The alcohol made Heather feel more mellow than ever. It also amazed her how she could drink without ever getting sick. THC and alcohol together have a greater effect than either by itself. While marijuana distorts information processing, alcohol enhances the effects of a neurotransmitter called GABA, which binds to neurons and slows their rate of firing, producing a sedative effect. THC also can reduce nausea.
Vomiting is the body's natural way of purging toxic substances.
If she vomit message is suppressed, as it is during marijuana use, dangerous is suppressed, as it is during marijuana use, dangerous amounts of alcohol poisonings, organ damage, and even death. At school, Heather's absences began to mount and her grades took a nose drive. Yet for a while she continued to fool her parents. When report cards were mailed, she intercepted them at home and, with the skillful use of correction fluid and a photocopying machine, she turned D's and F's into A's and B's. By the end of Heather's freshman year, her grade point average had plummeted from 4.0 to 1.2, and she'd tallied up a staggering 39 absences.