Going California Sober

Is replacing liquor with Mary Jane a smart move?

Source: Unsplash.

If you’ve been keeping up with my sobriety articles I’ve been writing over the course of 2024, then you’ve probably heard me mention that I’ve been exploring the world of “California Sober”. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the phrase can be defined as cutting out certain addictive substances and replacing them with something else. Primarily, the act of going Cali Sober usually involves replacing alcohol with marijuana, essentially the replacement is supposed to be less harmful than the substance you’re trying to ween off of.

The validity of this kind of “sobriety” is all over the place. You can pull up other articles, reddit posts, videos, etc and they’ll all have conflicting opinions. Some people would advocate for going California sober, others detest and some would be on the fence about it. There’s no right or wrong answer as to whether or not going this route will help with combatting addictions, but it’s something I wanted to try for myself.

In this article, I’m going to go over my initial experience with cannabis, when and why I decided to go California sober, what it’s been like for me so far, and lastly where I see myself going forward with this approach to sobriety.

Me and The Devil’s Lettuce

My relationship with marijuana, cannabis or as Stephen A. Smith puts it “WEEEEEED” started when I was about 16. Every now and again when I’d hang with my friends, one of them would bring their bong or a joint and one day I decided to give it a try. It also didn’t help that a lot of the artists I was listening to during high school were big cannabis connoisseurs so naturally, my impressionable mind wanted to see what the fuss was about.

Around this time (think 2013–14) A lot of discussions and movements were coming up promoting marijuana legalization, as I did my own research on the benefits of weed for medical issues, and in my case with combatting anxiety and aiding with sleep, it only piqued my interest even more. It even encouraged me to vote for the Liberal party in Canada in 2015, with marijuana legalization being a nationwide promise. Mind you it’s a decision I now regret among other things but I digress.

By the time I finished high school and for a good chunk of my university years, I was an occasional stoner. Every so often I’d smoke a bowl but it was maybe once every few months. Once marijuana got fully legalized in Canada by 2018 I was dabbling a little bit more but again, wasn’t something I was actively consuming like alcohol. I’d smoke to get a little stoned once in a while, and that was it, but it wasn’t an easy thing to for me to do.

A big thing for that was the societal factor of marijuana. My parents and family come from a mindset where weed is dope and will turn you crazy and all sorts of other stereotypes. Convincing them about the benefits of cannabis was not easy, and to this day is still something we don’t see eye to eye on at times. However they were totally fine with me drinking alcohol, despite it having more severe consequences…The logic wasn’t adding up but to avoid conflicts I kept my marijuana usage very low.

Deciding to Go Cali Sober

One month in to my alcohol-free journey while I was scrolling on TikTok, a video talking about going Cali sober popped up on my FYP. I was already familiar with the term so it wasn’t new to me, but it got me thinking: should I give this a shot? I started researching a bit about the benefits and reasonings somebody would try this method of sobriety and it checked all the boxes for the most part. A lot of questions did started sprouting in my head, mainly 3 things concerned me:

• Will marijuana become my next addiction?
• Will marijuana trigger me to start drinking again?
• How will my body react/tolerate cannabis?

Those first 2 points were of major concern. Like any other substance, marijuana can be dangerously addictive if used way too much, so I’d have to be mindful of my consumption habits. Secondly, the fear of wanting to chase the high by bringing back alcohol into the mix was something I worried about. Especially considering I had only been sober from alcohol for just a month. Lastly my tolerance was another factor to take in. At this point I hadn’t smoked weed in 2 years, and I was hesitant about the effects it’ll have or how my body would react to it after so long.

I took in all those concerns and said to myself: “well, I won’t really know unless I try it for myself”. So, on a cold Friday evening in February I drove to a nearby dispensary, bought a vape and headed home. I had told my family and girlfriend beforehand that I was going to dabble in marijuana again and they were reluctant, especially my girlfriend as she had never seen me smoke before in our relationship. I did explain to them the whole Cali sober notion and my reasonings and they understood.

Once I got home and spread out everything I needed, took a pull from my vape pen and began my California sober trek.

The Initial Experience

I felt nothing. No buzz or anything. At first I thought maybe it was the strain, I was smoking a Sativa dominant strain and from what I remember Sativa’s tend to hit me harder but this time? Nothing. It could also be the fact I was using a vape cartridge than actual flower but again, in the past vapes had more of a “punch” for me. I don’t know if it’s just me, but since cannabis became legal I’ve never gotten the super hazy feeling I’d get when I started smoking it when I was younger. Now at this point I could have smoked some more but I didn’t want to as I knew I could probably cross the line and get more stoned then I’d want to. It took a while but eventually I did start feeling the effects but it was nothing too intense. I would describe it as a calming body high, I felt warm and fuzzy. Surprisingly I didn’t feel anxious or get paranoid, it was good.

Waking up the next day, I had sudden burst of energy the moment I woke up. I didn’t feel as groggy as usual, especially at that time as I did have trouble waking up the first month I was weening off of alcohol. For the first time in a while I felt quite refreshed actually! Like I was able to get some good quality sleep, and I’m impartial to say that marijuana might have helped with that.

Comparing the experience to drinking is night and day, obviously I didn’t wake up with a hangover (even though weed hangovers are a thing) nor did I have that nauseous feeling that I would have in the mornings. Being stoned vs drunk is also quite different. I felt more in control with marijuana than liquor, unlike alcohol I knew what my limit was with weed. Alcohol though? A different story entirely.

Following this first experience with weed after so long, I set a precedent going forward as to how I’d approach going California Sober. I gave myself 3 rules to follow:

1. ) Only consume cannabis after 7PM, 2–3x a week

• Studies showing that the sedative qualities of THC aid with relaxation and sleep (dependent on the strain) and usually during the week I tend to unwind and get ready to end the day around the evenings, I figured only consuming cannabis around that time would be beneficial for me. Also limiting myself to 2–3x a week would ensure I don’t get to carried away or reliant on it.

2. ) Consume with the right intentions

• Intent was a big thing I looked into when it comes to cannabis. I didn’t want to treat weed the same way I did with alcohol, that is: getting drunk to escape feelings of stress/depression or to cope with those feelings. I didn’t want marijuana to be the crutch that alcohol was for me, I just wanted to experience a nice little high and vibe out on a Friday night. Therefore keeping my intentions strictly to just that, and not for running away from my anxieties or anything would ensure my consumption habits would remain fair.

3. ) Limit the amount of times I need to “re-up”

• A big issue I had during my drinking days were my frequent trips to the liquor store. I’d go once a week to grab coolers and other drinks. If I ran out, I’d go out at pick up some more again without hesitation. With weed I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t repeat the same thing again. Using my method from the first point I figured whatever I’d use (vape cartridge, flower, etc.) would last me a couple of weeks to a month. It would last longer and limit the times I’d need to go to a dispensary.

The Pros and Cons of California Sobriety

The Good

Like I stated previously, my sleep quality saw a major improvement and waking up in the mornings was no longer a chore for me. This renewed energy gave me a lot more clarity and I found myself waking up much earlier than before (even on the weekends). I found it quite surprising that my body could just get back into motion after consuming cannabis the night before, without little to any setbacks.

Another pro I noticed over the last few months was that I wasn’t as sluggish when I was stoned, compared to being tipsy or drunk. I still had a solid sense of my surroundings and I wasn’t acting or feeling sloppy. I had a much greater sense of control and I was able to carry on tasks during my downtime with ease. For example, most Friday nights I like to boot up my PlayStation and game for a bit. During my drinking days I’d often get too nauseous or start nodding out. Gaming nowadays is better experience now, I’m alert and actually enjoying it this time around. I’ve been sticking to mainly Sativa dominant strains which do aid with productivity, so that could be a factor as well.

Lastly a huge plus is that I’m not as reliant on weed to help with social settings or curbing my anxieties as much. Thanks in part to my consumption habits I detailed earlier, it’s helped with keeping myself accountable and not going over the limit. In a way, it’s forced me to break out of my bubble and face these things (read: “Raw dog it”) than use a substance to break the ice. I’d factor in because I’ve conditioned myself to not turn to alcohol, it inadvertently also applied to my cannabis usage.

The Bad

Believe it or not, cannabis does have consequences! Yes I know, surprised? I can say that I’ve definitely experienced a couple of the weed hangovers I mentioned earlier over the last few months. Not frequently but they have happened, and the reasonings I could deduce is probably because of the strain I consumed, or the timing in which I decided to toke. While it’s nowhere near as bad as an alcoholic hangover, some of the same symptoms like a pounding headache did occur, but thankfully no nausea.

The “high” itself sometimes wasn’t really all that great either. I figured it was dependent on how I was consuming my weed. I can say now edibles provided some of the worst experiences, compared to smoking a joint or vaping a cartridge. The high I’d get from eating just one gummy was way too intense (the science behind it being that the THC is being processed through your liver instead of just your bloodstream thus making the high more intense, but I could be wrong). Often times after smoking/vaping I wouldn’t even get high, I’d just get a migraine that persisted for a little bit, making me wonder why’d I even waste my time with smoking in the first place.

My tolerance, despite not smoking for 2 years, was still very strong. Admittedly it led to me overindulging a few times (although I previously mentioned I’d have that under control). After one night of biting more than I could chew, I immediately started comparing the feeling to when I was overdrinking, and it made me feel sick. At one point I did end up taking a week long tolerance break a few months ago to reset myself a bit and get my bearings straight. It’s something I highly recommend fellow stoners to do every once in a while.

In Conclusion

Overall, taking the Cali sober approach to sobriety has had its ups and downs. By no means is it perfect, and some of the good does outweigh the bad, but please don’t think this is the absolute best way to stave off of alcohol. For me though, with my lifestyle, it was an exercise I’m glad I took and is one I can see myself continuing to do going forward.

I’m definitely going to be taking extra precautions with my consumption, really tackling my consumption habits and not allowing myself to use marijuana as crutch in the same way I treated alcohol. The negative points I mentioned above will help with keeping me on track so I can avoid having those experiences frequently/at all.

But when it’s all said and done, I do like the California sober method. Is it something I would recommend for other people though? I’m a bit indifferent on that. I highly encourage those who are curious (and especially have never consumed weed before) to dig a little deeper, do some research and see if it’s right for you. There are other and possibly healthier sobriety methods out there that would benefit some people more so than going Cali sober. In the end though, I’ve been enjoying this journey so far, and I’m quite curious where it will go as I continue on.