The Importance of Inebriation

What Dry January reveals about our dedication to the buzz

What is the lure of inebriation? For some (many?) it is indeed a pull of some sort. Consider the following.

Of those setting aside alcohol and participating in “Dry January”, fully 20% replace alcohol with cannabis. If you are among the youngest cohort diving into the Dry January pool, you are even more likely to replace alcohol with THC. The number of those who make January dry is going to grow and so will those who are simply replacing one inebriant for another.

What cannabis and alcohol have in common is that both inebriate us. They both alter our brain functioning and with it the way our body obeys our commands. Both make us physically feel something different, view the world differently, and prompt us to act in ways we would be less likely to act without these substances—to one degree or another.

Given that alcohol and cannabis both deliver the experience of altering brain functioning and with it, the body, I’m wondering what percent of people use one or both of these substances. Moreover, I’m wondering what percentage of people who do use one or both of these substances are like me: The inebriation effect, particularly of alcohol, comes in a distant third in the ranking of reasons why I use.

The last time I remember drinking with the primary goal of becoming inebriated was probably around the time I turned 21 years old. For me, that’s a long time, even in human years.

Even then, after having been drinking for five years, it was still a fresh-ish experience to feel loopy and buzzed. I’ve just never liked the feeling of being drunk. However, I always have liked the idea of alcohol and the idea that in its various forms, it could be combined with other alcohols or nonalcoholic things to create new things. My relationship with alcohol, particularly wine, has for a very long time been driven by enjoying the taste and the curiosity and intellectual enjoyment I receive from exploring the beverage, its production and its meaning. The buzz is a distant third reason I enjoy it. But that “buzz” needs to be distinguished from being drunk. They are not the same.

And yet the impact of drinking alcohol and consuming cannabis ARE the same—to one degree or another and the statistics above on the replacement of alcohol with cannabis among Dry January participants demonstrate this.

I’ll argue with anyone who claims that cannabis could provide a similar enjoyment I receive from wine. I’ll argue that neither the taste nor the intellectual satisfaction I receive from wine can be matched with cannabis. The vast majority of people I think would agree with me that the smell and taste of cannabis fall somewhere south of “enjoyable”. Meanwhile, even despite the growing diversity of strains within the cannabis universe, that diversity does not reflect nor is it significantly linked to the history and culture of human beings the way wine is and always has been.

But—and I keep coming back to this—they both serve the same purpose to many: they change how we interact with the world because they both are inebriants.

I’m not opposed to the idea of simply looking to inebriate. I’ve tried several intoxicants in my life with various degrees of appreciation.

Cannabis was always a bit of a toy for me. It has been something that was interesting and fun to play with on occasion, but it never provided me with any intrinsic intellectual favors. Moreover, I’ve never been able to consume it in any real amount and function well in society or while working. Cannabis has always been like a shiny toy to gaze at and play with.

Opiates, like Oxycontin or hydrocodone, are different. This stuff is the true Devil’s work. Being high on a couple of strong doses of Oxycontin is like no other intoxicant I’ve ever experienced. It’s beautiful. For me, the impact is akin to having my mind and body wrapped in a fluffy warm blanket. Moreover, I can still slightly function enough while on it to enjoy a baseball game on TV or even converse with someone who doesn’t mind momentary lapses in the conversations. I am a perfect candidate for opioid addiction. And it wouldn’t take long either.