Don't really need a study for something you can figure out fairly easily on your own. I tried to smoke and program probably 3 times and results were always the same. Significantly less productive. Started working on tasks not aligned with larger goal. Had many ideas that seemed amazing at the time and later found out to be dumb. In that sense it is creative enhancement in that you consider more idea, but just in gene…
Excellent questions, and I think this is the right way to approach this substance: as a scientific inquiry, not a vice to feel ashamed of, or a godsend magic substance that solves all problems.
> smoking once every 2 months has net benefit
Strong agree. Specifically, what I've observed is after long periods of productivity with the brain "loaded" with a lot of context, a joint can help uncover lateral connections and find new perspectives and approaches. However when the brain is "empty" as on a Monday morning, smoking is just counter-productive, since there are no connections to be made, no new perspectives to be had, and the lateral thinking just means loss of productivity (focus on the wrong things).
The fundamental difficulty is with the "once" part of the plan. It's very easy to stay in the smoking loop after the first day of use (get the relief constantly like you say), and it can turn into a week of use. For many people, the risk of losing weeks to substance use loop + one more week to get back to baseline mood might end up as net negative, despite the initial benefits.