Elizer, I'm going to respond to you not because I disagree with what you said, but because you stated concisely the view that's opposite the one I hold, and I f

Elizer, I'm going to respond to you not because I disagree with what you said, but because you stated concisely the view that's opposite the one I hold, and I figure it might be neat to provide the foil view. I don't hold my mind's current state sacrosanct. That is to say, I respect my mind incredibly, but I don't have any belief that says my mind was built the way it was for a reason, or that there's something wrong with experimenting with it. That doesn't mean I abuse it incredibly, but I'm fine with drugs and find the infrequent experiences I have with them to be worth the negligible cost they have on my mind. I won't say "drugs are good" because I think it's stupid to assign a moral value to drugs either way. Hence, the idea that the brain should be preserved and altering chemicals avoided isn't one that I find offensive in the least. But it's worth pointing out the beneficial effects they can have on you. For one thing, realizing the limits of your perception can be fascinating. Weed doesn't have that effect on me so much, but alcohol and salvia both certainly made me realize things I wouldn't have realized otherwise. Alcohol's emotional effects certainly taught me that our moods are tenuous and that we shouldn't equate our emotional states to any sort of logical truth about the world. Regarding weed and dulled intelligence - yes, I feel like that sometimes. I feel like that without using weed. Right now I'm in an emotive state where I feel like I'm going to grow fat and die without ever moving. Weed has nothing to do with those downer feelings. Since I first took weed, though, last February, I wrote a novel, designed a handful of web sites that I'm proud of, finished a few projects, etc., and I did it in between infrequent weed hits. It's worth pointing out that many great artists were users - Miles Davis and heroin most famously - and that using drugs doesn't instantly make you less creative. It might make you creative in a different way, but creativity is not something which can be gained and lost. It is a potential that we all have regardless of intelligence. Think of it more as a muscle than as a trait. We're affected by chemicals no matter how we live. You live your life according to a mixture of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and nutrients. In my mind, worrying too much about weed is like worrying about eating fats - it's certainly possible that if you take too much, there'll be adverse effects, but assuming that a single contact with a substance will change you forever is silly. Regarding the initial question, though, hacking on weed probably won't work too well. Weed affects the sort of focus you'd need. (For certain other activities, however, like playing music, weed can help. It's not a black-and-white all-or-nothing deal.) My advice would be to try it, since you can't really be hurt trying, but if you decide not to then all power to you.