I had never smoked weed before moving to California (from Europe) in my early 20s, at which point I was fairly quickly introduced to it. I had no experience with drugs of any kind besides alcohol either, and I quickly became fascinated with the effects it had on my brain. Picking it up with the same intensity I would pick up any other interest, I read a lot of stuff about the subject (Timothy Leary, Sam Harris, Aldous Huxley, etc.) and tried a few other psychedelics.

Then for a couple years I had a job that made me utterly miserable, and I smoked as soon as I got home every night. I don't believe it strongly affected my intellectual performance (a lot of my highly upvoted HN comments from that time were written while high), but it made me okay with not doing nothing productive, merely aimlessly consuming media (this is summed up really well in a South Park episode, where Randy tells his son Stan: "Well, Stan, the truth is marijuana probably isn't gonna make you kill people, and it most likely isn't gonna fund terrorism, but, well son, pot makes you feel fine with being bored, and it's when you're bored that you should be learning some new skill or discovering some new science or being creative. If you smoke pot you may grow up to find out that you aren't good at anything.").

Now I have a job that I really like and am in a generally better place in life, and smoke maybe once a week or so. My personality tends to be fairly inwards-oriented, and I get anxious fairly easily (like many hackers, I presume), and weed helps me step back, and get perspective on my mental state. It's also a good social bonding agent, and also an interesting substance to use when you've been working on a creative problem for a while and are stuck (my experience has been that it's harder for my brain to learn completely new things while high, but easier to make connections between things I already know, or see known things under a new light).

I agree. It can be a rather insidious drug. You can be high all day and no matter how much you take you won't feel sick like you would with booze or cigs. It also dampens your ability to absorb dopamine over time (but it doesn't interfere with production like cocaine), so it ultimately becomes possible for 24/7 stoners to lead productive and healthy lives, but the weed is a constant.

I'm reminded of a planet in the space sim Freelancer, which was covered in an orange grass that changed people's DNA to become dependent on it over time, so they needed a constant drip if they were ever off world, but in return life expectancy rose to 120.

This is my life (healthy/productive life while high 24/7).

A lot of people are baffled that they know me both as their hardest working friend & their most consistently high friend. Doesn't make any sense to the person who views weed as just something to get high with.

I don't necessarily recommend my life. It does lead to addiction after a long time (started at 14 and began smoking everyday in HS then started everyday everyday again at 21 and am currently 27). Everyday, I wake up and get high, work, then get high probably around 5, work, and then eventually go home and get high, and go to sleep. Whatever floats your boat so long as you're not hurting anybody, that's how I see it.

The effects of addiction are pretty confusing to be quite honest with you. I can refrain from smoking all day and then I'll hit probably 7PM and be like "I don't need to smoke if I don't want to," and actually mean it. The only physical reaction I get to a lack of weed is increased irritability and sometimes a really hot feeling that's hard to explain. After a couple days, it's more like "I wish I could get high" than it is "I NEED TO GET HIGH!" But it's been awhile since I gone a couple days. Even though I been smoking forever (started at 14) and feel like I'll never stop smoking, I do feel that I can stop if I really wanted to. I know addicts all say that, but with weed, it just gets to be really easy after like a couple days.

It's the mental effects of addiction that I actually dislike the most. "It's morning, time to get high." There are times when I think to myself, when did this become normal? Is this normal? People happily guzzle down caffeine in the morning and don't say anything, so is what I'm doing all that bad?

It's an unusual drug. You can get one strain that gets you all excited and another strain that turns you into Mr. Aristotle and another strain that turns you into Mr. Aristotle caffeinated. I do think it's the best hope for mankind though as crazy as that sounds. People become a lot less judgmental and mentally vicious when they start to smoke a lot. Some call this inner-peace.

The spice must flow.

It's a terrible escape, too. It should be a seasoning on top of an already healthy lifestyle or you're just gonna be throwing your money away.

This last sentence is such an important message. Your use with substances--even if they have benefits--should never take over your life.

How on earth can you code on weed? I would get lost in the minutiae of the font.

In my experience: you develop a tolerance over time, and as you grow accustomed to how your brain behaves on it, it becomes possible to partake in productive activities (reading, writing, programming, holding up a fairly deep conversation, etc.)

Strain, dose, method. All have a big impact on whether you're left in a productive state or if it's time to get some chips and netflix

And as with any substance (or activity in general), environment matters a lot.

Hanging out on the couch at home? Probably fitting to crash soon.

Out at the park with a book? Read until you realize you're burning.

How do you not code while high?!

You get tunnel-vision and become a super-abstract thinker. Code is just made up abstractions and being high often involves vivid, creative imaginations. You combine the two and literally anything is possible and it's awesome.

Replace all the "yous" with "I" and the conversation becomes a whole lot clearer (and more factual).

Things affect people differently! It can even affect the same people differently at different times. Sometimes weed helps me to focus on things, other times it puts me on the fritz. Sometimes it wakes me up and others it knocks me out in minutes.

I was joking :) I totally understand. You're right though, I should have said "I"