I am a web developer, male, early 30s. I consume marijuana/weed every day in some form, typically vapepen but sometimes flower or beverage before yoga. I was microdosing LSD for about a year with great results, but enjoy it more not microdosing but social interaction becomes more frustrating, other trade offs. I've used DMT and derivatives, but they weren't as beneficial as LSD. Lots of experimentation but these are the ones that stuck around.
Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
421–430 of 642 posts
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#422Adderall and Cocaine. I remember a CEO of one of my early startups would give me 5mg addies to help me get more done. I appreciated it because it was great to get the added boost to focus. I eventually worked my way up to taking 30mg of XR daily (legally, doctor prescribed) and it was the most productive I have ever been in my life. I worked 24x7. I was working a normal consulting job while also working on a startup/…
Seeing a manager go this path, and seeing his productivity plummet, I'm pretty sure the productivity boost is merely perceived. There was a story on HN with people trying to microdose on LSD, and the alleged benefits - long story short, when they asked peers about their performance, they noticed they're more distracted and not more productive, while those doing the microdosing thought they're on a super productive tr…
> There was a story on HN with people trying to microdose on LSD, and the alleged benefits - long story short, when they asked peers about their performance, they noticed they're more distracted and not more productive, while those doing the microdosing thought they're on a super productive trip.
This aligns with my experience. Microdosing is good when you have physical tasks to do (i.e. running around town all day, reorganizing / cleaning your house), but focusing on creative tasks is harder.
Tbh, the only thing I'd recommend it for is for people struggling with chronic depression or anxiety - for these two, it can be a life-changingly effective "aspirin" (i.e. not a cure, you still need to fix the underlying causes) without the significant side-effects of traditional medication, and any lack of focus is massively offset by relieving the brain fog of depression/anxiety.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#423I will say first that my current position in life comes with exceptionally uncommon circumstances and so I'm not a good measuring stick to use against others. I've been a programmer for decades but I am also a combat veteran, during which time I saw and did many things that even the movies don't show. I was an alcoholic for many years, mostly in response to those things.
But besides that, I am am a lifelong recreational drug user. I have a special relationship with addiction in that I stop myself from getting in too deep. Before I continue, I'll address the overbearing people who think all people should live the way they do and say that yes, I'm completely and utterly aware of my own vulnerability and the knowledge that I'm not invincible or exceptional is actually what keeps me so acutely aware of my own drug use. I keep myself as informed as possible about the substances I use through the use of dose journals, where I track every substance I put into my body (including e.g. caffeine and regular food), along with as much ancillary information as possible, such as my sleep patterns and mood. I spend money to test the substances I buy to ensure they're not adulterated. As for the addiction, I've been bitten a couple of times over my entire life of drug use, early on as a young adult, but for example if I recognize that I'm flirting with addiction, I will just cold turkey whatever substance I'm using and allow my body and brain to "heal". I think it's a willpower issue which allows me to maintain control over the substances, because I've never in my life chased after a high such that I got to a point where it would be dangerous. Even with pharmaceutical opiates, I would completely stop taking them far, far before I ever let myself get to a point where I might be in danger. Willpower and also being informed. I am the only person I've ever met that cares so much about testing my drugs, keeping logs of my drug use, and never taking drugs in dangerous amounts in combination or chasing a high.
So, for the sake of productivity and mental efficiency, I take stimulants pretty regularly these days, but rarely on a daily basis. Adderall and methylphenidate (Ritalin). I swap these prescriptions with my doctor pretty regularly to avoid addiction. I occasionally smoke marijuana. I occasionally take kratom. I do drink caffeine almost on a daily basis, but I can get too busy to remember to make a cup of coffee or grab a Monster from the fridge.
In the past, for recreation, I have used pharmaceutical opiate painkillers, MDMA, mushrooms, LSD, cocaine, and raw opium. I am extremely careful not to chase the high! I am completely at peace with the fact that I cannot feel good at all times, and feeling down or "just okay" is as much a part of life as sleeping. As far as others in the companies where I've worked, I am aware that a small minority of my coworkers used some drugs recreationally, and I am aware that a minority of my coworkers used pharmaceutical stimulants, although the vast majority do use stimulants on a daily basis through caffeine. I think the "drug-using" proportion of my coworkers is a minority, and mostly clustered around the use of pharmaceutical stimulants and marijuana, if we're not counting coffee and tea.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#424The usage patterns I've observed in other techies matches suspiciously closely to my own -- which really tends to support the selection bias that many other people have mentioned: drug users tend to be very much birds-of-a-feather, they cluster among their own kind and tend not to notice the other types unless they're being really unsubtle about it. So with that grain of salt in mind, here's what I've got. The contex…
it seems these are common attitudes:
> [heroin's] effects are fundamentally incompatible with the "head space" geeks need to be in 24x7 to be even remotely capable of doing the work they do.
> It's difficult for me to imagine downers or opiates being at all compatible with technical work
> Meth, crack and heroin are hugely frowned upon, it's a failure to be a user of these
it depends. as a heroin addict, I need the heroin (well, methadone now, as well) to be physically and mentally well enough to work. without them, i'd be a wreck. now, if i took a large shot of heroin, i'd nod out and couldn't work, but i have had a morning injection every day for years to get going. of course, i do feel like heroin has made me slightly less intelligent, i guess the equivalent of ~10+ iq points lost, maybe. but i can certainly produce good quality technical work, and have been recognised for this by peers, so it's possible, just not advisable ;) and of course, i'm selling myself short, since i'm probably capable of much more or better, at least i hope i will be once i am properly clean - maybe this year will be the one?
interestingly, i've not met any other heroin using it professionals in real life, but probably for the obvious reason they don't want to make it known. i could probably tell if i checked, e.g. pinned, tiny pupils, that sort of thing, but i'm just not looking for it in the work environment. a consequence of trying to blend in is that it imposes a high cognitive load that takes away from other thinking i might be doing - i generally have to lie about non-work activities or be vague and non-committal, and so on.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#425I've took everything under the sun... Now I don't touch anything but cannabis due to experiencing mental health issues myself and seeing a lot of my peers, who also took drugs, have similar issues. I've had more than a few peers who were upstanding, intelligent and well presented members of society, end up in a mental hospital for the rest of their lives or in a grave.
You can't place every drug in the same category, no, but excessive use of anything leads to negative consequences, especially for males under 25 who haven't fully matured.
I'd say in the UK, in those professions, most people are middle class and have not seen the damage that various drugs and alcohol can do. Most people in these professions can afford the habit and it does not affect their lives.
From growing up in a poor area I have seen the damage that drugs can do, but even then it was never something that never really entered my mind when deciding what drugs to take or how excessively I was going to take them until I had a scare myself and lost close friends.
I still have a weed habit though, consumption has increased along with my wage, but I haven't touched anything else for years and have no intention of doing so. Before I used to really want to take hard drugs, now I really don't.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#426I think it's interesting how some drugs (including very dangerous drugs) are normalised. Alcohol, caffeine, and (with a prescription, and in some cultures, even without) amphetamines[1] are just seen as "fine". People use them dangerously, openly talk about using them, joke about using them, participate and encourage a culture of abusing them, and nobody blinks. An acquaintance of mine ended up in the hospital after…
All stimulants are habit forming, including Modafinil, especially when used long term. Modafinil just happens to have much weaker withdrawals than other popular stims.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#427Drug abuse is not a big issue in SV in general. There are a few general themes: 1) Some startups have a heavy-drinking bro-y environment. 2) Weed is common outside of work (in all of SF) 3) As part of the burning man culture a lot of people will occasionally let loose all weekend with molly, LSD, shrooms, and anything else you’d expect at BM 4) Some people will use adderall/modanfil to stay productive during work. 5)…
This is a good summary. It's the same culture in Austin.
I've found that most people don't talk about illegal drugs here, including weed and stims, unless you bring it up first. Once it comes up you may be surprised how widespread those items are.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#428Drug use is not a problem in my circle of friends - I have friends who have done LSD, molly, coke, and countless others. They're all productive and mostly well-adjusted. This is mostly a Burning Man, techie set, there are also a fair number of qualified mental health professionals. Honestly, I don't think a book on white-collar drug use is a good idea - it's too broad a topic. I would either focus it on unproblematic…
It started out as a focus on drug abuse, but more than abuse or use, I'm trying to answer a question of why? If, for example, you don't abuse but just use psychoactive drugs in some way, regularly, why? Especially if you like your job or things seem pretty good in your life. I am not judging and don't know the answer. Maybe the query is too broad though, I guess I'm going into this open eyed and open minded and I'll…
> If, for example, you don't abuse but just use psychoactive drugs in some way, regularly, why? Especially if you like your job or things seem pretty good in your life.
Given your history I can certainly understand why you frame the issue this way, but I'll point out that this reads to me very much like "Why would you ever ride a rollercoaster, or go on vacation, or watch a movie, if you already like your job? Isn't life good enough?"
Because it's fun, or a change of pace, or just as a break. It really can be just that simple; it doesn't have to be a bulwark against depression or the result of peer pressure or isolation or failure to keep up or Our Modern Dysfunctional Lifestyle or etc.
I'm sorry, but based on this and many of your other followup questions and comments throughout this page it'd be easy to think that you've already decided on your conclusions and are hunting for evidence to support them.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#429I am a successful engineer with a wonderful loving family. I'm also addicted to hydrocodone. It's been about 7 years. It started I'm sure like many others, a bad back, a wisdom tooth, and a little slip of paper good for 3 refills. One day I asked myself what these wonder pills would do for me when I wasn't in pain. It was instant bliss, like nothing I'd ever imagined life could be.
I confined my indulgence at first to weekends, then a few times a week, then....
I'm at 50mg a day now, down from 100 so there's that. The real junkies will be laughing at me, and perhaps rightfully so, but I'm not laughing. I've experienced withdrawal a few times, and never longer than 3 days. Just as words cannot describe the sensation this drug gives me, it is equally impossible to explain the nightmare that occurs when my lazy mu-opioid receptors don't get what they are accustomed to. I keep myself on the edge of withdrawal all the time, only taking when I'm about to get the shakes, to ward off the demons for just a few hours more. I have a fighting chance to kick this thing, unlike many and I realize how lucky I am, but also I know I may not live long enough to reach my goal.
I'm very good at spotting the fakes, but the fakes are getting better every year. The sad consequence of the tightening of supply in the past several years--closing the pill mills, rescheduling, limits on number of prescriptions a doctor can write--is a sharp increase in the black market price, a surge of demand from addicts whose doctors have written them off, and a massive incentive for counterfeits, many containing fentanyl. Prohibition doesn't work, people are dying. But who cares, right? We're just a bunch of junkies.
I keep a note in my wallet explaining to my family that I love them and that I am sorry.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#430I work for a well known software company now and of the 20 or so developers I work with closely I can confidently say that 50% of them don't even drink alcohol (mostly cultural) and the other 45% stick to craft beers and 5% might smoke some pot here and there but nobody really lets on. I don't have any data but in my experience the most drug use and abuse has been in the sales org. My hunch it is a mix of personality…
I assume you've see this sort of thing among those in sales are your company, yes? Is it coke or all kinds of things? And any idea why? Is sales particularly stressful or somehow more intense than the tech side of things?
As someone who's also seen this pattern: I'd say the type of personality that is good at sales just correlates strongly with the type of personality that enjoys cocaine. Stress level or intensity can be high or low (within limits) in either occupation.