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Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?

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Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?

#81

Post by pietro »

IsaacSchlueter wrote: post #14
Rod wrote: post #11

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?

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…

I had no idea. What kind of stores do you buy it in?

Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?

#82

Post by a-priori »

schizoBrother wrote: post #72

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.

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 If my information is outdated, please let me know.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.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?

#83

Post by gamache »

mannicken wrote: post #62

* 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…

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.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?

#84

Post by aaronblohowiak »

cosmo7 wrote: post #51

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 busi…

Ew, cocaine.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?

#85

Post by mrtron »

tptacek wrote: post #74
mrtron wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

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.

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

Thanks for the clarification!

Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?

#86

Post by sofal »

lordycon wrote: post #73
endlessvoid94 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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...?

Now we're accusing Jeff to be the thought police. That's definitely not Redditish.

Plenty of people on this site get all bent out of shape about copyright violation or ad-blockers, but obviously not illegal drug use, crude swearing, or pornography. If you're just going to shout "censorship!" and "thought police!" at anybody who thinks differently than you and get upvoted for it here, then I am also questioning the mission here.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?

#87

Post by sanj »

yan wrote: post #50
sanj wrote: post #48

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.

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.

I'd suggest a different analogy:

I don't go for a four hour hike the day before I run a marathon.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?

#88

Post by tptacek »

mrtron wrote: post #85
tptacek wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

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.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?

#89

Post by sketerpot »

vaporizer wrote: post #61
neilk wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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 th…

> 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.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?

#90

Post by knewter »

teej wrote: post #69
amohr wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of people come to the mistaken conclusion that smoking pot makes you "stupid." I don't think it necessarily impairs cognitive performance as much as it makes it seem less important. If we were passing around a joint and before I had to hit it again, I had to multiply two 3-digit numbers together and translate a a paragraph into spanish, I could. But smoking makes you less likely to approach a problem li…

I don't think he is saying that 'smoking pot makes you "stupid"'. The point he makes is that empirical observations about your own performance, while on a mind-altering drug, are inherently flawed.

Empirical observations about your own performance are inherently flawed while not on a mind-altering drug, barring measurement/metrics. If you're measuring, I can't imagine how your state of mind could affect those.

If you want good separation, find a metric that can be recorded/played back.

I thought we were hackers? There are obvious solutions here...

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