SOBRIETY IS THE NEW COUNTERCULTURAL LOGIC

A political praxis of not just recovery, but reform

A sign at the barricades of Seattle’s CHOP autonomous zone last summer that I snapped

Reflecting on the past year of politics, protest, and parties, I recently wrote an essay about how recent turmoil and change have led me to rethink the relationship between drug use and counterculture. Calling into question outdated, binary, and abstinence-oriented models of sobriety, I propose queer, fluid, and holistic approaches—such as Cali Sober and spectrum sobriety—in their place.

Drawing upon my experiences at the frontlines of America’s War on Drugs, racial justice protests, and pandemic rave culture, my analysis revolves around these questions: Is substance use still subversive and emancipatory? Do drugs have any place at protests or in organizing? How can we reimagine nightlife spaces for sober experiences?

Here’s a snippet:

It is impossible not to consider the entangled nature of race and drugs. Despite efforts to rectify the War on Drugs’ disproportionate harm to marginalised groups, the legal cannabis industry has become overwhelmingly white-controlled, while drug law enforcement still disproportionately hurts Black communities. The growing psychedelics movement risks falling into the same traps as weed. Certainly, the Silicon Valley microdosing culture and rise of venture capital-backed shroom stocks points to the potential of a very easy takeover of capitalistic and white-centred control around psychedelics. Getting stoned no longer holds any countercultural bite when your weed comes from a SPAC owned by a vertically-integrated cannabis conglomerate, and legal ketamine clinics are a privilege reserved for the most wealthy.

The essay was commissioned by CTM Festival in Berlin, where I also hosted a workshop on sobriety for the nightlife community last fall. (Big shout to my editors, who reached out because they read this newsletter!)

You can read the full essay here.

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HELP CALI SOBER GO TO SXSW

I was nominated to speak on a panel about Cali Sober at SXSW, with fellow guest speaker Mary Carreon (editor-in-chief of Merry Jane) and host Andrew D’Angelo, a cannabis activist, writer, and industry veteran.

If you vote for our virtual panel, we’ll be able to dive into the history, evolution, and ramifications of this super-trendy term, which had been floating around the underground for many years until I launched into the mainstream in 2018 with my viral VICE essay—inadvertently helping to spark a new wellness movement that has led to some pretty bizarro cultural moments like, uh, Demi Lovato’s “California Sober” song?

It’ll be fun to discuss Cali Sober with Mary and Andrew, who’ve been championing this term from their positions deep within the weed world. I’m especially interested in unpacking Cali Sober as a potential alternative to the for-profit addiction industrial complex — and how quickly it has been co-opted as an insidious marketing buzzword by the weed and wellness industries. This tension seems especially significant to highlight as the lifestyle continues to spread in the zeitgeist.

Sign up and vote for us here!