NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- For years, sobriety has been a term often associated with both addiction and alcoholism. Now, Gen-Z and millennials are changing that.
Thanks to the increased popularity of non-alcoholic drinks, there’s less pressure to get drunk and more ways to have fun. It makes sense when you consider how many tragedies alone are caused by alcohol consumption.
According to the CDC, excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 95,000 deaths in the United States each year. In New York alone, a little more than 30% of all deadly crashes involve alcohol.
On this week’s episode of 1010 WINS In Depth, host Femi Redwood explores the rise of non-alcoholic drinks and the new faces of sobriety.
To understand the industry better, this week Femi speaks with the co-owner of Minus Moonshine Dry Drinks and Potions, Apryl Storms.
She says that even though non-alcoholic drinks have been ignored for years, there’s a clear demand for them by people who don’t always want a hangover. In fact, the goal for starting her business was to “create a community where people who don’t drink can fill the void for social events that are usually revolving around alcohol.”
Tori Felder, who founded the organization Retired Party Girl, also speaks with us to discuss the importance of creating a safe space for those who are sober and, more specifically, sober-curious. She’s all for the “booming business” of non-alcoholic drinks because they make it easier for those afflicted with addiction to navigate sobriety.
Lastly, we speak with Dr. Jonathan Avery, who specializes in Addiction Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine New York. While the pandemic may have accelerated the use of alcohol for some, he points out, “it also created a lot more ways to access treatment.”
He discusses the importance of that accessibility and whether or not CBD could be a safer, alternative way to quell anxiety.