Thoughts On 4/20 Day – Are Craft Beer Consumers And Pot Users All That Different?

Today is 4/20 Day, the unofficial celebration of marijuana enjoyment and pot culture. And that got us thinking whether this day is all that different from something like National Beer Day which many of us celebrated on April 7^th?

The answer is, in some ways, it isn’t.

American Craft Beer knows many craft beer professionals who are regular pot users – they don’t champion it like they do craft beer, but some of them smoke weed daily.

And clearly marijuana is becoming increasing accepted both culturally and in legal terms…4/20 Day has become less an underground celebration and more an acknowledgement of this ongoing progression.

So let’s be honest about the primary reason that people drink alcohol and/or smoke marijuana – in both cases that reason is mood enhancement…

This reality has historically been played down in the drinks biz (like we’re ashamed of the truth). But please, would drinking alcohol be as popular as it’s been throughout the ages if it didn’t deliver a high that many found pleasurable?

And yes drinking also involves the additional experience of taste – a sensation and pleasure derived from flavor.  But really, when was the last time you heard someone rave about the delicious flavor of a “non-alcoholic” beer? Maybe never?

Unfortunately (and for some probably fortunately) with marijuana the entire point is to get high, and unlike with societal drinking marijuana has less cultural pleasantries it can hide behind.

But isn’t having a stiff drink or smoking serious weed not a similar “call-to-action” only using different means?

Again, people smoke pot and drink alcohol to alter their realities a little (and sometimes a lot!).

And the fact that a mood enhancing experience plays out differently with alcohol than it does with marijuana, it’s really more a question of a personal preference than it is one of intention.

And yes, there are alcohol enthusiasts that have no space for pot users – and vice versa.

There are many who insist that pot is less hard on one’s health than alcohol – and there’s some truth to that.

Others see drinking as a minor-league mood enhancement, especially when compared to the super-potent forms of pot being produced today (and there’s some truth to that too).

But to not acknowledge that alcohol and marijuana are both drug experiences, that although they may be culturally accepted to differing degrees by societies, answer the same directive of mood enhancement, is just not being honest.

Do you think it’s an accident that the hops and marijuana buds have been found to share similar plant characteristics that are closely related?

We don’t.

Happy 4/20 Day…

(Pot Beer Image Credit: Mitchell Maglio)