8 ms·

Tech companies grapple with workers smoking weed on the job

16 points by jeffthechimp 4y ago

rayiner 4y ago
I used to be pro-legalization but it was a total bait and switch. Weed has become completely normalized now. I’ll be walking around DC with my kids in the middle of the day and everything will reek of weed. (I thought the smell was sewer gas until my wife pointed it out.)
- camgunz 4y ago
  I live in DC on Capitol Hill and my partner and I take long walks every day. DC is a big place, but what you describe is not our experience, even in Colombia Heights or Georgetown. Maybe once in a while someone's using a vaporizer or smoking on their step, but that's a far cry from everything reeking of weed. For what it's worth, the sewers here do stink. I'm glad we're a ways back from the street.
  - rayiner 4y ago
    I used to live L and 4th street NE and it was really bad by the Safeway. Obviously Capitol Hill and Georgetown are going to be an older crowd with more decorum.
    - browserman 4y ago
      I guess we should go back to throwing those guys in prison, for the decorum.
      - lupire 4y ago
        Please don't troll. That's clearly not what was being suggested.
        browserman 4y ago
        You're right, it turns out what the parent meant to suggest was only that they should be tortured.
      - rayiner 4y ago
        We should have corporal punishment for using drugs in public like in Singapore. Nobody should rot in prison merely for being a public nuisance. But a good thwack and some public humiliation would be a proportionate response.
        browserman 4y ago
        Ah, I understand now, I didn't realize I'd been going back and forth with an out-and-out fascist. Don't think there's much more point to this!
    - camgunz 4y ago
      OK update: we walked by Freedom Plaza and all those skaters were definitely smoking weed. We should make an app. Like Waze for weed. Oooh "Haze"!
  - bitlax 4y ago
    M Street definitely smells like pot, cars are crop-dusting it pretty much everywhere in the city, and even the GWU hospital waiting rooms reek. You're not literally smelling it every minute but it's impossible to live life without you or your children smelling it.
- lupire 4y ago
  Pro- decriminalization was the reasonable compromise. If it's illegal but not criminal, then it's OK to do it away from anyone who doesn't want it around the., like Colorado safety stops.
bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago
Yet lots of tech companies have unlimited beer on tap. It is time to end this ridiculous double standard.
- williamtrask 4y ago
  There are often general norms and policies about when it’s appropriate to use that tap though. This article is exploring what those should be for another substance with different properties.
  - blamazon 4y ago
    I worked at an office where the beer tap was locked most of the time and could only be unlocked by the residential "Workplace Experience PM" for officially sanctioned events. A similar locking cabinet could be used for fast-acting cannabis gummies.
    - robbedpeter 4y ago
      Or maybe just let people find whatever mental state they prefer, and if their work output is sufficient to justify their salary, fuck right off with telling other adults that they must remain sober at all times. Set rational expectations. The on call people need to remain sober, as well as anyone operating or maintaining critical infrastructure or machinery. If you're dealing with the public, you should probably be mostly sober. If you're doing data entry requiring precision, you probably shouldn't be doing 5 grams of mushrooms, but a few beers or a little weed might get you in the zone and make the work enjoyable. If someone produces excellent output while a little drunk or high, or maybe they like to trip for inspiration, or they take a second Adderall to plow through a project, that should be a decision up to the worker and their doctor. Set behavioral expectations for respectful workplaces, but let's not pretend that a sober, unaltered state of mind is the one and only appropriate condition for all work situations. Fetishizing sobriety and stigmatizing altered states are anti-human ideas. I've worked at high level isp positions and many of the top engineers - CCIE level - were working while high as fuck. They did excellent work, but could get a case of the giggles at silly things. Management knew and would ignore it unless someone behaved inappropriately. Altering your state of mind is not a sin - behaving badly is not an inevitable consequence of drug use. Drug use is not always behaving badly.
h2odragon 4y ago
heavy smoker. I have a negative ion generator air filter near my desk and really helps keep the smell and sediments within the room. Now that people are paying attention to ventilation, there's an upside: If you can smell my smoke its less likely any of my other emanations or exhalations will trouble you.
MissionInfl 4y ago
I am part of the 26% that has done this, although in the past few weeks I have finally found some momentum in changing this habit. For me, it felt as though the content of my work is what drove me to do this. Building CRUD applications, refactoring legacy code, writing exhaustive tests, etc were all things that I would get stoned for, saving things like writing design docs and meetings for the non-stoned days. Combine this with a decade of using cannabis to make mundane tasks more interesting in my personal life (playing a video game I have already logged 1K+ hours in, watching a TV show I have seen 10x times, washing dishes, etc) and it's easy to see how I got to this point. The reality of adult life and software engineering as a career is that a lot of it is just boring. Now, whether or not smoking pot actually fixed that boredom is a different question...
jleyank 4y ago
It’s legal in Canada under similar age restrictions as alcohol. I would think companies can deal with (over)usage of either in terms or job performance or lack thereof. Hard to meet deadlines drunk off your ass or sitting there with in a gadda da vida on repeat. Smoke outside and don’t offend those working in your vicinity and things should be fine.
webmobdev 4y ago
- threads2 4y ago
stuntkite 4y ago
You don't have to be stoned to work here.... but it helps.
lupire 4y ago
This article is based on a nonscientific data collection from Blind gossip. There is no epidemic of working while high.
- jeffthechimp 4y ago
  There are other studies, though, as the article says. A December 2021 study from the University of Michigan surveyed 803 software developers about their use of cannabis and found that 35% had tried programming while using cannabis, and 18% currently do so at least once a month.

16 points by jeffthechimp 4y ago

I used to be pro-legalization but it was a total bait and switch. Weed has become completely normalized now. I’ll be walking around DC with my kids in the middle of the day and everything will reek of weed. (I thought the smell was sewer gas until my wife pointed it out.)

camgunz 4y ago
I live in DC on Capitol Hill and my partner and I take long walks every day. DC is a big place, but what you describe is not our experience, even in Colombia Heights or Georgetown. Maybe once in a while someone's using a vaporizer or smoking on their step, but that's a far cry from everything reeking of weed. For what it's worth, the sewers here do stink. I'm glad we're a ways back from the street.
- rayiner 4y ago
  I used to live L and 4th street NE and it was really bad by the Safeway. Obviously Capitol Hill and Georgetown are going to be an older crowd with more decorum.
  - browserman 4y ago
    I guess we should go back to throwing those guys in prison, for the decorum.
    - lupire 4y ago
      Please don't troll. That's clearly not what was being suggested.
      - browserman 4y ago
        You're right, it turns out what the parent meant to suggest was only that they should be tortured.
    - rayiner 4y ago
      We should have corporal punishment for using drugs in public like in Singapore. Nobody should rot in prison merely for being a public nuisance. But a good thwack and some public humiliation would be a proportionate response.
      - browserman 4y ago
        Ah, I understand now, I didn't realize I'd been going back and forth with an out-and-out fascist. Don't think there's much more point to this!
  - camgunz 4y ago
    OK update: we walked by Freedom Plaza and all those skaters were definitely smoking weed. We should make an app. Like Waze for weed. Oooh "Haze"!
- bitlax 4y ago
  M Street definitely smells like pot, cars are crop-dusting it pretty much everywhere in the city, and even the GWU hospital waiting rooms reek. You're not literally smelling it every minute but it's impossible to live life without you or your children smelling it.
lupire 4y ago
Pro- decriminalization was the reasonable compromise. If it's illegal but not criminal, then it's OK to do it away from anyone who doesn't want it around the., like Colorado safety stops.

bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago

Yet lots of tech companies have unlimited beer on tap. It is time to end this ridiculous double standard.

williamtrask 4y ago
There are often general norms and policies about when it’s appropriate to use that tap though. This article is exploring what those should be for another substance with different properties.
- blamazon 4y ago
  I worked at an office where the beer tap was locked most of the time and could only be unlocked by the residential "Workplace Experience PM" for officially sanctioned events. A similar locking cabinet could be used for fast-acting cannabis gummies.
  - robbedpeter 4y ago
    Or maybe just let people find whatever mental state they prefer, and if their work output is sufficient to justify their salary, fuck right off with telling other adults that they must remain sober at all times. Set rational expectations. The on call people need to remain sober, as well as anyone operating or maintaining critical infrastructure or machinery. If you're dealing with the public, you should probably be mostly sober. If you're doing data entry requiring precision, you probably shouldn't be doing 5 grams of mushrooms, but a few beers or a little weed might get you in the zone and make the work enjoyable. If someone produces excellent output while a little drunk or high, or maybe they like to trip for inspiration, or they take a second Adderall to plow through a project, that should be a decision up to the worker and their doctor. Set behavioral expectations for respectful workplaces, but let's not pretend that a sober, unaltered state of mind is the one and only appropriate condition for all work situations. Fetishizing sobriety and stigmatizing altered states are anti-human ideas. I've worked at high level isp positions and many of the top engineers - CCIE level - were working while high as fuck. They did excellent work, but could get a case of the giggles at silly things. Management knew and would ignore it unless someone behaved inappropriately. Altering your state of mind is not a sin - behaving badly is not an inevitable consequence of drug use. Drug use is not always behaving badly.

h2odragon 4y ago

heavy smoker. I have a negative ion generator air filter near my desk and really helps keep the smell and sediments within the room. Now that people are paying attention to ventilation, there's an upside: If you can smell my smoke its less likely any of my other emanations or exhalations will trouble you.

MissionInfl 4y ago

I am part of the 26% that has done this, although in the past few weeks I have finally found some momentum in changing this habit. For me, it felt as though the content of my work is what drove me to do this. Building CRUD applications, refactoring legacy code, writing exhaustive tests, etc were all things that I would get stoned for, saving things like writing design docs and meetings for the non-stoned days. Combine this with a decade of using cannabis to make mundane tasks more interesting in my personal life (playing a video game I have already logged 1K+ hours in, watching a TV show I have seen 10x times, washing dishes, etc) and it's easy to see how I got to this point. The reality of adult life and software engineering as a career is that a lot of it is just boring. Now, whether or not smoking pot actually fixed that boredom is a different question...

jleyank 4y ago

It’s legal in Canada under similar age restrictions as alcohol. I would think companies can deal with (over)usage of either in terms or job performance or lack thereof. Hard to meet deadlines drunk off your ass or sitting there with in a gadda da vida on repeat. Smoke outside and don’t offend those working in your vicinity and things should be fine.

webmobdev 4y ago

threads2 4y ago

stuntkite 4y ago

You don't have to be stoned to work here.... but it helps.

lupire 4y ago

This article is based on a nonscientific data collection from Blind gossip. There is no epidemic of working while high.

jeffthechimp 4y ago
There are other studies, though, as the article says. A December 2021 study from the University of Michigan surveyed 803 software developers about their use of cannabis and found that 35% had tried programming while using cannabis, and 18% currently do so at least once a month.