Hops are a flavouring ingredient, not a psychoactive ingredient.

And despite a decades-long love affair with strong IPAs, most craft beer areas have been big into low alcohol kettle sours, etc for the last 5 years or so. IPAs haven't gone away, just moved to the sidelines

Is this true? The "hype" continues to be NE-IPAs - which contain as many hops as anything around, and (admittedly, I know less about this world) big giant BA stouts.

Maybe more kettle sours are being brewed, but sold?

It's very much local market dependent. In my locale, mid-90s to mid-00's was all about getting people to try craft beer with anything they could - a lot of English styles. Then NW IPAs dominated from about 2007 to 2010, then one-hop IPAs were big, then kettle sours (generally dry hopped or fruited) were big for a few years, you are right that NEIPAs and heavily lactose'd milkshake IPAs are now sharing the limelight. But the NWIPAs and kettle sours and BA Stouts (and BA sours and belgian golden strongs and...) are all still there, still selling well.

Hops do have some interesting properties. You can make a tea to help you sleep. Also used as a antipsycothic before we got pills.

Close relative to Marijuana as I understand.

Well, if I wander into the beer shop a few blocks away, there’s a shelf unit full of IPAs which I avoid because of exactly that phenomenon, but it’s part of a row of shelf units with craft beers of all kinds - there’s sections for stouts, ciders, ambers, and so on. All kinds of wonderful ways to get a little drunk or very very drunk, depending on the ABV of whatever you select; all of them from small breweries.

That reminds me, I really need to send some email to Untitled Art begging them to please do another run of the fabulous “rainbow sherbet” beer I only got ever one can of...