Dry January doesn't have to mean sober January — at least for the 21 percent of participants turning to cannabis or CBD to make it through the month.
According to a survey by Civic Science, 67 percent of Dry January participants, or those choosing to abstain from alcohol consumption for the month of January, reported they are replacing alcohol with something — whether that be mocktails and alcohol-free beers or sodas and seltzers.
The largest share, 21 percent, said they would enjoy cannabis or non-psychoactive CBD in place of alcohol. The preference for substitutes wasn't uniform across all respondents. Cannabis was the most popular substitute among the youngest respondents with 34 percent of 21- to 24-year-olds preferring it. Among the 55 and older crowd, by contrast, just 9 percent reported they'd enjoy cannabis or CBD instead of alcohol, and 54 percent reported they'd stay the course without any support.
Dry January's Growing Popularity
Interest in Dry January has climbed over the recent years. At the close of 2022, about 41 percent of respondents in a separate survey by Civic Science reported they were "somewhat to very likely" to participate in Dry January come 2023. That's in-line with pre-pandemic data for the start of 2020, but slightly behind 2022 responses, which rebounded after a lag in interest during the 2021 pandemic year.
As with the preference for cannabis, interest in Dry January tends to vary by age — and younger generations are leading the charge. For the year of 2023, more than half of the youngest respondents, aged 21 to 24 years old, said they were "somewhat to very likely" to participate versus just 41 percent of those 55 and older.
Studies suggest social media is contributing to a growing reluctance to drink with younger generations fearful of consequences if their drunk escapades are documented on the internet. According to 2019 research from Google, 49 percent of Generation Z reports their image online is "always at the back of their mind when they go out socializing and drinking." Some 76 percent reported it is important to have control of "all aspects of their life at all times," according to the research.
The United Nations COP26 climate talks are scheduled for October 31 to November 12 in Glasgow, Scotland. Heads of state will be joined by private sector leaders to once again discuss the shrinking window of time left to take action against global temperature rise. Barbara Humpton, CEO of focused technology company Siemens U.S., is also attending and spoke to Cheddar about what she hopes to see during the conference for both the public and private spheres. "What we are really urging is that there are large commitments made in Glasgow and that we really commit to this next decade of action," she said.
Voyager, Nanoracks, and Lockheed Martin are all teaming up to develop the first-ever free-flying commercial space station with room for a crew of four astronauts. The private companies are joining forces as part of NASA’s greater mission to retire the International Space Station by the year 2030. The low-earth orbit space station will be called "Starlab," and is planned to achieve operational capability by 2027. Lisa Callahan, Vice President and General Manager of Commercial Civil Space at Lockheed Martin, and Matthew J. Kuta, President and Chief Operating Officer of Voyager Space, joined Cheddar’s Opening Bell.
Jill and Carlo cover the latest developments in the Alec Baldwin prop gun shooting, when vaccines for kids as young as 5 should be approved, new reporting on Facebook and more.
Middle school students from across the country battled it out for a chance at being crowned 'America's Top Scientist.' Each applicant had to submit a video to compete in the '3M Young Scientist Challenge' and describe a unique solution to an everyday problem for the chance to win $25,000. 10 finalists were chosen and after a two-day virtual competition, one walked away with the title. 14-year-old Sarah Park won the award, she joins Cheddar News to talk about her invention Spark Care+.
NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci has stated that recipients of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine should have gotten two doses, to begin with. An FDA panel had recently recommended that J&J boosters be made available for everyone who received the single dose.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is delaying its launch date for commercial space flights to Q4 of 2022 following a rescheduled test flight. Shares for the aerospace company fell on the news.
The NIH released findings of a study that say recipients of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine may benefit from getting Pfizer or Moderna boosters as the antibody levels from those shots were seen as more robust than from a Johnson & Johnson booster.
"Star Trek" actor William Shatner's voice broke with emotion as he recounted his trip into space on the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket to Jeff Bezos on October 13, 2021.
