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Comment by ok_coo | Hacker News Reader

The hippie speedball makes me ultra-productive, but unfortunately employers (well, mine) are probably not cool with me being high on Zoom calls. :/

I just wanted to chime in and say that, for some people, THC+caffeine in the right settings can give you a nice hyper-focus. I wish I could use the combo more often.

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I haven't ever been high during work hours, but I have tried to program while high. I tunnel vision too hard to get things done. I find it impossible to debug or think about broad solutions. I also am under the suspicion that I'm dumber when high.

I suspect the stoner coders are the exact opposite, and would experience similar effects when sober.

Maybe. This sounds exactly like addiction to me.

Ever vaporized or tincture/small edible instead of smoke?

Yes. Though I do not smoke regularly and it has been probably a year or more since I smoked, even though it is legal in my state.

Any notable differences?

and are we talking vape pens, or vaporizing ground cannabis?

Heh, not having heard the term hippie speedball before, I would have assumed weed and nitrous (hippie crack), not caffeine.

Just out of curiosity, why THC + caffeine? I am a regular coffee drinker, but never smoked at the same time.

Is it the caffeine gives you focus, but the THC removes the jitters and antsy-ness that goes along with it?

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.

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).

I've always assumed it to be that the caffeine keeps the user more energetic and alert than they would be otherwise.

The key part is you can't get too high. You just need a little bit, along with some good coffee. Unless if you're a heavy smoker and then you probably already know what you're doing.

I don't think this works for everyone but THC can help me focus in small amounts. The coffee (caffeine) is just there to keep you energized and going. I will also drink lots of water along with it. For me, caffeine actually makes me less focuses and more prone to anxiety, so it's for more of an energy kick.

Further down the this thread, there's mention of making you "dumber." Yes, that can happen if you take too much. I have messed up trying this method before on a weekend and wasn't able to figure out my own code so I just relaxed for a bit and came back later.

I like to say it's akin to some sort of alchemy. Need to find the right mixture for you and environment to work in.

The caffeine gives you focus and the energy to counteract whatever lassitude comes with the cannabis, and the cannabis provides easier access to flow state and the tendency for thoughts to wander in what can often be unexpectedly productive directions.

Or so I assume, at any rate, based on knowledge of each drug's action in isolation. I had a heavy cannabis habit back ages ago, and kicking it cold was really one of the best decisions I've ever made - of all else in my recollection, the only thing comparable in terms of immediate cognitive and emotional improvement has been beginning APAP treatment for obstructive sleep apnea. Given that I'd be very wary of self-reports of the benefits of heavy cannabis use - after all, I thought for a long time it was helping me, too! - but I suppose I can see why folks who do choose to indulge might choose also to pair cannabis with coffee.

Adding caffeine to thc only gives me a lot of anxiety and a sense of generalized dread, honestly. It leaves me unable to sit down and focus on anything, I have to get up and pace around.

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