Let me add some color for you, it's absolutely real. I predict the drug will eventually be validated as one of the most powerful and useful therapeutic substances discovered to date.
>>impaired recognition of fearful faces, while it did not significantly affect recognition of neutral, happy and angry faces
This characterization is a bit misleading. Recognition of faces is not impaired at all, recognition is also not impaired of some of your most terrifying inner thoughts. Instead, you recognize them fine and are simply not bothered because you perceive them in an unbiased, rational context.
>>exhibits some ‘empathogenic’ effects (such as increased openness and trust)
Some? I know, good medical science has to be conservative. However empathy, emotional connection and understanding, can become almost savant like. I won't give an example - too hard to offer an anecdote and not sound hyperbolic or like an exaggerated account. How's this: I believe it to be significantly understated.
>>positive long-term effects outlast acute pharmacological effects
Let that sink in. Who would believe taking an anti-depressant once could change your life years later? They would not believe it, because like every other mental health drug, anti-depressants can easily stop working (to the degree they work at all) as soon as you stop taking them. This is not like that. It's some kind of unusual mechanism that for reasons not yet entirely clear, is just very different from other drugs.
I would ask that no one act on my opinion by using illegal drugs. I'm not worried about liability, or even legality. The problem is simply that self-administering street drugs comes with quite a bit of risk that for some reason, a lot of people don't mind ignoring. Worst case you could be intentionally poisoned as part of a scam and die. You could get the wrong substance, for example fentanyl is unknowingly taken all the time, and again easily die. You might somehow get the real thing, but precise dosing is difficult enough that overdosing LSD is very common. Having the wrong dose will not kill you, but the results can be bad enough many people feel like death would have been an easier option. Some people believe that impurities and imprecise dosing are responsible for a lot of what people describe as "bad trips".