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Comment by senttoschool | Hacker News Reader

I'm a millennial and even I notice that weed is quickly replacing alcohol in my social group.

It's not surprising. To me, weed is healthier on the body, can't kill you if you overdose, generally cheaper per session, won't make you do stupid stuff, and doesn't make people violent.

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My mate - for some unknown reason - bought a pub and lamented that "the kids aren't drinking anymore!" which anyone who goes to a lot of gigs could have easily observed. Booze is the worst, even though it can be awesome.

Personally, I think weed is horrible, and not just the smell. I once thought weed was as harmless as a banana, until I saw the state of my friends who've smoked a lot of weed for multiple decades, they're just lethargic and fugged-up, often distant, but who knows if it was the ultra-strong stuff - skunk? - that was all the rage.

A lot of other drugs have popped up in casual use, though. The stuff just gets delivered now, like a pizza.

> bought a pub and lamented that "the kids aren't drinking anymore!"

Not going to pubs doesn't mean they are not drinking, may be they are drinking at home? Curious to see stats for overall alcohol by age. With price of a pint in a pub 4x-5x more than in a supermarket it could steer people already squeezed by rising cost of living away from pubs/restrains. And AFAIK pubs cannot lower prices to keep customers, they feel inflation pressure themselves.

NHS data[0] agrees that young people are drinking less. I'm surprised about how much more 55+ years old drink.

[0] https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/sta...

True, yet the data shows they're not drinking as much outside pubs or venues either. The price rises have been here for decades, my old local landlord pointed at the Stella tap and said, "you can't be premium in pubs and cheap in supermarkets" to underline the price/value issue that you pointed out, and breweries have been squeezing venues for YEARS, forgetting staffing costs, etc.

I quit the booze years ago and it turns out that I/we overestimate hugely how much other people drink. Right now, Gen X and Baby Boomers are keeping the drinks industry alive, I think :D

>Personally, I think weed is horrible, and not just the smell. I once thought weed was as harmless as a banana, until I saw the state of my friends who've smoked a lot of weed for multiple decades, they're just lethargic and fugged-up, often distant, but who knows if it was the ultra-strong stuff - skunk? - that was all the rage.

I'm not saying that weed is good for everyone. It's just less "bad" than alcohol based on my experience.

It’s also much, MUCH more economical to bring in a few prerolled joints or a vape pen than to buy beers at a venue.

$20/cocktail is the norm here. Maybe $30 after tips and taxes. A night out at a club or bar can easily be in the hundreds. It's insane. I'd rather eat a gummy before going out and just order soda and pretend it's rum and coke.

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