
Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana? - jgalvez
With the recent public talk and growing awareness about marijuana and the failed policies against it, it occurred to me it would be interesting to get an idea of how many fellow programmers use marijuana and how it affects their work. I find it specially positive in my work, as an aid to better concentration and also greater creativity.
======
DanielBMarkham
Not me. I'm of the opinion that lighting things on fire and sticking them near
your head to breathe just sounds like a bad idea all the way around.

I'm for legalization though. The idea of outlawing a weed that does less harm
than alcohol is ludicrous.

I experimented a bit as a teenager. As I recall, it didn't help my analytical
skills at all -- unless by analytical skills you mean finding doughnuts at 3am
or being able to smile stupidly while listening to Led Zeppelin tunes.

I think intoxication is a natural state of mankind, so if you like toking or
drinking or running until endorphins seep out of your ears I can understand
that. I just don't think any of that, no matter how good it feels, actually
makes you a better coder. If anything, I think good coders learn the natural
rhythms of their bodies and minds, then maximize their performance based on
that.

Now can it make you _think_ you're a better coder? Sure thing, boss.

~~~
neilk
I do have issues with the smoke myself, and I indulge maybe once in a few
months, so I never get used to it. Although I find the effects of marijuana to
be far, far superior to alcohol or most other drugs, for me anyway.

Anyone tried vaporators? Supposedly they heat the bud to the point of
releasing essential oils into the air, but not to the point of ignition.

I wonder if any hardware hackers here have applied their skills to drug
consumption? For instance, I know a guy who has produced ingenious
contraptions for nitrous oxide delivery.

~~~
vaporizer
Vaporizers are my preferred way of consuming. Ever since I got a good quality
vaporizer, I don't smoke anymore. It's a lot cleaner than smoking (though not
totally tar-free, but close enough), and it saves you money. In my non-
scientific estimation, I think I use about 1/4 of what I would if I was
smoking. It also seems like a cleaner high, often times more energetic, and I
come down from the high smoother.

I have the HerbalAIRE Vaporizer H2.1
(<http://www.gotvape.com/store/herbalaire.vaporizer.php>). You can set the
temperature for (which it regulates), and it fills up a bag. It's not a
Volcano, but its good enough (costed $250 vs the ~$600 Volcano). I built my
own from a soldering iron before, but it just doesn't work as well as it took
10-15 minutes before it was ready, whereas this one takes about 3-5 minutes.
Buying a good quality vaporizer is well worth the money vs making your own,
unless you are skilled enough to make your own quality vaporizer (with proper
temperature control).

Also, cooking it in oil/butter is also a healthier alternative (the healthiest
alternative probably). I do that as well, but that's more for when I will be
out in public where I can't use my vaporizer (really great for concerts for
example). I generally cook the oil or butter into baked goods (brownies or
chocolate chip cookies), or sometimes take spoonfuls of the oil straight.

The only problem with both of these methods is that you are committing to
using a certain amount and its harder to regulate how high you get. With
eating it, you don't feel it for an hour or so, so its sometimes hard to judge
how much you need unless you've already tried a batch. With vaporizers,
whatever you put into the vaporizer gets used up, and you can either waste it
by not inhaling it all, or inhale it all which could lead to getting higher
than you wanted to. With smoking its easier to regulate as you can just put it
out or not toke again; or take your time between tokes.

As for actually using when coding, I do occasionally work on my personal
projects after getting high; but this is more because I'm obsessed with coding
and working on these projects more than purposefully getting high with the
intentions of sitting down and coding.

I don't know if it improves my abilities, really, but it does make doing
mundane tasks more tolerable. It allows me to focus and get lost in the
problem. And also I sometimes do brainstorming and come up with ideas which I
quickly note down before I forget. It makes my imagination start to think
about the problems I am working on, which leads to actually having the
motivation to try out what I'm imagining, hence why I often end up coding
after I get high (though generally after I've come down a bit). The idea that
pot de-motivates you is a myth in my opinion.

And yes, I created this account just to post in thread, and have a separate HN
account for non-incriminating conversations :)

~~~
sketerpot
> Buying a good quality vaporizer is well worth the money vs making your own,
> unless you are skilled enough to make your own quality vaporizer (with
> proper temperature control).

I don't smoke pot (I would try some, but I don't care enough to actually find
someone who sells it), but I am sorely tempted to make a vaporizer and put the
schematics online. Does it just need to maintain a constant temperature in a
small area? That sounds like a pretty fun project. I imagine you could make a
control system pretty easily with a few op-amps and a basic temperature
sensor.

------
a_toker
I created this account for privacy reasons, and I'm one of the more
active/karmic people in this community. Yes, this is an oppressive culture (in
the US).

I'm a somewhat heavy bud smoker and a full-time developer. #define HEAVY?
That's subjective, but I can comfortably go through a quarter ounce in a week,
and my ideal consumption is probably 1.5 grams per day. I've known people who
think a bowl a day is heavy and that an ounce a week is normal, so like I
said, subjective.

I oscillate between stretches of daily smoking and stretches of sobriety.
Clearly, there are advantages to being sober, and I wouldn't appreciate the
benefits that ganja brings if it became too regular a habit.

I'm full of it, right? It's a pitiful escape, and an intoxicant couldn't
possibly have any benefits, right? So allow me to enumerate them:

1\. Ganja truly opens your mind. Now, we all have open minds, but there's a
further degree of relaxation and openness that it helps one to achieve. This
allows me to grasp very abstract concepts quickly because there are fewer
preconceptions and other obstacles to learning. It would've taken me far
longer to grasp functional programming, I believe, without this benefit.

2\. Morale: After a night of boozin', you will feel like crap the next day.
After a night of smoking, I feel like a million bucks in the morning. Granted,
I've been an insomniac all my life, and ganja is prescribed in many places for
this malady. I come in to work the next day refreshed and ready to dive into
my work, and I'm undoubtedly more productive when this well-rested.

3\. Energy/endurance: I don't always have the patience or energy for prolonged
hackage, especially when it comes to things that once frustrated me, like
setting up a dedicated server. When high, I can easily wade through the tasks
at hand, and next thing I know, they're done. I often come home from work
feeling drained, fire up a little bowl, and am re-energized. What just a
minute ago seemed unthinkable (fatigued, firing up my computer to hack on
something) becomes irresistable because it's one of my true passions.

So, ganja is very good for me. It may be terrible for others, so I don't offer
any advice here. I have yet to encounter any ill effects thus far concerning
my health, and it does _not_ at all affect my stamina in physical activity as
would tobacco.

I never show up at work blazed, and only partake in my free time. And if you
think that stoners are lazy, on top of this full-time job I run a web
development business with three employees.

\- 21 year-old

~~~
jgalvez
I'm not sure you're with me on this one but allow me to elaborate:

4\. Concentration: distraction and lack of focus is the #1 killer of all good
software projects. And I have seen that programmers, in my experience, have a
natural talent to be distracted and lose focus. Who never lost a day on a
combination of Reddit, Bloglines and Hacker News? I know I did. Of course you
don't need marijuana to force yourself to attain focus, but the forces that
drive me to work are usually negative ("If I don't deliver this, I won't get
paid", "My rent is overdue", "I'll just finish Y so I'll have time to do work
on X which is more interesting").

The state of mind marijuana gives me is the one of calmness and extreme
relaxation, and as it's been observed, "Relaxation precedes perfect
concentration" (<http://tinyurl.com/6c632t>). It's the bizarre kind of
relaxation that you get when it's past midnight, you have to wake up early,
and yet you can be completely focused at your code editor without worrying
about ANYTHING, not worrying about the things you have to do before you go to
bed, not worrying about the things you have to do the next day, not worrying
about anything. That kind of focus is GOLDEN, and it has helped me write huge
pieces of well written code in very little time.

~~~
swombat
I suspect that largely depends on the subject.

I focus when I'm under pressure. For me, MJ would remove all that pressure, so
I couldn't care less about code.

Different people, different results.

------
cosmo7
You have a choice in life:

You can smoke dope, get stoned, start dozens of unfinished projects in Ruby or
Scala or Haskell or whatever you've just read about, wear bad clothes and
think you're doing something worthwhile just because you're up to date with
xkcd and know how to jailbreak your iPhone.

Or you can learn a real language - one with braces, as God intended -
preferably C# but Java is acceptable, build a business and hang out on yachts
with beautiful women covered in cocaine. It's your choice.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
Ew, cocaine.

~~~
mannicken
Yeah, real .NET programmers use heroin. Everyone knows that

------
andrewljohnson
I read the article in question, and it said that marijuana didn't have much
effect on "chronic" marijuana users. I suspect that if you smoke pot
occasionally, it will totally destroy your programming ability while high.

You need to look at this study carefully. Essentially, it says if you are a
pothead, pot smoking isn't so bad for your cognitive skills. But, that isn't
to say that the long term effects of pot didn't already impair you... it just
means that once you are used to it, it doesn't hurt you to be smoking it.

The article makes perfect sense really. There is certainly such a thing as a
"high-functioning alcoholic." That doesn't mean anyone can get drunk and work
well, or that alcohol helps you work. It just means alcoholics have a
tolerance.

~~~
sci
It might well be this article for those interested in reading it themselves: -
"Effects of Acute Smoked Marijuana on Complex Cognitive Performance" -
Neuropsychopharmacology section of the medical journal Nature

URL: <http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v25/n5/full/1395716a.html>

------
rsayers
I havn't in a little over a year now. Current company drug tests and I enjoy a
paycheck more than I enjoy getting high.

That said, I do very much enjoy it and have had some "breakthroughs" related
to coding projects while high. Moderation is key, it can be great for helping
you think about things differently, but if you overdo it, you can certainly do
more harm than good.

~~~
mrtron
I have always been firmly against company drug testing. How is that legal?
Also, you could be a severe alcoholic or on huge amounts of prescribed
medications and that is just fine?

~~~
tptacek
It's not legal for a company to force you to be drug tested. You can always
say "no" and walk away. Unfortunately, it is in almost every state totally
legal for your employer to fire you for absolutely no reason, so long as they
aren't discriminating against for you on the basis of race, color, national
origin, religion, sex, or disability.

~~~
mrtron
Interesting, I assumed it was legal for them to force you (unintentional
Canadian ignorance on the issue).

Thanks for the clarification!

~~~
tptacek
Just to be clear: I'm saying they can effectively force you, in the sense that
they can fire you if you don't comply.

------
piramida
Only to relax. I know some architects / senior coders who can concentrate
better while high, but for me remembering what you did / thought about several
minutes ago is more important than unnatural thinking.

Maybe it just takes more practice...

------
asnyder
This should be a poll, you're unlikely to get a comment from most people on
this issue.

Use <http://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll> to create a new poll.

~~~
mapleoin
AFAICS he doesn't have enought karma to create a poll

~~~
jaxn
But one was created (though the options are not what I would have picked):
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=509693>

------
adrianwaj
It might only be giving you the illusion of helping. Can you benchmark test
yourself with and without it?

~~~
IsaacSchlueter
Indeed. Programmer productivity is nearly impossible to measure, and so
subjective, how would you even perform this kind of test?

That being said, I'm 100% sure that I'm far less productive after smoking pot,
and I suspect that any reasonable measure of programmer productivity would
show the same results for just about everyone.

But I'm also less productive after a few beers, or while watching a movie, or
having sex, or eating dinner, or riding my bike. There's more to life than
cranking out code. Marijuana feels good and is mostly harmless. Enjoy in
moderation!

I have found that my productivity suffers when I lead a less balanced life.
Since we programmers tend to fixate, it can be challenging to remember to take
a break once in a while. Sometimes, if you don't over-indulge, the things that
impair productivity can, in the long run, make your productivity more
sustainable.

Or maybe I'm just rationalizing getting high and having fun ;)

~~~
adrianwaj
A good sleep and a little bit of exercise helps too. I went for a blade
yesterday and it really cleared the head, was exhilarating and I could think a
bit about life.

------
mlLK
I've been an avid smoker longer than a programmer; although, these days I get
high as means for keeping my left-hemisphere in check, which helps new ideas
breathe, but the biggest reason I keep smoking is to forget. Forgetting is
good if tend to worry to much, while psychologists typically have an entire
lexicon for the word anxiety, which is more or less a state invoked from
worry. Getting high helps me forget all those nouns/pronouns for a brief
period and just sort of float around.

These days I can make an 1/8th (~3.4 grams) last a good +2 weeks.

Believe it or not though, my life long dream is to move to India, get in
contact with a spiritual guru, and live in the now for as long as I can.

------
lalagrand
I agree. Up to a point, it seems to have a beneficial effect. Especially in
design, perhaps not so much when it comes to data modeling and logic.

~~~
CaptainMorgan
Ironically, while you're probably correct in programming design, I'm a
national master in chess(which requires reasoning and logic), and I know about
a handful of chess masters(FM/IM/GM's) that actually smoke dope. Allegedly, it
helps to mentally slow the game down and reason each move out into their
potential move branches. In the time allowed, they're able to visualize moves
several iterations on down and concentrate better on mentally traversing them
to figure out their best move.

~~~
lordycon
Sounds like they could be using it to meditate.

Cannabis has been used for thousands of years as an aid to meditation in
various Eastern cultures, e.g The Saddhu tradition in India.

Meditation has not only made me a better coder, but has really helped with my
anxiety and depression.

I found this book most interesting:-

<http://headstuffbooks.com/titles/cannabis_and_meditation>

~~~
Lurkio
Just ordered it....Not my field, but I'm told users in Canada regard this book
as the dog's? Anyone else dabbling with the subject matter?

Also, to those here who beleive that it can't possibly help with creativity,
try it, you will not be disappointed. I find it hard NOT to be creative on it,
it's just that kind of drug. If you have too much or use it badly then
obviously it's not going to help, but as long as you use it responsibly, it's
a great drug for helping you get back on track on those days when thinking
about coding is the last thing you want to do. It gives impetus, creativity,
stamina, and in some cases, very strong objectivity about your output too.

Lurkio

------
simianstyle
Whenever I smoke marijuana I just want to eat and watch movies. So even though
it's impossible to measure, for me it has an absolute negative effect in terms
of coder productivity.

~~~
jgalvez
Maybe that's just the way you grew used to smoking, just sit down and relax.
If you try doing other activities while high you'll probably see some
interesting results.

------
dylanz
Yeah, make this a Poll, and I might 'fess up. Did I say that?

------
kaens
Yes, I do (although I just ended up in a new country, where I haven't figured
out where to get any yet).

I don't smoke a lot of it, and quantifying the benefits that I receive from
smoking marijuana is a bit difficult because they're rather abstract, and (at
least for me), the effects of the plant vary from use to use. They don't vary
widely, but there's a decent range of effects, which has a lot to do with the
strain of the plant, but I digress.

When thinking about high-level design of a project that doesn't have anything
put to code yet, I find that marijuana can help me visualize how things should
fit together.

When doing exploratory programming at a REPL, I tend to try out more new
things, put feelers out in a larger portion of the libraries of whatever
language I'm using. I think this is objectively measurable - I may take a stab
at it in the future, but I'm unable to right now.

When reading new things, or studying up on languages with unfamiliar
paradigms, low doses of marijuana make it easier for me to snap my brain out
of "language x" mode and into "new language y" mode.

When coding things in a language that I'm very familiar with, it makes it
easier to get in "the zone". Not so much with languages that I don't already
know like the back of my hand.

In general, I get a creativity boost from marijuana - and I'm fairly certain
that it's more than a placebo.

Everything is not rosy though; If I smoke too much marijuana, my anti-social
tendencies tend to be more pronounced. I'll have problems speaking casually
with people, and my short-term memory will be shot.

I don't like smoking it with people who stare at the wall when they're high.
It doesn't make me want to do that at all - it makes me want to do something
creative _right now_. Play music, code, paint, something.

But yeah. I use marijuana in moderation. I know how I feel at different dosage
levels, and I know what my limits are. I also know that a lot of people who
use it turn it into more of a lifestyle than a part of a life, which is rarely
a good thing to do with anything.

------
sanj
My brain is the organ that keeps the lights on, writes the codes, designs the
presentations and pays the bills.

I have no interest in messing with it.

I actively avoid caffeine when the going gets tough.

~~~
yan
That's akin to saying "My legs are what gives me locomotion. I don't want to
create stress and tear their muscle tissue by exercising. It will just mess
with them."

Please note that I'm not taking one side or another, but caffeine has been
shown to provide more benefits than harms in moderation.

~~~
callahad
I also gave up caffeine in university. I found myself drinking bottles of
Mountain Dew during lectures and still feeling drowsy. So I gave it up.

After two weeks of fatigue and lethargy, I was fine. I slept better, and was
more alert.

But most of all, I gained the ability to actually abuse caffeine. If I need to
work through the night and still function the next day, all it takes is a
single can of Doctor Pepper or a cup of tea. It's like a super power.

------
rjprins
I use weed rarely nowadays, but have consumed my fair share. The effects
differ a little bit per person, but in general:

Weed makes you think you're sharp and insightful, but it actually makes you
really stupid and slow. You forget things constantly. Using before work is
only interesting if your job is mind-numbingly dull.

Some more facts:

1\. A single joint has about the effect of 4 glasses of alcohol, or 2-3 cups
of coffee. But it's a downer instead of an upper, making you more relaxed.

2\. Marijuana is the Spanish name used by advertisers against the use because
it sounds more foreign and dangerous.

3\. Propaganda in the 50s (as lobbied by alcohol producers) gave weed it's bad
name.

PS: I live in the Netherlands

~~~
tome
Great facts, but do you have references?

~~~
rjprins
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7O4Sa8sGXk> This video refers to "experts",
but I am pretty sure you can find more of the same via Google.

And apparantly the propaganda was in the 20s-30s.

------
jawngee
I do, nearly every day.

I don't drink caffeine (nor alcohol or any other types of drugs/stimulants).

It does a few things for me, chief among them is that it calms my ADHD and
makes it easier to focus on things, specifically the mundane boilerplate shit.

My best designs/architecture have come from work sessions where I've been
burning the midnight oil, to make a poor pun. I can't tell you why, other than
the abstraction is infinitely easier to grok.

It does make me lazy though, but in someways there are benefits to that. For
instance, I work hard to find easier ways to write code.

I wouldn't recommend it for anyone, but I grew up smoking weed. Also, quality
plays a HUGE factor.

Moderation is key.

~~~
spoiledtechie
moderation is key?

But you you smoke nearly every day.....

~~~
gamache
You can consume alcohol nearly every day and still drink in moderation.

------
tartley
It sounds like use in moderation might make it easier to rapidly leap around
the conceptual problem space, perhaps reaching apparently unrelated insights.
This tallies with the stereotype of being good for creativity.

At higher doses, this would be overshadowed by the negative effects (leaping
_too_ far around the problem space, into nonsensical ideas, deleterous effects
on memory and motivation.)

I presume an experienced user could differentiate, judge their own reactions
and moderate accordingly. I don't believe I could.

------
inklesspen
Not I. Cannot stand the stench of it.

------
johnyzee
I smoked extensively for years between the ages of 16-22.

To begin with it increased my creativity a lot (thinking outside the box), I
came up with a lot of (objectively verified) really genius pencil art.

Then, with habitual use, creativity levelled off to where it probably was
before I started smoking, but, importantly, with creativity and general joy
dipping noticeably in dry periods. I believe this is caused by artificially
high dopamine production from the smoking, conversely resulting in lower
general dopamine levels when sober.

Also, I am one of those persons for whom pot impairs social interaction. I
felt increasingly alienated and only felt 'normal' after two-three days of
sobriety. Basically I came to enjoy sobriety more, which was the direct reason
I gave it up.

As far as coding is concerned, pot makes coding sessions fun and enjoyable so
it probably helps you sit down at the keyboard, but I am sure it hurts the
output (of the code, it may help with very high-level design). Pot makes you
interested in investigating little details, but makes it difficult to keep a
consistent overview of things.

------
jawngee
Jeff Atwood apparently doesn't:

<http://twitter.com/codinghorror/status/1305109744>

~~~
endlessvoid94
I agree with him 100%. This is a bit of a disappointment. Hacker News is very
slowly going the way of reddit. Very slowly.

I hope we can eventually keep this in check.

~~~
lordycon
I don't. Hackers have long had a hippy element to their culture and plenty of
people on here clearly find it of benefit. It's a valid topic to discuss.

Who made this Jeff person the thought police anyway? Does he have a rival site
or something...?

~~~
woadwarrior01
I've been suspecting that his recent blog post "The value of downvoting" to be
an insidious attempt at getting more PR for his site, stackoverflow by dissing
HN.

------
nfriedly
I've see marijuana have a very negative effect on my friends work, (whether
they realized it or not) and that was enough to make me not ever try it.

------
schizoBrother
This is the first time I have commented. Please don't do this: you are
increasing your risk of schizophrenia by smoking dope. If you only saw what
that does to people and those around them. My brother suffers from this and it
is terrible for him. You can all do the searches if you want to find evidence
for the increase in risk.

"my brain is my second favourite organ", keep it that way.

~~~
a-priori
Correlation versus causation. Cannabis use and psychotoic disorders like
schizophrenia are definitely _correlated_ , but last I heard there is no
evidence of causation (Hall et al., 2000). If my information is outdated,
please let me know.

Personally, I think it's far more likely that schizophrenics, or pre-
schizophrenics, are drawn to cannabis as a form of self-medication.

~~~
schizoBrother
BMJ 2002;325:1199 ( 23 November )
<http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7374/1199> here is the conclusion
paragraph: Conclusions: Cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of
developing schizophrenia, consistent with a causal relation. This association
is not explained by use of other psychoactive drugs or personality traits
relating to social integration.

------
mannicken
* WARNING: Heavy drug material and offtopic both in one message. Don't complain if your Internet etiquette sensors blow up. *

I've never smoked marijuana but I did take DXM (~1.5-2.0mg/lb) several times.
Certainly, during DXM trip I would have absolutely no concentration or
creativity. However, after it I found that the after-effect effectively
destroys two of the great challenges to thinking:

\- Fear

\- Close-mindness

I might not have been able to go through a chapter of Intro to Algorithms
because I was scared, or concentrate on a bug for five hours because of fear
but after DXM I could. I guess it increased my attention span. I remember I
was learning about RBT tress and noticing how I am not freaking out because I
don't understand stuff at first and how my mind was a blank piece of paper
where anything complex could be written.

There was no frustration that usually comes when I meet a problem in the
thinking process, only curiosity. That helps.

Oh, and it also healed my suicidal depression so I guess not being dead helps
concentration and creativity a lot.

~~~
gamache
Holy mother! Dextromethorphan and pot do not even compare, in terms of
effects. That said, I am glad you found it to be of use. My several
experiences with DXM did not have such positive effects, so I have learned
something here.

It's also worth noting that DXM is a dissociative drug, and like all
dissociatives (ketamine, PCP, etc.) it causes measurable brain damage each and
every time you do it. This effect is compounded if you don't take a break in
between usages. This is in no way a condemnation; just be sure you measure
your risks and benefits accordingly.

~~~
mannicken
There is no way you can take it as often as pot. It's not a daily drug, of
course. For me, I use it about several times a year. A couple of months is
usually enough for clutter and stress to gather down so I can clear it all up
with a disassociative.

Also, on permanent brain damage, see DXM FAQ
([http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dxm/faq/dxm_side_effects.sht...](http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dxm/faq/dxm_side_effects.shtml#toc.6.3)).

So far (about a year of usage) I find that the positive outweighs the
negative.

PS. I'm also learning how to "astral project" (I put this in quotes because I
just think it's a natural disassociative, not a spiritual experience). So far,
I found AP to be much more powerful (albeit much shorter too) than the second
plateau of DXM and I intend to stop drinking disguisting syrup completely as
soon as I gain enough practice with AP.

------
Anonymous71
I've tried, but I simply can't. I sit down with a text editor and get stuck
immediately. I think it's because too much of my knowledge is encoded in
state-dependent learning.

(Another user making a new account to answer this one anonymously. This is not
a post you want to come up when someone googles your name!)

~~~
jrockway
You probably shouldn't care about people that care that you smoke once in a
while. People like to think that there are millions of dollars sitting around
in the hands of conservatives waiting to be handed out to people that don't do
drugs, but that's just not true. These people are a tiny majority. Everyone
has done some sort of drug.

Anyway, I'm happy to admit to my experience with weed. It makes me sleepy. I
haven't really been able to obtain enough to really experiment with it,
however... but I hope to rectify this situation in the future.

Wow, even after saying that, I still have a job. Amazing!

------
Rod
I confess that I find it surprising that some people here on HN freely admit
using Marijuana. Worst-case scenario, couldn't YC be subpoenaed by the feds
and requested to provide each user's email and IP address?

I know this sounds a bit too draconian, but didn't the last administration try
to subpoena Google?

~~~
IsaacSchlueter
In most parts of California, it's effectively legal. While it's still
technically against the federal law, the state law says that anyone with a
prescription can buy it at a store and smoke it in their home.

Getting a prescription is as easy as picking a doctor off a list, paying for
an appointment, and saying, "I get headaches. Pot helps."

It's available, reasonably priced, and you can have it without being hassled
by the authorities. As long as you're not a total idiot about it, it's pretty
much just another alcohol. No one cares if you smoke pot on the weekends, as
long as you do good work.

~~~
axod
We used to have a boss who obviously was into drugs. _extremely_ volatile, and
he'd often email 'the team' at weekends, with long incoherent rants about how
badly we're all doing.

California does seem to have a culture of pot smoking for some reason.

~~~
melvinram
I wouldn't go as far as saying California has a culture of pot smoking... just
as I wouldn't say that New York has a culture of being assholes.

------
hairsupply
I used to, but its been just over a decade now. For me the creative effects
were never realized. It just made me dumb. After my first year at university
my average mark was 2.9. Then I quit pot and got 4.0 for 9 nine quarters in a
row. Your mileage may vary.

------
pavelludiq
The comments here are interesting. Weed seems to have different effects on
different people(not enough data to make definite conclusions though). I've
experimented with it when i was 15-16, then i stopped, and its been 3 years
now and i've had maybe 4-5 joints since then. I don't know what the effects it
has on programming would be, but i could guess that i would be in a more
relaxed/lazy mood, and in that mood im usually very creative, but not
concentrated enough to actually be productive. Im usually relaxed/lazy, so i
probably wont be less productive if i start smoking again.

------
godDLL
I use marijuana. I also use tea. And tomato juice. I'd say it does affect your
coding, to the worse. However, it makes your creative thinking and problem-
solving more enjoyable, which is a good thing, and positively gives you a
boost.

So when I actually sit down to code something I designed prior to this, _I
won't use it_ , it makes me slow and narrows the attention scope, which makes
me paranoid, which makes me go through my code a couple more times, and
definitely more than needed to catch all the trivial bugs.

------
neoneye
This is what drugs do to you: <http://www.trinity.edu/jdunn/spiderdrugs.htm>

~~~
silentbicycle
I think that says more about caffeine than anything, though. It's hard to
generalize about drugs as a whole in a meaningful way. While marijuana
probably has a neutral-to-slightly-negative effect on programming, and alcohol
and opiates certainly do, piracetam/aniracetam/oxiracetam (for example) can
has a pretty positive effect.

Besides, none of us are spiders. (Right?)

------
modoc
I don't drink, smoke, do drugs, and a cup of tea is about the limit of my
caffeine intake.

My brain is very precious to me, and if I do anything that might damage it,
there's no way to fix it, or get a new one, so I try to stay away from
anything that could kill brain cells, rewire things, etc...

But, that's just me. I'm pro legalization, etc... People should be free to get
high if they want.

------
gaoshan
I don't use it. On the few occasions I have it has made me turned me into a
completely unproductive zombie.

Still think it should be legalized but not because I like it or want to use
it... it just makes economic and legal sense.

------
privacychannel
I have used chronic for several years and as a developer I find that it
provides three important benefits, and I believe that for many developers it
could provide the same but with important caveats and considerations.

1\. It helps me get a peaceful full nights sleep, which for me is
approximately 7 hours, with and clearheaded thoughts the next day

2\. As an aid to creativity, but about only 10% or less of the time while
working. My mind is getting stronger and so I can now be directly productive
while high, however I tend instead to take notes and later revisit those notes
while not high for speedier production

3\. As an aid to learning, but perhaps only 10% or less of the time while
studying. Rather I regularly review difficult material lightly while high in
order to experience the benefits of heightened abstract thought

Very important notes:

\-- There is a long process to the mind learning about and how to benefit from
something as intoxicating as chronic. You won't know many things about it and
yourself until you've had a lot of experience

\-- Chronic is a strong sedative, many people fall asleep easily when they are
first getting experience with it

\-- It is very important to only smoke the female plant. The male plant has a
lot of negative effects and can cause you to be groggy similar to over-
drinking, and the positive effects are in my opinion not enough to warrant the
negative effects

\-- It's very important to take notes of creative ideas, since your memory for
specifics is likely to be fuzzy

\-- When approaching new concepts and abstracts

\-- If you care about your productivity and learning, wait until you've gained
lots of experience before trying to accomplish or study when you're high,
otherwise a lot valuable time can be wasted. With a bit of experience it
because possible to learn which creative and learning experiences can be
directly improved from smoking

\-- Use a vaporizer. It is not 100% safe as others have claimed, but it
significantly reduces risks, as well as reduces all forms of odor, red eyes,
etc, and the dosage can be controlled better

My programming capability has become so significantly better from smoking, but
legal and medical dangers shouldn't be taken lightly. People who already know
they are susceptible to self-destructive behavior need to realize that this is
a drug that can sedate you heavily and it's important to learn when you can
and cannot take it due to pressing work.

But as a way to improve your programming skills and learn abstract concepts
(functional programming, linear algebra, and so on) and connecting the dots
between fields of study its a godsend.

Plus, you'll just be happier :-)

------
helium
I created a poll for this for those who are worried about privacy:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=509693>

------
spooneybarger
'use'? somehow it seems so innocuous that 'use' is way to strong a word that
said, not me. marijuana makes me stupid to the point i forget i have muscles.

------
davidw
Nope. A glass or two of 'vino rosso' with dinner, or a 'spritz' with friends
once in a while.

------
penisman
YOU ARE ALL GAY; BURN IN HELL

------
simplegeek
Though I smoke Marlboro Lights but still I hate Marijuana or weed.

