mitigate how overheated your body feels from being dizzy and nauseous can work wonders for the crossfade process.

Sleep It Off

Chances are you will not be able to sleep while crossfaded because closing your eyes will bring what we stoners call the spins. The spins are when you close your eyes while crossfaded and you become 27x dizzier than you were with them open. Initially, sleep is a definite no-go, but as time passes, and the crossfade weakens, you'll find yourself more able to get a little shuteye. 

Wait It Out

This is the only true remedy for the crossfade. Wait it out. Eventually you’ll sober up, the spins will stop, the sleep will set in, and you’ll be free from the prison of too much alcohol and THC together. Learn from this experience and know that, sure, sometimes you may be able to tap into the positive crossfade, but more times than not, it will be a negative experience.