I think at least part of it is due to weed. Both it being legalized and being more popular than it’s ever been in non-legal states. At least for me, smoking weed kills my desire to drink nearly as much. Usually at parties or just hang outs it starts off with a beer or mixed drink or three, then someone breaks out the weed and suddenly I’m nursing my fourth drink for an hour.
Interesting. Personally, it doesn’t kill my desire to drink when I do decide to go on a bender. If anything, for me it gets easier to drink when there’s weed involved, as I just don’t enjoy most alcoholic beverages, taste wise. However, since access to weed got easier and I don’t have to hide anymore, when the occasion to get a buzz happens, I just prefer the weed high to being drunk, and I can skip the hangover.
I think it’s also in part due to easier access at an earlier age compared to alcohol and the rapid increase in quality. Weed is easy to grow, and even kids have been selling it to their friends in school for forever. But gone are the days of buying skunk weed off some dude you barely know. There’s 13 year olds out there today smoking stuff of a quality that the hippies could only dream of.
Plus, when it comes to drugs, as a late Millennial, I knew a lot more kids who became heroin addicts as teenagers than alcoholics - and they started their drug use years before showing up on this graph. During Bush’s presidency, heroin from Afghanistan became a lot more easily accessible on the east coast, and I used to say when I was a teenager that heroin was more popular with my generation because it was too awkward to go to the bar and see your friends’ parents day drinking.
I think at least part of it is due to weed. Both it being legalized and being more popular than it’s ever been in non-legal states. At least for me, smoking weed kills my desire to drink nearly as much. Usually at parties or just hang outs it starts off with a beer or mixed drink or three, then someone breaks out the weed and suddenly I’m nursing my fourth drink for an hour.
Interesting. Personally, it doesn’t kill my desire to drink when I do decide to go on a bender. If anything, for me it gets easier to drink when there’s weed involved, as I just don’t enjoy most alcoholic beverages, taste wise. However, since access to weed got easier and I don’t have to hide anymore, when the occasion to get a buzz happens, I just prefer the weed high to being drunk, and I can skip the hangover.
The graph maker certainly seems to think so at least
I think it’s also in part due to easier access at an earlier age compared to alcohol and the rapid increase in quality. Weed is easy to grow, and even kids have been selling it to their friends in school for forever. But gone are the days of buying skunk weed off some dude you barely know. There’s 13 year olds out there today smoking stuff of a quality that the hippies could only dream of.
Plus, when it comes to drugs, as a late Millennial, I knew a lot more kids who became heroin addicts as teenagers than alcoholics - and they started their drug use years before showing up on this graph. During Bush’s presidency, heroin from Afghanistan became a lot more easily accessible on the east coast, and I used to say when I was a teenager that heroin was more popular with my generation because it was too awkward to go to the bar and see your friends’ parents day drinking.
I’m not sure how it all factors in but there’s evidence that teenagers are using weed less: https://coloradosun.com/2024/06/26/youth-marijuana-use-colorado-legalization/