Yep... my friend is still.... maybe 9 years later in hospital from it.... pineal gland :-( but whatever... I still love anything that takes me away from this world o'shite.....honestly after a year of solid work on these things I know both personally and medically effects if you want I can pm you and give you both experiences,,,,,

I haven't taken drugs since my early twenties. I am forty now. Though I have sorely thought of taking up drugs to try to feel some kind of happiness/break from the pain. When I did do drugs, I would have some weed, hash or cocaine. It was a trip and yes opened my mind up to trippy things. The cocaine just made me feel on a pleasant high and awake and I could club all night. Not done acid, that would be a bit too hard drug for me though sounds tempting like I say to break the pain. I won't do it of course.

Only "drugs" I do are weed and once in a while mushrooms. IMO, use of these substances is like anything else - there are tradeoffs to the benefits. Nothing is fully good or fully bad, which is why my main guiding principle in life is moderation.

I'm not sure weed has "opened my mind" a whole lot, but it sure does relax me and put me at ease, allowing me to just be and allow what thoughts pass to pass. I have to control my thoughts all the time - for the sake of concentrating on tasks, for the sake of managing depression, for a lot of reasons - so it's refreshing to smoke a joint or a bowl at the end of the night and just "be".

As for damaging your chances of breaking free from depression - I think that your lifestyle as a whole is more important here than any one particular aspect of it. If your use of substances moves out of the "moderation / recreation" zone, this is obviously going to cause damage - if you, say, become lazy or unmotivated, or whatever else because you've allowed one aspect of your life to consume far more of your time and energy than it should. But as far as I'm concerned, weed is no different in this respect than television or junk food.

It has been suggested by a counselor in my past that regular use of weed can help to perpetuate depression, however she was clear in saying that the evidence for this is not substantive or conclusive.

I played alot when I was younger. Liquid LSD was fun, tabs, not so much. mescaline was the most fun Ive ever had talking to myself, morning glory hurts, salvia is another painful experience.
I crave that feeling of tripping out, not for the drugs, just so my mind can be totally free to do as it does in a scenario that I remember. (I havent really remembered a dream in 5 years or so)
I also worry that the times when I did unlock my mind and had a bad experience have given me 'trigger points'. I suppose Im second guessing myself here but I do wonder how much my drug use has contributed to this problem

Im at the point where I can accept that all drugs are poisons, otherwise we would feel no effect. There always has to be a trade off.

This is a concern that is probably best discussed with a medical or psychiatric doctor. They've read the studies, they've learned all about the human body and brain - they know more about these things than a bunch of random internet users with depression LoL

However, if you want my take, it is this: life is full of woulda's, coulda's and shoulda's... it is also full of shouldn'ta's.

The past is the past and you can't change it now, so whether your drug use has caused, exacerbated or perpetuated the problem or not, you can't change it now anyways. If you were to find out that they have hurt you, and someone offered you a time machine that worked - would you change it? If you found out they hurt you, but couldn't do anything to change it anyways because it's in the past - would you regret it? I think those are the important questions.

There are plenty of things I have done in my life that I know full well have hurt me - but I wouldn't change them, and I don't bother regretting them. Because it's all a part of who I am and who I will be.

I think part of the problem is a lot of drugs give you such an intense experience that ordinary life pales in comparison and you get to feeling "blah."

Like everything needs to be intense or you feel like you're just going through the motions.

I've tried coke, ecstasy and weed. I only do weed very rarely. I don't think it hurts but I don't think it benefits.
Ecstasy was bad for me. I completely lost it, talking to myself, rubbing my hands on my face until it was red, I didn't sleep for ages and the come down put me into a period of depression that I've only just come out of.
Coke is amazing, I relate to how you say you feel when I comes to coke. I've never felt happier. But I don't want to make it a habit. If I ever do it again, which I probably wont I'd want it to feel that good every time. I don't want to find the bad side to it.

I really think doing ecstasy was a bad move for me. I don't think my depression would have been quite as bad without it.

I think you can experience that freedom of mind without drugs if you're willing. I have moments like that. I drive to the beach by myself and I feel that euphoria of freedom and the quality time alone gives me the chance to think exactly what I need to think.

It's called B-Cognition or peak experiences. Look up a psychologist called Abraham Maslow. You can have moments of Euphoria in daily life. I think it's probably beneficial for us depressed folk if we can find a way to do it naturally.

Here's the wiki anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_experience

This song does it to me for a few seconds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urWsYlkqhbk