Voluntary alcohol abstinence for “Dry January” has become a national “thing,” and it is a good way to give your overworked liver a break after the marathon holiday season. About 1 in 3 U.S. adults participated in Dry January last year.
Of those, about 72% completed the full month successfully. Another 15% completed a “Damp January” — meaning they cut back rather than fully abstained. Cheers to you, dry or damp.
The case for going cold turkey is stronger than ever. Booze has a rich history of bringing people together — and also ripping them apart.
Alcohol reduces sleep quality, negatively impacts health, and generally leads to decisions that reek of booze and regret.
As your doctor has probably told you, alcohol carries significant costs — liver disease, cancer risks and shortened life span.
But a strange thing is happening, given our national love of booze. U.S. alcohol consumption is dropping faster than Prince Harry’s approval ratings. It’s not just “Dry/Damp January.”
Americans trade one vice for another
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
This trend has been building for years. Regardless, more than 178,000 people die from alcohol-related deaths each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What’s harder to quantify is the cost of abstinence.
I must admit, good Scotch is often my creative muse. And booze sure makes it easier to have a tough conversation or to sit through a long business dinner. You also can’t underestimate how many “accidents” were born nine months after finishing a good bottle of merlot. My parents drank merlot.
Maybe it’s a coincidence, but our birth rate has been falling in lockstep with the reduction in alcohol consumption. Alcohol is woven into the architecture of connection. Both alcohol consumption and the birth rate are at all-time lows.
On college campuses, late-night parties and cheap beer are table stakes. Millions of friendships were formed at 1 a.m. over a plate of scattered, smothered and covered hash browns. But surprisingly, alcohol consumption — even among college students (ages 18–22) — is crashing. Only about half of college kids reported drinking in the past month, according to July 2025 Gallup poll. Another historic low.
The Law of Conservation of Evil suggests that “the total amount of evil in any system remains constant.” Meaning that if alcohol consumption goes down, something else will replace it.
Enter “California Sober.” It’s a new term meaning you’ve replaced alcohol with the “devil’s lettuce.” You know — grass, weed, chronic, ganja, etc. In February, an editorial from The New York Times Editorial Board suggested it’s time for America to admit it has a marijuana problem.
Nearly 18 million Americans now use marijuana almost daily, per The New York Times editorial. It’s mainstream, even where it’s not legal for recreational use. Just drive through the streets of Atlanta and you’ll get a snoot full of weed at any time of day. It’s illegal, but that doesn’t seem to matter. More Americans now use marijuana daily than use cigarettes or alcohol. Let that sink in.
The stench of weed is growing in Atlanta and elsewhere
As a vice, alcohol tends to lead to more socialization. Weed tends to lead to more isolation — more time holed up on the couch eating Ranch Doritos and soggy pizza while laughing at cat videos on TikTok.
Regular weed use can also reduce motivation, create memory problems and lower productivity over time. Daily users have 3.7 times the higher risk of developing THC-induced psychosis — a condition that can include hallucinations, paranoia, delusions, and disorganized thoughts.
The early sales pitch promised fewer hangovers and a reduction in criminal justice burdens. Now we’re waking up to almost 18 million near-daily users, rising addiction and city streets that smell like a Grateful Dead concert.
Before we go high-fiving each other over the reduction in alcohol use, consider this: Which is more dangerous — alcohol and socialization, or weed and isolation?
I suspect we will see states that legalized marijuana pull back in the next few years. And that, my friends, will tell us everything we need to know about this American sobriety experiment.
Tom Greene is a writer living in Atlanta. He can be reached via email at t@tomgreene.com or on his website at www.tomgreene.com
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