Not sure about grabbing that beer? You’re not alone. Americans are reaching for alcohol at record lows, according to a new Gallup survey.
The survey, out Aug. 20, found the number of Americans who say they drink alcohol sits at 54% for the second consecutive year − and health concerns appear to be a major factor.
“Fifty-one percent of U.S. adults now believe drinking one or two alcoholic beverages a day is bad for one’s health,” the survey results noted. “The figure is essentially unchanged from last year’s record-high 53%.”
In 2001, only 27% considered moderate drinking bad for one’s health, according to Gallup.
Why drink, make bad choices, and feel like shit the next day? I can just get fucked up on weed for a fraction of the price and stay well in control of myself while feeling fine the next day. Alcohol just kinda sucks.
I think people recording antics on behaviors of drunks also kind of reduced a psychological thing nobody talks about: alcohol has always been a low-key social lubricant to allow for out-of-bounds behavior. Alcohol historically provided not only disinhibition, but also a socially recognized excuse for disinhibition. Either through “liquid courage” or “it wasn’t me, it was the tequila.” Now, people can be held accountable for their actions.
One of my deejay friends got riled up after drinking by a group to go out and beat the shit out of some guy who made a homophobic slur about him. My friend was gay, pride and proud, and this other deejay said some stuff about him that ended up on social media (I never heard what was actually said). My friend was going to “let it slide,” but after a few rounds of a flask, his friends group were like, “let’s go to the club and GET HIM!” THANKFULLY, before they got there, the venue had actually shut down due to an unrelated medical incident (a puke chain) and nobody was allowed in. So they went home.
The next morning, my friend brother’s woke him up and said, “I think you should see this.” And it was cell phone video of him drinking, letting his pals rile him up, and the pure rage her was coaxed into. Then the mob going to the venue, but then being told it was closed for the night, and all of them frustrated in rage unfulfilled. My friend had NO MEMORY of this, but there he was, drunk and angry on video. His brother sat with him and said, “I think you need help.” And he got help, quit drinking, and a lot of health issues dissipated over the next year. But that video scared him. “I don’t know that guy. I don’t know Mr. Rage. That terrified me. Drinking would kill me if I kept going like this.”
And while that’s an extreme example, I think some people being shown, “Hey, Rachel, you go so smashed last night. Here you are confessing you have the hots for Jessica’s little brother even though he’s sixteen. It’s on Tiktok, along with you saying you didn’t care who knows.” Maybe that wouldn’t scare everyone, but a good portion might think twice about getting drunk, or drinking at all, knowing that alcohol wouldn’t be the shield that it was.
I am so lucky my teenage drinking years were before smartphones were ubiquitous.
Totally different feeling. Weed for some people is anxiety train to nightmareville. Booze is anxiety begone (for some time) and happy dumb bliss.
It depends on the individual reaction to the drug, in both cases. In both cases, either can result.
Yeah, for me, high doses of THC, like through edibles, induces panic attacks, which are double-plus unfun. Lower doses, like through smoking, mainly make me “feel dumb” rather than feel relaxed. It would be interesting to have the sensation of “chilling out” that other users seem to get from weed, but I’ve never experienced it. Alcohol, on the other hand, makes me feel great and very chill and relaxed up to a point. I would still use it (bitter IPAs are the best but brewers are cranking up alcohol content way too high these days) if it weren’t for bad interactions w/chronic illnesses and with other prescription Rxs.
That’s exactly my THC experience for a good part of my life! It went from “hehehe everything funny” to “man I’m dumb” at low doses and “holy shit everything is terror this is the worst” at high doses. After quitting drinking, now it’s a 90% “this is fun AND I’m dumb” and 10% “this is a bad time,” but the bad times subside after an hour or two.
Weed just doesn’t do it for me and I don’t have the problems you described with alcohol. Last bad decision I made I was stone sober.