I can’t speak to cannabis directly – I’ve never partaken, honestly – but I wonder if it’s similar to the way I felt when I would drink to excess as a way of motivating myself to write code.
Have you ever heard of the “Balmer Curve” or “Balmer peak”? It’s a joke that, like all joke, starts from a grain of truth.
I’ve always had a hard time starting things; once I get going it’s not, but getting started was hard even if I took just a 15 minute break. I couldn’t focus my thoughts enough to get started, the other chatter in my head made it impossible to get moving.
Being on the near-side of drunk (not flat-out pissed, but more than just tipsy) silenced the chatter in my head and I could just sit down an work. I could tune everything out for a few hours each evening and just get stuff done. For about seven years, it was the only reliable way I could make myself write code at home.
The problems with this technique are obvious and I am in no way advocating it. The obvious concerns about alcoholism aside, being intoxicated made me think I was doing better work than I was; I would write code, sure, but it wasn’t my best… even though while I was writing the time I though I was the next James Gosling, the morning after I’d realize the truth.
For a while I decided that was the price: having bad code written was better than no code at all. But eventually I decided that there wasn’t an end to the cycle of booze-code-regret, and so I tried to stop. I tried to stop many times before I succeeded. Just because you’re not neurologically addicted to the substance doesn’t mean you’re not psychologically addicted to the concept that you can’t perform without it.
I got off that roller-coaster about a year ago, got real psychiatric help and I feel like I’m better for it. I know that pot and alcohol are not directly comparable, but I believe in the case of techies they are close cousins.
Here is what I say, and feel free to take it with a large grain of salt since I’m being really preachy right now:
Understand the “slippery slope” potential. Some people never get addicted to their chemical of choice, and others get hit almost immediately. You can’t control your biology, but you can control your actions.
Figure out what you want to achieve before you go looking for it. You can’t find something if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Try to articulate it, quantify it, break it down. You may well find that what you’re looking for can be found somewhere else.
Since pot is legal in many places in North America (where I live) I don’t feel comfortable saying “don’t smoke weed” because alcohol is legal and I still drink occasionally so it’d be hypocritical of me. What I will say is be careful.
(This turned in to a soap-box rant where I didn’t even answer your actual question. I apologize.)