Drugs have treated me wonderfully for the most part, put me in a lot of different situations, have helped me meet a lot of interesting people who've helped me grow or enhanced my world view, I had run me through a lot of different mind states. The last is the most important, mostly from psychedelics but a bit from more regular substances, I've enjoyed a lot of examples that have shown me how strong perspective is. Trying to move past a rough point in an acid trip has helped me see how 99 percent of anxiety and depression comes forms inside, which has helped me almost completely move past the two even though they come back to haunt me here and there. I'm also just almost 22 so it's up to debate how much was drugs and how much was growing up. They've helped me a lot socially, once you see how easy it is to meet knew people when your high enough on something like MDMA or cocaine to move past your insecurities it's a lot easier to do sober.
With all that said, I'm almost 22 and the only thing I've really accomplished so far is emotional stability and being able to party around well. From 19-21 I was smoking and drinking a lot and doing at least one different drug a day or two a week if not more. So it's been a distraction but I feel immensely stable emotionally and have shed pretty much all the negativity I had when I was younger.(which was a decent amount, had hate tattooed on me when I was 16, although that hardly supports my point)Now when I use it's all in moderation, heavy doses of psychedelics are a thing of the past just because they don't really feel interesting anymore, I've worked past a lot of inner conflict.
About bad trips, unless you're prone to mental issues most psychedelic freak outs just come from confusion, if it starts to get weird you just gotta let it pass over you. Other wise there are tough where you have to deal with stupid Hangups in your worldview/ego whatever you want to call it. They aren't "fun" , but they are immensely rewarding. If anyone is considering trying I wouldn't worry just start with half a hit or a single one and you'll be able to see how it effects you, things don't get too funky till 2-3 in.
On the side, I think a lot of new ageism is driven by the wild things people think on psychedelics but don't bother to assess rationally. I don't believe Chrystals have powers but I believe people believe it so that's sorta the same thing. I've Ben on drugs before and seen how you can convince yourself of that which at least has some merit on the power of perception.
While drugs have been alright to me for the most part, I've seen them tear a lot of people apart, mostly heroin and meth. I've had done both plenty of times just because the opportunity was there and felt little inclination to revisits them till they appeared in my life ago. I think most people prone to addiction have deep seated issues to escapee from with the high. , (almost every addict I know has been sexually abused, or very heavy emotional abuse, or suffers from a mental illness). The other reason would just be being in an environment with constants affordable supply where you don't notice or care till your already fairly hooked. I guess those are obvious but I just think risk of addiction is very exaggerated for the average cautious person. Also I'm all for legalizing drugs but I sometimes think we have to address poverty first considering the economic impact of the black market in lower economic areas. Would still probably be better than the large amount of people we have in jail for dug charges and the violence associated with the drug trade. Typing this on a phone sucked, excuse grammar and bad structure. I'll add/fix it if I he around to a computer tonight.