Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
I am open to discussing this in raw detail - contact in my profile.<p>Most programmers, scientists, people in finance and startups I know take a lot of stimulants. I take a lot of stimulants.<p>[Edit - as others have pointed out, there&#x27;s a strong selection bias going on here. I actively seek out people who I know take stimulants, and we naturally congregate socially based on a bunch of subtle and explicit cues that signal we are safe to talk to about this kind of thing. My experience is not a random sample - I&#x27;m just responding to the request in the OP]<p>I have pretty severe ADD, so I take ritalin. Initially it was on prescription, but then I realised it was actually easier and cheaper to just get it from other sources.<p>I was pretty productive before because I developed a bunch of working practices that mostly contained the ADD, but with ritalin... I feel superhuman. And to be honest I can output an order of magnitude more and better than most people when I&#x27;m up. I recently moved to Berlin, where <i>everyone</i> is up all the time. Like, I know people who founded or are working for hundreds of businesses. Everyone, every single person, is up all the time. Adderall, dexedrine, ritalin, plain old speed paste, cocaine, kratom, modafinil. LSD or MDMA microdosing. Everyone works best when they are up. Then on the flip side, xanax, zopiclone, diazepam help control the wiredness and allow you to sleep when you want. Everyone is doing this. I know it&#x27;s the same in London and New York.<p>If I have a good week, I generally will take perhaps 30mg Adderall IR a day, or 50mg Ritalin IR. If I need to brainstorm or deliver something with someone we order whatever (stimulants are delivered within 15-30 min by taxi here) and work through the night to get stuff done. This is normal. It&#x27;s strange to me to see this being described as a problem because... it&#x27;s not a problem. It is fairly low risk (compared to e.g. binge drinking) and it completely transforms your ability to work. It&#x27;s so normal to me that I don&#x27;t hide it from anyone and nobody ever complained. I meet random people, like undergraduate students from the USA who are visiting, and they are in exactly the same routine. Everyone works best with stimulants.