Eilene
Eilene on Hacker News
Posted by
Eilene on Wednesday July 15, 2020 @03:02PM
from the self-post dept.
I'm a journalist that wrote the story "The Lawyer, The Addict" two years ago in The New York Times, about my ex-husband, a law firm partner that died an IV drug addict. I came on this site for sources for a book I published in February -- "Smacked"-- and am now researching a piece for The Atlantic, about white collar drug use and drinking in the time of Covid, with professionals stuck at home,...
Posted by
Eilene on Friday March 09, 2018 @09:57AM
from the self-post dept.
This is a follow up to my Ask:HN post last week about drug use in tech and science [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16465762] For those who didn't want to respond unless I had a secure email, I do now. It's [email protected]. I hope you'll reach out now if you were reluctant to earlier.
Hi geekout. I tried you via email but I have a protonmail account now. So if you want to reach me there it's
[email protected]
Thanks,
Eilene
I'm going to reach out now, thanks.
thanks, I'd like to email you to the address in your profile, ok?
Thanks for clarifying. I don't have conclusions yet, but I do have ideas and didn't think my questions were leading. So apologize if they seem so. If you don't feel "pressured"--overtly or subvertly--to take a substance but just do it because you think it would be fun, then that's the answer, right? And I'll learn from that.
I will reach out, thank you. This is very helpful. Your last paragraph describes Peter accurately. At some point, all the years of chronic stress, too little sleep, too many stimulants (even before IV drug abuse) changed him somehow. I'm not a doctor, but I knew him for almost 30 years and over the course of a decade or so something profound changed.
What kind of work do you do?
Would you be comfortable giving some general details about what you do, in what kind of company you work and how long you've been in the industry? (It helps e to qualify your opinion in some way... )
I don't want to do a hatchet job on white collar drug use, no. I want to learn what's actually being used, the extent of the use and then draw some meaning from that, meaning that doesn't intend to say whether the use is bad or good but just why it exists and what that might mean about work culture, society, etc. If you'd be open to talking more about this separately, pls email me at
[email protected]. Thanks.
Are you aware of others in your company or at other companies that also use cannabis as much as you? Or are you aware of people using narcotics/amphetamines?
How long ago was this? (also, how awful)
I would love to see a study too.
That's what I'm thinking (as I stare at a computer screen for 8 hours...)
If I sound like an idiot, forgive me, but you mean, literally, contractors that have to physically climb towers, right?
Why weed? It would seem that would make you want to hang out all day and snack, or just sleep or watch television?
Just realized I've reached out to Hart but have not heard back.
I am not trying in anyway to contribute to prohibition (and history shows it doesn't work anyway). But I'll keep your warning in mind, sincerely. And I'll track down Carl Hart. Thanks.
so dope meaning weed right?
Does that make you feel you should be using something too?
Do you all discuss the heavy use because you're concerned about the toll it could take on your lungs, in the same way you might be concerned if it was tobacco? or is it more than that? (also I can't believe you can run marathons and smoke that much!)
thanks for the link. And I have found meth is alot more common, it seems, in the gay community.
What is it like for you to work in isolation for so much of the time? Do you think the cannabis and LSD are only for focus or is some of it for (for lack of a better word) escape?
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 see what patterns emerge.
it was enormously freeing to finally be able to write about what happened to my family, yes, thank you. I felt like I was living in a John Grisham created hell, afraid of telling anyone what really happened and instead acting like Peter was the victim of his own stringent work ethic (which is true and not true). May I ask you what you do for a living? Are you a developer?
I completely agree and absolutely intend to discuss that in the book, thank you. When you say "brain health" do you mean actual neurological changes taking place in the brain, or underlying mental health issues like depression and anxiety?
Have you always found you need some way to decompress from the stress? I'm trying to learn how stressful your work as a developer is. Is it the work or the work environment (a startup). Do most of your peers find some way to come down at night, be it weed or drinking or something else?
Do you think that the pot is countering any depression or down feelings that may come from being isolated for so long each day? That sounds really hard, even if you really like the work.