In about 20 years of various jobs I’ve done, I can say that it depends heavily on the person, the strain, and the job at hand. As a freelance writer and musician, there’s not really anyone who can say whether or not it helps me on the job, since my career is entirely self-directed and I do high-value R&D and technical writing among other things, such as music production and audio engineering, and really if someone doesn’t agree with my career they simply don’t have to read my content, listen to my music, or attend one of my shows.

At the same time, I’ve worked in large-scale industrial construction and I did not use cannabis during that time for obvious reasons related to safety and drug testing, even though I was a QA supervisor and rarely operated any kind of machinery beyond a truck or basic power tool. I don’t advocate using cannabis on the job when critical safety or production schedule matters are at hand, however if you work for yourself as an artist or other creative professional, your engagement and sales at the end of the day are the real metric of your success and your experience using or not using cannabis, and the opinion of a few naysayers along the way surely don’t stop your work from being produced and earning you a decent (or great) living.