[imagesource: Flickr]

Thanks to social media, Dry January has become a popular trend, and although we personally don’t know anybody with that much self-control, we have heard that there are a plethora of benefits associated with maintaining a teetotal attitude for 31 days.

Sounds dreadful.

But a recent Dry January poll by CivicScience has shown that 90% of so-called ‘Gen-Z respondents’ were turning to alternative ways to get their kicks.

And good old-fashioned ganga seems to be one of the favourites.

Roughly 60% of those partaking in Dry January are evenly split between non-alcoholic beverages, cannabis/CBD products, and soda/seltzer products.

The study reinforces the results of a survey that looked at the role of cannabis in the treatment of alcoholism:

The use of medical cannabis to reduce alcohol consumption was associated with significantly greater odds of both reducing and ceasing alcohol use altogether.

The medical benefits of cannabis come as no real surprise to the scientists who have been studying the plant for years, but it seems that society has finally begun to accept weed as a ‘better’ alternative to alcohol and its related miseries.

This attitude is largely driven by relaxed legislation toward marijuana. These days you can spark a fatty in your front garden and nobody would call the fuzz. PW Botha would kak himself if he was alive.

While everyone is reaching for their bongs and CBD-infused teas, we have to wonder what the long-term effects of a marijuana-using society will be.

Besides the medical benefits, there will surely be a cultural change as more and more people find alternatives to getting drunk.

Whether the change will be for the good is to be decided by this and future generations.

[sources:civicscience&sciencedirect ]