Here’s what happens when you mix cocaine and alcohol

• Cocaethylene stays in your body almost twice as long as cocaine does. This means that if you take more cocaine after your first dose, you can end up with a large amount in your system. This seriously increases your risk of overdose.

• Cocaethylene can put extra strain on your heart. Compared to cocaine alone, cocaethylene is more likely to cause damage to your heart, including heart attack. Regularly using cocaine and alcohol together can cause long term damage to your heart.  

• You might experience more unpleasant effects. Cocaethylene has stronger effects than just cocaine alone, including the unpleasant aspects. You may be more likely to experience anxiety, agitation, jitters, nausea, dizziness and a racing heart. It also increases your risk of experiencing more serious side effects such as seizures, psychological distress and overheating.  

• Cocaethylene is toxic to your liver. Research shows that cocaethylene is a liver toxin. Mixing cocaine and alcohol regularly or in very high doses carries the risk of liver damage. If you have a liver condition such as hepatitis or cirrhosis, we’d recommend avoiding the combo of cocaine and alcohol. You may not realize how intoxicated you are.
  
  Alcohol is a depressant drug which slows down your body and brain, and cocaine is a stimulant which speeds up your body and brain. They can ‘mask’ the effects of each other, even though they’re both still in your system. You may not realize how intoxicated you are and end up taking more. This can lead to overdoses and to worse comedowns or hangovers the following day – bummer. 

How can I be safer with cocaine and alcohol? 

• Space out your doses as much as possible.  To avoid cocaethylene forming in your body, you need to leave as much time as possible between drinking alcohol and using cocaine (or vice versa). A standard drink takes at least an hour to be processed by your body. So, if you have had 4 drinks, wait at least four hours before using cocaine. Be aware that these drugs will still be in your body, even after you no longer feel their effects - so you may need to wait longer than you think. 

• Avoid taking more cocaine. Cocaethylene stays in your body more than twice as long as cocaine alone does. This means that if you redose (take more after your first dose) frequently, these doses will ‘stack up’ in your body and increase your risk of overdose and other harmful effects.  

• Stick to lower doses. To reduce your risk of feeling unpleasant or harmful effects from cocaethylene, consider taking a lower dose of cocaine and drinking less alcohol, or swapping for lower alcohol drinks (such as light beer or low-alcohol wine).  

• Avoid mixing with other drugs or medicines. Because cocaethylene stays in your body much longer than cocaine alone, it is extra important to avoid mixing with other drugs and medicines. This can increase the strain on your body.  

• A very high temperature (may be sweating)

• Difficulty breathing

• Extreme agitation or paranoia

• Chest pains

• Seizures

• Loss of consciousness