Alcohol has long been the go-to mood alterer, due to its legality, ease of access, and cultural cache as a social lubricant. A lot of our brains have, since childhood, been pickled in the mentality “drugs: bad, alcohol: okay.” But if you’ve spent much time on TikTok lately, or are part of the growing faction of Gen Zs exploring sober and sober-adjacent lifestyles, you may have heard about people going ‘California sober’— abstaining from alcohol and hard drugs, but consuming marijuana and occasionally other plant-based substances, like mushrooms or ayahuasca.
Although it's been employed by many for decades, the lifestyle trend is gaining public traction and media attention at a time when marijuana’s stigma is losing its grip, largely thanks to the legalization of cannabis in various US states and beyond, after it was demonized amid a heavily publicized war on drugs. A lot of myths about marijuana have also been debunked, as the substance has been proven to be a remedy for various physical and emotional conditions. Recent data has even shown that more Americans smoke or ingest marijuana daily than drink alcohol.
The craze has also come at a time when people, especially Gen Z, are thinking more critically about how alcohol affects their health and behavior rather than just accepting it as the norm. Indeed, 41% of Americans are Trying to Drink Less Alcohol. Over 2024, a deluge of studies found that alcohols’ effects are much more pernicious than was originally thought (or told to us by the alcohol industry, also known as “big alcohol”), while books like Quit like a Woman have spotlighted how alcohol is being marketed specifically towards women, to disastrous results. A whole host of celebrities, like Kendrick Lamar, Iggy Azealia, Zac Efron, Tom Holland, Pete Davidson, and 50 Cent, have also spoken openly about how their sobriety has helped them.
Many of the people going California sober believe marijuana to provide a steadier high than alcohol. It's a more peaceful drug, and doesn't incite as much violence or out-of-character behaviour as ethanol (the chemical alcohol is made of). California sobriety gained particular traction when it was adopted by A listers like Miley Cyrus, Wiz Khalifa and various TikTokers (in TikTok parlance, consuming marajuana is known as “gardening”), while it's glamorous and innocuous title and association with the wellness industries is further helping to separate the lifestyle from marajuana’s negative associations.
Overall, it’s encouraging to see a questioning of long-ingrained toxic consumption habits being questioned and experimented with, with people trying to find what works for them, not just what's marketed to them or pushed upon them by dated attitudes.
Images via Wiz Khalifa
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