About

California Sober refers to a version of sobriety that abstains from all hard drugs but allows for moderate use of marijuana and sometimes alcohol. The efficacy of the lifestyle has been debated by medical experts. As the term began growing more popular in the early 2020s, social media users joked about other regions' versions of sobriety, suggesting that to be "(X Location) sober," one would cut out all drugs and addictive substances save for a drug that is specifically popular in X location.

Origin

The earliest known definition for "California sober" appeared on Urban Dictionary on December 10th, 2016. The definition, posted by user CPaigeS, reads, "To abstain from all drugs except marijuana and alcohol."^[1]

In later years, the term became more commonly understood as abstaining from all drugs, including alcohol, with the exception of marijuana. On January 18th, 2019, Urban Dictionary user Calibuoy posted a definition to that effect.^[1]

Spread

The term began growing more popular following an April 2019 Vice article^[3] in which writer Michelle Lhooq defined "California sober" as cutting out alcohol but continued using marijuana and psychedelics. In March of 2021, Demi Lovato stated she'd embraced the "California sober" lifestyle,^[2] though she admitted that it included "a little bit of drinking." This inspired a lengthy, sourced Urban Dictionary definition for "California sober" posted by SoberIsDope, which emphasized that "California sober" is a "weed-only" sobriety.^[1]

In December of 2021, Everyday Health celebrated Lovato ditching the "California sober" lifestyle in favor of a straightforward sober lifestyle, noting that "California sober" can sometimes lead to relapse.^[4]

Parodies

As "California sober" began becoming a popular term online, parodies emerged where people replaced "California" with other regions, and made jokes saying that region's version of sobriety allowed for a specific, often much harder drug. For example, on October 25th, 2021, Twitter user @angelmoney007^[5] joked that she was "NYC sober," which meant, "I currently have six drugs in my system but I didn’t buy any of them," gaining over 1,100 retweets and 25,000 likes in one year (shown below, left). On October 11th, 2022, Twitter user @GalaxyPeaBrain^[6] posted a joke about "Midwest sober," defined as, "occasional shower beer, beer after a long day, if you need to drive, and just a beer when you're in the mood," gaining over 1,600 retweets and 35,000 likes in one week (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References