Cannabis companies encourage drinkers to go 'California Sober'
Dry Leprechauns. “Dry January” and “Sober October” are turning into an advantage for cannabis companies, which are targeting those who’ve given up alcohol and pitching them marijuana instead.
Gen Z’s efforts to be healthier has helped create the phenomenon of “California sober” — a term for people who abstain from alcohol and drugs, with the exception of marijuana. Recent data shows the trend of swapping booze for pot is accelerating, and it’s benefitting one category in particular: THC drinks.
It’s not an entirely consumer-driven trend: Marijuana companies are using data to go after people who are trying to stop drinking with ads suggesting that marijuana can fill the void. They tout benefits including a lack of hangovers or other ill effects — even though research has yet to compare the relative health risks.
In states where cannabis has been recreationally legal for years, alcohol sales growth is slowing while marijuana increases. Colorado, for example, has marijuana sales that are around 10% the size of the alcohol market — up from just 2% five years ago, according to a December report from investment bank TD Cowen. In Canada, where cannabis is federally legal, alcohol sales are sinking.
On St. Patrick's Day, a big day for green beer, “leprechaun smoking weed” was trending on Google and the holiday ended up being a big deal for cannabis sales. Dispensaries saw a 21% rise in customer counts along with 17% sales growth from a year earlier, according to Fyllo, a marketing company specializing in cannabis that tracked more than 100 dispensaries across 23 states. The breakaway hit was THC drinks, with same-store sales surging 95%.
“It’s the whole ‘California sober’ mentality,” Fyllo Chief Commercial Officer Jeff Ragovin told me in a phone conversation during which he said he was enjoying a cannabis beverage. The term trended in 2021 after Demi Lovato released a song about it, creating a stir on TikTok. The Cleveland Clinic shortly thereafter warned that replacing one addictive substance with another could be a slippery slope.
Nonetheless, Gen Z seems to perceive pot as healthier than booze. In reality, the world just knows more about the health risks of alcohol than it does about the health risks of cannabis, said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.
“Research on the health effects of drinks containing THC, as well as the wide variety of other cannabis products that are on the market and available to consumers, is urgently needed,” Volkow said in an email. She added that both alcohol and THC have very different effects, but “both are associated with harms and both can lead to addiction.”
Still, the perception that replacing booze with weed is an improvement is growing — in part due to crafty advertising.
Fyllo, which has clients in the alcohol and cannabis industry, uses data to reach consumers that it knows have “lapsed" in their alcohol purchasing habits, Ragovin said. For example, a consumer who has bought beer in the past but hasn’t spent on it in a month might be served with an ad. “We're seeing a huge spike in consumers who are converting,” he said.
While advertisers have to be careful not to make health claims, some campaigns make subtle allusions to the downsides of drinking, or suggest that those who try to give up all intoxicants are more likely to fail.
“Cannuary” is an ad campaign from Cann, one of the best-known THC-infused drinks. The product is sold online in more than 30 states and the ads target those trying “Dry January.”
“We can't say that it cures any diseases, we can’t make any health claims, but we are talking about healthy choices for you,” said Cann co-founder Jake Bullock. He points out that the dehydration that comes with alcohol overindulgence isn’t an issue for those who drink THC beverages, and that even if research hasn’t proven that THC is safer than ethanol, many consumers experience it that way.
January has consistently been Cann’s best-grossing month of the year, Bullock said. This year, the results were better than ever: the company saw a 364% increase in transactions from a year earlier and a 232% jump in revenue.
Cannabis companies are also taking a page from alcohol’s playbook, using trending flavors and advertisements about natural flavors. The Tinley Beverage Company sells THC drinks in brown bottles shaped like those that usually hold beer or hard liquor and promote recipes such as coconut piña tropicale, a riff off the popular rum drink, the piña colada.
And the growth in THC drinks appears to be just getting started; Fyllo’s data showed that while 13% more dispensaries sold the beverages this year on St. Patrick’s Day, only about 60% of retail locations that it tracks offer them.
