6 ms·

And I have anecdotal evidence of people smoking marijuana everyday for 10-20 years and remaining extremely productive. Oftentimes drug use is a symptom of a gr

by Donzo 10y ago

And I have anecdotal evidence of people smoking marijuana everyday for 10-20 years and remaining extremely productive. Oftentimes drug use is a symptom of a greater psychological problem/issue. Perhaps the underlying issues are causing the negative behaviors and the drugs are only enabling it.

pbhjpbhj 10y ago
>anecdotal evidence of people smoking marijuana everyday for 10-20 years and remaining extremely productive. // What roles, in what areas, have they risen to in this time?
- Donzo 10y ago
  Designers, architects, engineers, carpenters, administrators, teachers, writers, and so forth. I've seen daily marijuana users rise to the top of major industries. Of course, I've seen other daily marijuana users remain stationed at the front counters of gas stations, but that's my point. I don't think that daily marijuana use is the factor that accounts for the relative successes or failures of these individuals. There are many more variables. If Joe Gas Station stopped smoking pot, he wouldn't suddenly develop killer business instinct, or the motivation to build a company in his off time.
  - kristianc 10y ago
    And as other people have pointed out, neither should we present building a company as the pinnacle of human achievement simply because it's how a large number of people on HN want to spend their time.
  - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
    >I don't think that daily marijuana use is the factor that accounts for the relative successes or failures of these individuals. There are many more variables. // Do you think it's a significant factor for some? I'm interested in where you live, well what society - you've listed 7+ professions, each as a multiple, of people you personally know who you consider successful, who you also know to be daily pot smokers. I don't even know the daily routines of 7 people outside my family ... let's say 50% of people (you know) are using pot and they're split evenly between smokers, vapers, eaters, others ... that means you know the daily routine of over 100 people. That's, erm, impressive. [Ah, just realised, do you deal, that would explain it! Sorry, is still early for me.] I know a handful of people who smoke pot, but that's likely my demographic - but I couldn't tell you if they smoke once a day or once a week, or less. Any chance you're exaggerating your personal knowledge? In the UK site workers, like carpenters, will often be tested for drug use. Your engineer, teacher friends - do they use on the job, like when taking responsibility for multiples of other people? Are you content with that. Appreciate your responses as potentially they'd suggest a vast change in my ideas of the prevalence of daily pot use (depending on your geography, social context).
    - Donzo 10y ago
      As a long time participant in the aforementioned counter culture, I find that marijuana use is prevalent in society. Any other conclusion is steered by naivety. The teachers, principals, and business professionals whom I've known to partake in this ritual, generally do not do so at work. Just as many workers drink alcohol during their off time, most do not come to work drunk. I don't know many people's daily routines. I really only know my wife's. But, knowing that someone is a daily marijuana user is different from knowing their daily routine. I can say this: I was very surprised to discover that some people, who otherwise cultivate an image of wholesomeness, are longtime marijuana users. Not everybody who uses marijuana wears tie-dyed t-shirts. Likewise, some people who wear tie-dyed t-shirts have never used marijuana. Of course, things might be different where you live, but I doubt it.
- contemporary2u 10y ago
  Top banker at major Investment bank on Wall street. From what i understand smoking marijuana there is like having a soda..in certain branches/areas anyway.
  - arthurcolle 10y ago
    This is hard to believe, major banks drug test.
    - lettergram 10y ago
      Coming from one such bank, and a background of drug tests... No, major banks don't all drug test. And in general you are given some warning about drug tests (at least at the several companies I was at). All you have to do is get off drugs for a week or so, and youre fine.
      - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
        Which is probably the right approach, then you 'capture' addicts, which is surely the concern?
- deleted 10y ago
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- deleted 10y ago
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- theAnonMe 10y ago
  I've smoked for 15+ years, I earn in the top 5% of the UK writing software for big players if that is a metric you respect. Only as a software developer although I've had the opportunity to be "promoted" I chose to write code...for more money. However I recognize that the amount I am smoking of current is affecting my cognitive load (I think). If I was drinking alcohol in the same amount I smoke cannabis I'd be an alcoholic like my father. Hmmm, wonder if there is a genetics issue...
  - MichaelGG 10y ago
    There are top earners on opiates, too.
  - ams6110 10y ago
    > wonder if there is a genetics issue I believe it is fairly well established that addictive behavior runs in families.
  - imaginology 10y ago
    I've got high almost daily for the past 15 years. I'm also a programmer and I am proud of what I have accomplished. A year ago I quit smoking and started preparing and eating edibles instead. This was for health reasons but another benefit is that I am now able to dose myself much more precisely. There is a level which improves my productivity and focus, where I really feel in the zone. Sometimes when I am trying to solve a difficult problem, getting high helps me to break through.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - caub 10y ago
    jeanne calment has lived 118-ish years, some people said she sometimes smoked, which is likely at that period of history. But how is it a proof of any kind regarding life expectancy, wouldn't she have lived 125/130 years without.. same goes for you smoking definitely affects brain, all the body, it has no positive effect
  - Theodores 10y ago
- discardorama 10y ago
  Country singer Willie Nelson?
67726e 10y ago
I know both. I have family members who smoke routinely for basically their lives. You would never know, they don't let it interrupt their life. To them it is more like coming home and having a glass of wine and relaxing on the couch with a good book. I also know and lived with roommates for whom marijuana was a real problem. The kind of person who would smoke every day, even coming home on their lunch break and taking some bong hits. I've seen them get fired from work. I've seem them completely disregard the things that need need done. I've seem how irritable they can be when they're not blazed. They may not be chemically addicted, but they surely feel as though they need to smoke for whatever reason. None of this is to argue for or against, but the "harmless marijuana" trope is a little much. Any substance will be abused by some and will cause harm to some.
- Retric 10y ago
  We seem to be ok with people dropping out and becoming monks, but somehow living a relaxed lifestyle is somehow a major problem. Is it ok for people not to be a cog in the machine that makes your lifestyle possible or not? Sure, I might be happier if my past self saved even more money, lived a vegan lifestyle, or learned to play an instrument. But, I don't think it's a problem that I have failed to optimize for making this second of my life be the best it could be.
  - saulrh 10y ago
    > We seem to be ok with people dropping out and becoming monks, but somehow living a relaxed lifestyle is somehow a major problem. Thank you for this reframing! I believe that it is useful and will likely use it in the future.
    - mercer 10y ago
      I totally agree with the statement itself, but my experience around many stoners is similar to IsaacL's: they're generally not happy or relaxed at all, and smoke weed because they're stuck somehow (or vice versa, perhaps). More often than not, the 'relaxed lifestyle smokers', myself included, did so primarily to numb the stress in their head, whether caused by work stress, personal issues, social anxiety, etc. Basically, it's often more to cope than to relax, at least in my experience and that of my surroundings. But exceptions always exist, of course. I just think it's good to be cautious with anything that seems to offer a quick solution to a difficult problem (being at peace / relaxed).
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

by Donzo 10y ago

pbhjpbhj 10y ago

>anecdotal evidence of people smoking marijuana everyday for 10-20 years and remaining extremely productive. // What roles, in what areas, have they risen to in this time?

Donzo 10y ago
Designers, architects, engineers, carpenters, administrators, teachers, writers, and so forth. I've seen daily marijuana users rise to the top of major industries. Of course, I've seen other daily marijuana users remain stationed at the front counters of gas stations, but that's my point. I don't think that daily marijuana use is the factor that accounts for the relative successes or failures of these individuals. There are many more variables. If Joe Gas Station stopped smoking pot, he wouldn't suddenly develop killer business instinct, or the motivation to build a company in his off time.
- kristianc 10y ago
  And as other people have pointed out, neither should we present building a company as the pinnacle of human achievement simply because it's how a large number of people on HN want to spend their time.
- pbhjpbhj 10y ago
  >I don't think that daily marijuana use is the factor that accounts for the relative successes or failures of these individuals. There are many more variables. // Do you think it's a significant factor for some? I'm interested in where you live, well what society - you've listed 7+ professions, each as a multiple, of people you personally know who you consider successful, who you also know to be daily pot smokers. I don't even know the daily routines of 7 people outside my family ... let's say 50% of people (you know) are using pot and they're split evenly between smokers, vapers, eaters, others ... that means you know the daily routine of over 100 people. That's, erm, impressive. [Ah, just realised, do you deal, that would explain it! Sorry, is still early for me.] I know a handful of people who smoke pot, but that's likely my demographic - but I couldn't tell you if they smoke once a day or once a week, or less. Any chance you're exaggerating your personal knowledge? In the UK site workers, like carpenters, will often be tested for drug use. Your engineer, teacher friends - do they use on the job, like when taking responsibility for multiples of other people? Are you content with that. Appreciate your responses as potentially they'd suggest a vast change in my ideas of the prevalence of daily pot use (depending on your geography, social context).
  - Donzo 10y ago
    As a long time participant in the aforementioned counter culture, I find that marijuana use is prevalent in society. Any other conclusion is steered by naivety. The teachers, principals, and business professionals whom I've known to partake in this ritual, generally do not do so at work. Just as many workers drink alcohol during their off time, most do not come to work drunk. I don't know many people's daily routines. I really only know my wife's. But, knowing that someone is a daily marijuana user is different from knowing their daily routine. I can say this: I was very surprised to discover that some people, who otherwise cultivate an image of wholesomeness, are longtime marijuana users. Not everybody who uses marijuana wears tie-dyed t-shirts. Likewise, some people who wear tie-dyed t-shirts have never used marijuana. Of course, things might be different where you live, but I doubt it.
contemporary2u 10y ago
Top banker at major Investment bank on Wall street. From what i understand smoking marijuana there is like having a soda..in certain branches/areas anyway.
- arthurcolle 10y ago
  This is hard to believe, major banks drug test.
  - lettergram 10y ago
    Coming from one such bank, and a background of drug tests... No, major banks don't all drug test. And in general you are given some warning about drug tests (at least at the several companies I was at). All you have to do is get off drugs for a week or so, and youre fine.
    - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
      Which is probably the right approach, then you 'capture' addicts, which is surely the concern?
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
theAnonMe 10y ago
I've smoked for 15+ years, I earn in the top 5% of the UK writing software for big players if that is a metric you respect. Only as a software developer although I've had the opportunity to be "promoted" I chose to write code...for more money. However I recognize that the amount I am smoking of current is affecting my cognitive load (I think). If I was drinking alcohol in the same amount I smoke cannabis I'd be an alcoholic like my father. Hmmm, wonder if there is a genetics issue...
- MichaelGG 10y ago
  There are top earners on opiates, too.
- ams6110 10y ago
  > wonder if there is a genetics issue I believe it is fairly well established that addictive behavior runs in families.
- imaginology 10y ago
  I've got high almost daily for the past 15 years. I'm also a programmer and I am proud of what I have accomplished. A year ago I quit smoking and started preparing and eating edibles instead. This was for health reasons but another benefit is that I am now able to dose myself much more precisely. There is a level which improves my productivity and focus, where I really feel in the zone. Sometimes when I am trying to solve a difficult problem, getting high helps me to break through.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- caub 10y ago
  jeanne calment has lived 118-ish years, some people said she sometimes smoked, which is likely at that period of history. But how is it a proof of any kind regarding life expectancy, wouldn't she have lived 125/130 years without.. same goes for you smoking definitely affects brain, all the body, it has no positive effect
- Theodores 10y ago
discardorama 10y ago
Country singer Willie Nelson?

67726e 10y ago

I know both. I have family members who smoke routinely for basically their lives. You would never know, they don't let it interrupt their life. To them it is more like coming home and having a glass of wine and relaxing on the couch with a good book. I also know and lived with roommates for whom marijuana was a real problem. The kind of person who would smoke every day, even coming home on their lunch break and taking some bong hits. I've seen them get fired from work. I've seem them completely disregard the things that need need done. I've seem how irritable they can be when they're not blazed. They may not be chemically addicted, but they surely feel as though they need to smoke for whatever reason. None of this is to argue for or against, but the "harmless marijuana" trope is a little much. Any substance will be abused by some and will cause harm to some.

Retric 10y ago
We seem to be ok with people dropping out and becoming monks, but somehow living a relaxed lifestyle is somehow a major problem. Is it ok for people not to be a cog in the machine that makes your lifestyle possible or not? Sure, I might be happier if my past self saved even more money, lived a vegan lifestyle, or learned to play an instrument. But, I don't think it's a problem that I have failed to optimize for making this second of my life be the best it could be.
- saulrh 10y ago
  > We seem to be ok with people dropping out and becoming monks, but somehow living a relaxed lifestyle is somehow a major problem. Thank you for this reframing! I believe that it is useful and will likely use it in the future.
  - mercer 10y ago
    I totally agree with the statement itself, but my experience around many stoners is similar to IsaacL's: they're generally not happy or relaxed at all, and smoke weed because they're stuck somehow (or vice versa, perhaps). More often than not, the 'relaxed lifestyle smokers', myself included, did so primarily to numb the stress in their head, whether caused by work stress, personal issues, social anxiety, etc. Basically, it's often more to cope than to relax, at least in my experience and that of my surroundings. But exceptions always exist, of course. I just think it's good to be cautious with anything that seems to offer a quick solution to a difficult problem (being at peace / relaxed).

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]