Anyone can see my history with mind-altering substances here .

As to what the impacts were: well, I would say my sense of humor has changed a bit. The....absurdity of the everyday? Bleeds through more now. As an example, I occasionally think about how strange it is we keep animals in our houses. It's kind of a weird thing, which we just take for granted.

I trip whenever I get a break from both work and school (obviously I have to be in the mood as well). Trips seem to put everything in context for me, and bring to the forefront what I am worrying about. Sometimes, for example, I will just have a basal stress level, and not really notice it, but while tripping, I generally realize exactly what I am worrying about, and that's helpful to resolve it.

I certainly don't think it's a placebo, but I also don't observe many STRONG changes to myself or my ways of thinking between trips. I do think that people tend to over-value every thought they have while tripping, because it feels extremely meaningful. Writing your thoughts down and going back the day after a trip, then the week after a trip tends to put those thoughts in a more reasonable context. Some things just don't translate to sober life, some are complete nonsense, and some are valuable insight.

I certainly think that psychedelics should be examined for medical uses. It's ridiculous to say that they cannot have a strong impact on the conscious mind, I suppose the question is how predictablely positive can we make the experience? If, in proper controlled settings, we could achieve, say, a 1/50 negative experience, with 49/50 feeling positively afterwards, I would say it has very good medical utility.