[janis1234]

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 general most ideas are dumb. Difficult to stay focused on the most important task and makes me wonder more. Loss of focus.

The real question is: How do I use cannabis correctly? What can it actually do for you?

From my experience smoking once every 2 months has net benefit... It cannot help you program but it can help you higher level ideas related to programming. It can answer the why better than it can answer the how. It can be a reset and motivation and prevent you from burn out even if you are working more than 60 hrs a week. But it is dangerous in that you want to get the relief constantly, so from my experience once every 2 months is fine.

[ivansavz]

> The real question is: How do I use cannabis correctly? What can it actually do for you?

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.