Here's an unorganized list of interesting things I've learned about drugs over the years.

• Anti-drug people cried wolf way past the point where you should stop listening to them.

• Even the worst drugs that legitimately screw people up do so because those people are taking them in ridiculously stupid ways. These drugs can often be useful tools to have when used responsibly.

• Addiction, as far as I can tell, can be prevented just by using a little forethought, precommitments, and outside view: "This drug might be too fun, so I wont do it again for at least a month, no matter what. Longer if it turns out to be more temping than predicted", and "Is this the kind of thing that addicts do before becoming addicted? (and that non addicts don't)"

• Some foods do produce strong enough mental changes to notice (if you're paying attention). Butter and MCT oil both improve my brain function. The effect is different from the 'racetam family. For example, when playing guitar, my fingers aren't sped up, but they do play new songs as if I'm more familiar with them.

• GHB is in all ways a better version of alcohol. Therapeutic index, long term toxicity, clear headedness, shorter duration of action, no hangover, higher sleep quality, possibly even less addictive, and causes numerically fewer date rapes (:P). It's a shame that this hasn't replaced alcohol. EDIT: Might not be so non toxic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Hydroxybutyric_acid#Neurotoxicity

• Marijuana makes SWIM feel mentally impaired and makes it harder to put sentences together, but has also led to his fastest arithmetic time since Alexei came out with his lifetracking app. The average of times was not improved, however.

• It is possible to sleep on modafinil, but even if you stay up late on it, you can wake up at a normal time the next day and feel good. Modafinil makes all of SWIM feel energetic except for facial muscles.

• Threshold doses of mushrooms taken before bedtime seem to make SWIM wake up in an exceptionally good mood and feeling exceptionally well rested, regardless of whether the mushrooms helped him get to sleep earlier or if they kept him up very late by making him be productive.

• My hand wavy model for psychedelics is that they change your thinking in ways that make it easier to move through thought/belief/identity space than normal, but with no strong bias in any direction. Most people (especially in therapeutic environments) tend to find positive paths, but it's possible to walk down the wrong path too. Learn to navigate.

• My other hand wavy psychedelics model (for describing the experiences themselves, rather than the effect of them) is that they turn up the signal from many different parts of your brain. For example, it cranks up the volume for pattern matching algorithms and interest/curiosity- sometimes to the point of noticing patterns that you've never noticed before, and sometimes to the point of seeing patterns that don't exist at all. It also tends to make you see things as if its the first time seeing them. For example, despite knowing for his whole life that ageing is bad, 50ug of LSD made SWIM see old people 'for the first time' and get a deeper appreciation for "Aging SUCKS, and the world is insane for ignoring it!". Mechanisms like this can make it easier to take ideas seriously (which makes it easier to make lasting changes ^^^).

• Psychedelics are much less scary and less dangerous than most people assume. Starting with low doses and proper set and setting, people rarely freak out, and the main damage it causes when it happens is to turn people away from psychedelics. There is next to no physiological danger.

• Psychedelics aren't a whole new level more intense than marijuana. SWIM has had his two most intense and scary experiences after taking one hit of marijuana even though he has taken a fairly high dose of LSD and has taken low dose psychedelics more times than he can list. His only close friend to have had a scary experience had it on marijuana and wasn't scared on LSD.