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WookieMan says

They're both harmful in excess usage. Alcohol health wise and pot mental and productivity wise. If you're high sun up to sun down, you're not getting much done.

Yep, but I would argue that pot, in moderation, is a useful drug for creativity. In moderation.

I did a ton of my work in college as a senior while I was getting stoned. I would design VLSI chip ideas when stoned, the next day, I would cross out my stupid ideas, and the 3rd day and onward I would implement what was left. The was Friday, Saturday and Sunday - Sunday was recovery from the experience mostly but I would start making plans on what to do. My professor thought I was a genius. It's very creative drug, HOWEVER, I also spent a winter vacation getting stoned every day. My intention was to do this for a month, after a week, I was just stupid and sick of it. I actually worried if I could not accumulate new knowledge after a week. It does make you unable to learn if you do it in excess.

It's a good drug in MODERATION, and it will just make you a retard in excess.

It allows you to make connections randomly and SOME of them are right, but MOST are wrong, but it gives creativity. It DOES scramble your brain, but you still have guidance. Most ideas I came up when stoned were garbage, but some, brilliant.

Another thing I enjoyed about getting stoned was my complete passivity. When I had dogs, I used to go walking with another friend when we were both stoned and had a vicarious experience at their wonder of the world, a pet is so innocent. I couldn't kill a fly when I was stoned, and I could somewhat experience other emotions I guess through empathy? It's hard to explain, I just wanted to be nice and kind when I was in that state. Everything was good, you're in the moment, there's no reason for conflict.

People who get stoned and are violent, they are psychopaths. If you ever find somebody like this, stay the fuck away from them - seriously.

For me, being stoned greatly amplifies my emotions. If I think I make you feel bad and as a result of something I did or said when stoned, I feel VERY bad, I feel AWFUL about that. It's very self correcting. I absolutely do not want to hurt when I'm high. It's been years since I've been high, but I remember my emotional states. I'm very kind and non combative in that state. Also creative to my current levels of knowledge. I really can't learn in that state.

Something I ought to add, pot is WAY stronger today than it was 30 years ago. It's so goddamned strong, that it's annoying. 3 years ago is the last time I got high, and I severely cut it. What is commonly available is stronger than what was "strong" when I was a college student. What is considered a typical dose is FAR too strong for me.

I also don't react in the same way most people apparently do. When I'm stoned, I am never sleepy, I'm forced into a creativity mode or learning mode (although I don't recall what I learn). My friend tells me I have too much Neanderthal DNA - maybe that's correct?

richwicks says

I would argue that pot, in moderation, is a useful drug for creativity.

Just like how a tipsy guy at the club thinks he is suave and debonair, a stoned dude thinks he is experiencing a bout of creativity. Yet both the drunk and the stoned babble incoherently. When I first heard that "pot tears down hardened ways of thinking and allows new ways of seeing things" argument I spoke of computer punch cards. In the very old days, a computer was programmed by loading a series of punch cards, one card for each line of code. The card reader worked like one of those money counting machines you see in the movies - the cards, sometimes a thousand or more, are sucked through the reader. If you have a thousand cards in your program, you could likely pull one or two out of the stack and not hurt the program. Might lose a letter in a header file label or so that did not really hurt the program, but the program was definitely not improved. Likewise, a pot user claims not to be damaged by the experience, just not damage that was noticeable. And if one were to take a section of cards from middle of the punch card stack, shuffle them up and re-enter them in the stack, you would definitely get a different output, but in no way would that improve the program. Likewise, distorting one's brain with chemicals that get past the defenses is not going to improve brain function, be it though process or autonomic control.

Smoking pot to improve brain function is like smoking a Marlboro to improve your time at the track. Maybe some High School kid did have his best time ever after he cleared his lungs by finishing that pack of Camels.