Is your IT department full of dope smokers?

Forget dot-com - it's all gone dot-bong as a new survey reveals that one in three marijuana users is employed in the high-tech sector.

Of the 72 per cent of respondents who admitted to sampling waccy baccy, an astonishing 32 per cent work in the IT and telecoms industries - a far higher proportion of pot-puffing professionals than the population as a whole.

The survey polled 1,000 18-to-35-year olds based in the UK. It was conducted on behalf of content syndication software provider TongueWag.

A somewhat rambling statement from TongueWag notes that: "Previously considered an industry driven by level-headed and logical thinkers, this revelation speaks volumes about society's lack of understanding about the use of cannabis and also its effect or lack of effect on job performance."

TongueWag has created an online discussion forum for cannabis enthusiasts, called www.skinup.tonguewag.com .

James Malach, TongueWag's creative director, justifies his shameless bid for publicity thus: "When we developed the site our priority was to inspire anonymous and honest debate, but we had no idea how appropriate developing an IT-enabled debate would be!

"The high proportion of users in the IT sector is considerably higher than we suspected," he added.