Perhaps you should question yourself for bias against the substances being discussed, unless you wish to admit the obvious, i.e. that you have questionable reading skills. OP does not have a substance abuse problem. Billions of people across the planet use alcohol, marijuana and any number of other substances to achieve precisely the same thing that he is seeking to achieve, and they do so successfully and with aplomb.
I'm gunna use what I got.
“Who of us is to say that the goal of this life is not in the leaving it?” —Vladimir Nabakov.
</soapbox> with my apology.
Yes! I agree wholeheartedly. What the human mind and body can do is monumental and incredible. The depth and breadth of experience we are capable of is truly mystical.
It is this very capacity for near-magical experience that has me very wary of casual use of mind-altering drugs of any sort. I look through the comments on this thread and am horrified by the number of people who think that the highest form of human socialization and relaxation is achieved only through an altered state of consciousness. That to really live, we have to take a substance that changes how we live. The sense seems to be not that the human mind is capable of incredible feats in its own right, but that the human mind is mostly a great conduit for externally-injected meaning and value. It is this perception that concerns me.