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California farmers are struggling to sell grapes as demand for wine drops

389 points · 987 comments · randycupertino

  1. alexandre_m · · focus · HN ↗
    > while young people are drinking less alcohol due to health and financial concerns

    My observation is that gen-z spends less time socializing in real life, and drinking remains a social habit for the most part at a younger age. While they drink less, cannabis, vaping and psychedelics are on the rise.

    It's a nice claim to say they are more responsible, but it tells an incomplete story.

    1. WheelsAtLarge · · focus · HN ↗
      I suspect this is temporary. I think eventually we'll see a wave of laws outlawing weed and psychedelics (again), and then alcohol will make a strong comeback. Booze has been part of civilization since the beginning. There’s even a theory that grains were domesticated so people could brew beer first, as opposed to making bread first. Also, there's talk that the new generation understands that alcohol is bad for your health, so they are stopping, but the reality is that we've known about alcohol's issues forever, yet people have not stopped. No way this will last.
      1. FlowingRiver · · focus · HN ↗
        This is a shoot from the hip idea. Speaking to younger folks, it seems to be much more cultural/social change rather than anything to do with health.

        This might be an odd fluctuation to do with the first primarily social media generation? Don't know but that is just how I have seen it.

        You are probably right about banning weed/vapes. They don't have anywhere near the same indoctrination into the structures of commerce and power that alcohol has.

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