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by crate_barre 1646 days ago
These people are heavy smokers that probably developed a functional habit (they sort of need the hit to feel normal).

You won’t magically get the benefits being espoused, if that’s what you’re thinking.

2 comments

Very much this. If you're looking at it from a pure productivity standpoint and want to try it out, and aren't a regular toker - don't - because you'll just get really baked. :P
Of course you're right - but drugs usually do deliver the benefits espoused (if often at a Faustian price). Your two statements are a shade oxymoronic.

Addictive habits form suddenly, but not immediately. Every drug requires a period of optional, regular, and increasing use before dependency develops. (Some, like nicotine, can have rapid dependency onset. Others take 6 or more months of intermittent use before withdrawal threatens).

This non-dependent yet regular use is usually driven by genuine (subjective) benefit to the user - euphoria or focus, amnesia or nescience, etc.

This is the essence of the word "drug": if inactive we say supplement, snake oil, homeopathic, etc.

Pharmacology _is_ somewhat magic - absurdly improbable in a way reality, and human endeavor, often is (see: organ transplants, the bioengineered mutant grass known as maize/corn).