A Lab Turned Bar (With Weed & Booze) For Science: Is the ‘Cali Sober’ Effect Real?
In California, legal weed has been around for so long that it practically works as a spiritual category. That’s where the idea of being “Cali sober” came from: ditching alcohol but keeping cannabis, a kind of THC-powered “sobriety” that became a trend among celebrities, wellness influencers, and people who simply want to dodge a hangover […]
Why Religion Was Never Sober: Lessons from Gary Laderman’s ‘Sacred Drugs’
Religion lives in practice, not only in pews. In “Sacred Drugs,” scholar Gary Laderman maps how psychoactive substances move through ritual, identity, and meaning. The canvas is wide. Coffee and wine at the table. Cannabis in ceremony. Peyote, psilocybin, and LSD in spiritual quests. Pharmaceuticals as faith for a modern age. The question is simple. […]
Holy Smoke and Holy Work: Stephen Baldwin on Cali Sober, a Life in Movies, and the Baldwin Fund’s Mission
Stephen Baldwin logs onto Zoom like a neighbor who has a good story ready. He is warm, quick with a joke, and happy to drift between family memories, faith, and flowers. Within a minute, he is recalling smoke-filled rooms from his Long Island childhood and a Jim Morrison soundtrack that still rings in his ears. […]