> this particular drug is not just mind altering, it is life altering. It unlocks things in your mind that permanently change your perception.

I agree, but to 100x less of a degree than learning French, or becoming very good at chess.

One thing we need to pay attention to is the degree to which this chemical, and this class of chemicals, have been romanticized by the culture. Especially because these drugs make you more suggestible, expectations picked up from social lore can dominate one's subjective experience, and the memory of it.