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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?

#91

Post by a_toker »

jgalvez wrote: post #65
a_toker wrote: post #34

I created this account for privacy reasons, and I'm one of the more active/karmic people in this community. Yes, this is an oppressive culture (in the US). I'm a somewhat heavy bud smoker and a full-time developer. #define HEAVY? That's subjective, but I can comfortably go through a quarter ounce in a week, and my ideal consumption is probably 1.5 grams per day. I've known people who think a bowl a day is heavy and t…

I'm not sure you're with me on this one but allow me to elaborate: 4. Concentration: distraction and lack of focus is the #1 killer of all good software projects. And I have seen that programmers, in my experience, have a natural talent to be distracted and lose focus. Who never lost a day on a combination of Reddit, Bloglines and Hacker News? I know I did. Of course you don't need marijuana to force yourself to atta…

I see where you're coming from, but that's what I use coffee for. Nothing like a good cup of joe to key me in.

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

#92

Post by annoyed »

neilk wrote: post #36
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #24

Not me. I'm of the opinion that lighting things on fire and sticking them near your head to breathe just sounds like a bad idea all the way around. I'm for legalization though. The idea of outlawing a weed that does less harm than alcohol is ludicrous. I experimented a bit as a teenager. As I recall, it didn't help my analytical skills at all -- unless by analytical skills you mean finding doughnuts at 3am or being a…

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…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhEGp7aD-qA

use a clear bulb though

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

#93

Post by IsaacSchlueter »

axod wrote: post #15
IsaacSchlueter wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

We used to have a boss who obviously was into drugs. extremely volatile, and he'd often email 'the team' at weekends, with long incoherent rants about how badly we're all doing. California does seem to have a culture of pot smoking for some reason.

It sounds like he had problems above and beyond his drug use.

I've known plenty of non-drug-using assholes. ;)

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

#94

Post by Rod »

mlLK wrote: post #42
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?

Are you high? The only class of individuals that don't freely admit facts about their life in a public forum are politicians. . .are you a politician? Otherwise, getting that paranoid over some form of punishment is beyond rational.

That's your opinion. Mine is different. Invoking the principle of least privilege, if some piece of information on your personal life is of no use to the point you're trying to make, why reveal it? You gain nothing, and there a chance (though remote) that it will be used against you at some point in the future.

A thought experiment: suppose you were an alcoholic... would you admit it on HN? If not, why's that so? Is it illegal? Are you a politician? Maybe it's because of the social stigma associated with it. Well, guess what, not everyone shares the same values you do and in some more conservative circles, smoking pot would carry a stigma as well. That could harm you when looking for a job, for instance. I have seen that happening.

Maybe I am paranoid, but better safe than sorry, right?

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

#95

Post by Rod »

jrockway wrote: post #59
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?

Sure, they could. It would be a worthless case that's not worth the state's money to prosecute, however. Possession is hard to prosecute, and admitting to once using some weed on the Internet is even harder. ("Yeah, I just said I smoked weed so that people would think I was cool." Case dismissed.) I suppose they could get a search warrant for your place, but this is so exceedingly unlikely that it is not worth worryi…

You're right. To be honest, I am not too concerned with the state trying to prosecute me for having smoked a couple of joints in college. The state could try to do it, but I don't see what it would gain exactly. I am more concerned about how confessing (hypothetically speaking) to have smoked weed in the past could harm my career in the future.

For example, four friends of mine started a laser company after the dot-com crash in 2001. They needed $25 million of venture funding, and they got it. However, some (if not all) the VC firms hired private investigators to conduct a background check on my friends. The PI's researched and scrutinized their entire lives (both professional and personal). The PIs were so good at the job it was almost nauseating. Make no mistake about it, this kind of info can be used to find your weaknesses, and can be used against you. In fact, they used that info against my friends with devastating effects as soon as the company had some problems. It was not pretty.

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

#97

Post by jrockway »

Rod wrote: post #95
jrockway wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, they could. It would be a worthless case that's not worth the state's money to prosecute, however. Possession is hard to prosecute, and admitting to once using some weed on the Internet is even harder. ("Yeah, I just said I smoked weed so that people would think I was cool." Case dismissed.) I suppose they could get a search warrant for your place, but this is so exceedingly unlikely that it is not worth worryi…

You're right. To be honest, I am not too concerned with the state trying to prosecute me for having smoked a couple of joints in college. The state could try to do it, but I don't see what it would gain exactly. I am more concerned about how confessing (hypothetically speaking) to have smoked weed in the past could harm my career in the future. For example, four friends of mine started a laser company after the dot-c…

So let's say your friends admitted to smoking weed, and the paranoid VCs pulled out. That just means some other VCs would have invested instead.

(As another example, I have long hair. That means there are certain jobs that I probably couldn't get, as some companies have corporate policies against that. Do I care? No. I don't need those companies for anything.)

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

#98

Post by rms »

pietro wrote: post #81
IsaacSchlueter wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

http://medicalcannabiscaregivers.org

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

#99

Post by Rod »

jrockway wrote: post #97
Rod wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. To be honest, I am not too concerned with the state trying to prosecute me for having smoked a couple of joints in college. The state could try to do it, but I don't see what it would gain exactly. I am more concerned about how confessing (hypothetically speaking) to have smoked weed in the past could harm my career in the future. For example, four friends of mine started a laser company after the dot-c…

So let's say your friends admitted to smoking weed, and the paranoid VCs pulled out. That just means some other VCs would have invested instead. (As another example, I have long hair. That means there are certain jobs that I probably couldn't get, as some companies have corporate policies against that. Do I care? No. I don't need those companies for anything.)

"That just means some other VCs would have invested instead."

I would say that would have worked if you wanted to build a software company. This was early 2001, the entire Tech bubble had just collapsed. It isn't very easy to find venture capital when you need tens of millions of dollars to afford world-class lasers, electronics and clean rooms. The scale and ambition of the project constrain you because there aren't many sources of venture capital of that magnitude.

I don't have long hair, but I wouldn't want to work for a company who had a policy against it either. Such a policy would only make it clear that the company had the wrong values and priorities.

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

#100

Post by schizoBrother »

a-priori wrote: post #82
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.

BMJ 2002;325:1199 ( 23 November ) http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7374/1199 here is the conclusion paragraph: Conclusions: Cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia, consistent with a causal relation. This association is not explained by use of other psychoactive drugs or personality traits relating to social integration.
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