Does Marijuana Enhance Ability To Code? New Study Reveals Vast Majority Of Programmers Have Used Cannabis While Working

Cannabis is apparently sparking creativity in software programmers, as over one-third of those surveyed in a new study said they've used marijuana while working, finding it helpful in getting into the "programming zone," Marijuana Moment reports.

Titled "Hashing It Out: A Survey of Programmers' Cannabis Usage, Perception, and Motivation," and published earlier this month in Cornell University's arXiv, the study found that 35% of survey participants have "tried cannabis while programming or completing another software engineering-related task," while 18% currently do so at least once a month. Over 70% of that group disclosed that they've consumed marijuana while working in the past year.

The findings coming from a study conducted by University of Michigan researchers who surveyed 803 developers, including 450 full-time programmers, on cannabis usage prevalence, perceptions, as well as motivations.

Weed As Spark Of Creativity

Enjoyment and perceived programming enhancement were the main motivations for using cannabis among study participants. Brainstorming, prototyping, coding, and testing were the most common tasks for which people used cannabis.

"Overall, we found that programmers were more likely to report enjoyment or programming enhancement motivations than wellness motivations: the most common reasons were 'to make programming-related tasks more enjoyable' (61%) and 'to think of more creative programming solutions' (53%)," the study found.

At least 30% of respondents selected programming enhancement reasons. On the flip side, general wellness-related reasons, including mental health or chronic pain, were cited by less than 30% of those surveyed.

Cannabis Prohibition & Hiring Shortage

The primary motivation for the study, on the other hand, was to address "hiring shortages for certain jobs" in the programming sector, as drug testing policies were recognized as a possible contributing factor.

"This prohibition of cannabis use in software engineering has contributed to a widely-reported hiring shortage for certain US government programming jobs," the study says.

Moreover, the study authors - Madeline Endres, Kevin Boehnke and Westley Weimer – noted that the same issue is evident at the federal level, bringing up former FBI Director James Comey's intention from 2014, to relax the bureau's employment policies with respect to drug use.

"A lot of the nation's top computer programmers and hacking gurus are also fond of marijuana," he said at the time, as reported by The Washington Post. "I have to hire a great workforce to compete with those cyber criminals, and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview."

Nevertheless, the study found that even those who don't use marijuana are supportive of reform, with 91% of participants saying that both medical and recreational cannabis should be legal, compared to 60% of the general U.S. population in 2021, the authors emphasized.

"Our results have implications for programming job drug policies and motivate future research into cannabis use while programming," the study states.

Drug Testing Policies And The Hype Around It

In the meantime, as marijuana becomes more widespread and destigmatized, a heated debate is in progress over drug testing policies.

In early June, Amazon com, Inc. AMZN, adjusted its drug-testing policy for field operations teams in the US, announcing it will no longer screen for marijuana in most situations to address the 'changing times.' In September, the tech giant disclosed that its earlier decision to end drug testing for cannabis would be retroactive, allowing former workers and applicants who were punished or rejected for testing positive for THC to have their employment eligibility restored.

Shortly after, the state Department of Labor announced in new guidance that New York employers are no longer allowed to drug test most workers for marijuana. And while New York may be the first to bar employers from testing employees for THC, many states where cannabis is legal only forbid penalties for testing positive.

Related Link: Where Is Weed Cheapest And Most Expensive In The US? From Connecticut's $9.75/Gram To Virginia's $18.60

Photo: Courtesy of Sigmund on Unsplash