In this fic, Sören is "Cali sober" with weed [having had a past drinking problem], but addictive personalities often substitute one addiction for another, and he comes to terms with the fact that he has also gotten addicted to weed. I myself was also "Cali sober" and quit weed in May 2024 after years of regular heavy use and ended up having a month of withdrawal symptoms - his experience of withdrawal is informed by my own. There is a misconception that "nobody gets hooked on weed" and "it's completely harmless" but cannabis use disorder is a thing, approximately 9% of users end up with a dependency and the likelihood of dependency goes up the younger you are when you start [I was 14 when I got high for the first time]. My disclaimer here is that while I'm maintaining my sobriety and there have been a lot of net positives with finally getting completely sober, I'm still strongly pro-legalization and think most people can use it responsibly, and I'm friends with a few marijuana users, so I'm not "anti-weed", I just wish people were better informed about its risks as well as its benefits. Regardless, if you're uncomfortable with the challenge to the "completely harmless" narrative you may want to give this story a hard pass.