[cgb223]

There's all sorts of lore about constructive drug use in Silicon Valley start up culture but it's not as prevalent as people say it is

I've never seen anyone microdose LSD or take Ketamine for Depression, hell, most of my coworkers don't even smoke marijuana recreationally or otherwise.

It's just that weird drug use makes headlines and headlines makes money

[tazjin]

> I've never seen anyone microdose LSD or take Ketamine for Depression, hell, most of my coworkers don't even smoke marijuana recreationally or otherwise.

Or maybe they don't tell you.

[mmjaa]

Or maybe he just doesn't have much exposure to the drug-using classes in this world, because anecdotally over 30 years of involvement in the computer world, I've met far, far more people who think they are enhancing their performance through drug use than those who don't.

Its extremely common in the hackrrspace scene to encounter developers who are using 'smart drugs' to stay up for 3 or 4 days at a time, or who think that a bump of speed at the right moment can make all the difference in the world to the codebase. Of course, I'm yet to see a case where this so-called boost in productivity is actively achieved, but it seems this isn't as important a fact to the guys in the lab coats ..

[Retric]

Exactly.

A friend in collage used say a little alcohol would help him calm down and code. A few decades later he accepted that he was just an alcoholic. Another friend refers to nicotine as his work drug...

20 years ago I met a guy who said he was using LSD to avoid wasting time sleeping and to boost his creativity. IMO, it's the same deal where people self justify whatever drug they want to use.

[kough]

FWIW Silicon Valley != San Francisco. When I worked in SF I'd say about half of my coworkers (the ones just out of college) all smoked weed frequently, took pyschedelics infrequently, and used stimulants on occasion.

[Sleeep]

How can you speak so authoritatively about the private habits of your coworkers? Unless they are subjected to random unannounced drug tests (uncommon outside of the military and safety critical industries) or come into work obviously high you wouldn't have any idea what they do in their private time. You might as well be commenting on their sex lives too.