My never-ending acid trip

It really disturbs me that people on sites like Reddit and Hacker News, and young people in general, seem to idolize psychedelics so much. Whenever I see an article about hallucinogens pop up on my news feed, it's always some pseudo-scientific BS about how psychedelics can bring about powerful insights, cure PTSD, and open minds.

Psychedelics are extremely powerful drugs that can and will alter peoples' minds permanently. Speaking from experience, one does not simply experience ego death one day and then go on living their life as if it never happened. For better or for worse those intense experiences stay with a person forever.

I used to be a big believer in the psychedelic culture. I read books about Timothy Leary, practiced my own half-baked version of Buddhism, attended numerous festivals, and grew and consumed copious amounts of drugs. While I didn't take nearly as much as the author of this article, I can truthfully say that I tripped at least 50 times combined on LCD, mushrooms, DMT, dextromethorphan, MDMA, ecstacy, 2c-e, 2c-i, salvia, and DET.

I believed that these drugs were giving me valuable insights, making me more intelligent and observant, unlocking parts of my psyche that normal people would never understand. In my drugged out state of mind this was completely reasonable to believe. The world is like totally interconnected, man! Reality is just perceived in the mind!

It took me a least a year of hallucinogen-sobriety to realize that my insights were really quite banal and meaningless. I hadn't learned anything, and worse yet my mild social anxiety had transformed into a debilitating social anxiety that nearly gives me panic attacks even during 'safe' social encounters like visiting family friends. Even now that I've been sober of psychedelics and weed for years I still struggle with the damage that has been done to my mental health.

Fortunately everything turned out OK for me. I have a well paying job as a web dev, a great girlfriend, a loving family, and my financial house is in order. I can't say the same for some of friends though, two of which have gone completely psychotic after years of mushroom usage and one who became, for lack of a better word, completely retarded after one too many ecstasy rolls.

I understand that my current state is my own doing. I accept full responsibility for my life. All I'm trying to is be careful with your mind. Psychedelics can change your life forever.