Cannabis-Infused Beverages Shake Up Drinking Culture: Soccer Moms and Dads Stay High

Remember the days when cannabis was strictly associated with counterculture icons like yogis and rappers, and wine was the drink of choice for poets and financiers? Well, times have certainly changed. Today, the cannabis culture has evolved beyond the stereotypes, with influential figures like Elon Musk and Bill Gates openly endorsing its merits.
(Updated 2/4/2024)

Meanwhile, the once-glamorous image of wine is fading, increasingly associated with chemical imbalances in the brain and the psychoactive drugs prescribed to treat neurotransmitter dysfunction. It has been no secret for some time that alcohol is detrimental to health. As a result, cannabis-infused beverages are emerging as a healthier alternative. This marks a tectonic shift in the beverage industry, prompting us to reach out to drinkers who eschew alcohol in favor of CBD-infused beverages within our readership to learn more about the matter. In total, we interviewed three readers who met the criteria and have compiled quotations that summarize our findings.

Interviewee #1, Sandy S. 

"I used to always wake up hung over the day after my daughter's soccer practice or game.  Everyone drinks in youth sports.  Even the kids.  It's just part of the culture.  But when my girlfriend K-Woww introduced me to Stoned Mom's Hemp Infused Strawberry Basil Calming Seltzer I never touched another glass of chardonnay at a practice or game.   Of course I still have a glass on the way to see my therapist but there is no hangover with these drinks and I never feel like I'm not in control like when I rammed into the back of Coach's Honda Odyssey."

Interviewee #2, K-Woww

"Four Loco Peach was my go-to before my daughter's soccer practices but after a near collision with a dump truck driving home one night I said to myself I need to make a change.   Luckily, around the same time, when I was in Publix I found these cbd-infused seltzers and now I am a new person.  For instance, it doesn't take ten minutes to get in the car anymore after drinking a couple bottles of pinot grigio during a practice or game.   I also do not get blurry vision with these drinks so I do not miss seeing dump trucks from behind the wheel anymore.  My daughter is so proud of me too and she loves it when I get the munchies and we go to Chick-Fil-A all the time now." 

Interviewee #3, Edward M. 

"My daughter plays travel soccer, so we frequently have to drive long distances to get to games. All the moms and dads are drinking, so if you do not want to be ostracized for being a nutritionist, there's a lot of pressure to drink. I'm an IPA guy, so I would fill up the cooler with at least 48 beers for a game. Even with 48 beers, I would have to make a beer run by halftime. I had this epiphany when I ended up backing into a parked school bus in the parking lot of 7-11 on a beer run that this drinking culture is getting out of hand, and I need to make a change. So before finals last year, I loaded the cooler with these CBD seltzers. Of course, I took some heat from the other parents, but when they finally tried one and didn't feel wasted like we always did when we were crushing IPAs and throwing the empties onto the field, they all were like, 'Craig, thank you for having the courage to help us break free of our addiction to alcohol.' Now, we drink CBD seltzers and just relax on the sidelines. We actually watch the games now. It's like we are all just high on life--and nachos. But some things never change because we still throw the empties on the field."

Final Note
The era of healthier cannabis-infused beverages is here, challenging the dominance of traditional alcoholic drinks as we learned in our interviews.  With this significant shift, it remains to be seen how alcohol brands will adapt to this evolving landscape. Whether they join and benefit from the change or resist it, the intersection of cannabis and beverages is a space worth watching closely.