You might think there are some things you just shouldn’t do while you’re high or medicated — things like work tasks, emails, childcare, or writing. However, contrary to “should” or “should not’s,” a number of professionals vouch for how cannabis helps them tackle their workload.
Akiva, who runs a marketing company, says he gets a lot done, particularly on a sativa strain. “Instead of taking Ritalin, I get high and it helps me focus on my projects,” he tells Jane Street.
Not only does cannabis help people focus, but also helps them think up new ideas. A former Master’s student at the University of Pittsburgh says he finished all his graduate school coursework and research with the help of cannabis. To this day, now 30 years old, he says he writes articles and pitches stories he came up with when he was high. “At least in terms of new ideas or coming up with new words or phrases to fit the thought,” he says, cannabis helps.
Janine, a marketing professional from New York, says she used to microdose with a vape pen before work to help her relax and slow down so her colleagues could better understand her. “But primarily as a writer, it’s really great for me to come up with good ideas,” she says. “As as a marketing strategist, I usually do all the research, then if I sit and smoke and just start brainstorming the ideas come, but I still deal with that sometimes: the whole ‘shouldn’t work while high.'” However, she says, if you’re truly medicating, taking as much as you need, without getting too high, you reap the benefits of relaxation, focus, and creativity. “But you’re not actually getting ‘high,’ which indicates being stoned and lack of presence,” she says.
Steven Mrowzinski, and acupuncturist and cannabis entrepreneur, says cannabis helps make mundane, boring tasks bearable. He uses vaporizable products from a medical marijuana dispensary in New York state. “Usually a 20 THC: 1 CBD,” he says. “Or sometimes a 1 THC: 1 CBD. And also edible capsules from dispensaries for sleep sometimes.”
While people have different rituals for how they use cannabis for work and creativity, the idea is that they’re erasing the stigma of the lazy stoner, or the false notion that pot and productivity are incompatible.
That said, getting work done while high still doesn’t work for everyone. “I rarely work high, but when I’m creatively stuck, I find that cannabis can help ignite ideas,” says cannabis publicist Zoe Wilder. “I’ll jot them down and revisit them the next day.”
Hence, there are various ways to incorporate cannabis into work — whether it’s while you’re actually on deadline, or when you have more flexibility to let ideas run freely.
