Drugs fall into different categories regarding the reason why people use them as well as their effect. Here are some commonly appearing taxons: (1) Drugs which

Drugs fall into different categories regarding the reason why people use them as well as their effect. Here are some commonly appearing taxons: (1) Drugs which are used to control a certain set of behavior or cultivate a certain desirable state of mind (caffeine, nicotine). - This group can be addictive not only because of the psychoactive properties of the drug but because the necessary state of mind for some necessary activity (i.e. certain forms of work) is amplified or facilitated by the drug (2) Drugs which are used to open the mind to various forms of sensation that the mind is not normally able to perceive and/or process. -- Here we are on difficult epistemological ground because, although various religions and practioners attest various common experiences as the result of ingesting various substances (e.g. the merging of consciousness and "mind reading" via peyote) there is little collaborating scientific evidence, in my mind indicating the 'epimaterial' properties of the experience. (3) Drugs which are used to induce "good feelings" -- this category is esp. prone to serious forms of addiction including absorption in the state of mind cultivated by the drug. With these categories in mind (albeit suggestive and not definite) can one categorically dismiss drugs? My own answer is no, at the moment I make fairly extensive use of (1) and at various points have branched into (2). That said, I view (1) as undesirable since you are developing dependencies and, ideally, stimulants should be replaced with self-cultivation of the appropriate state of mind. The extent to which this is possible I am not sure, but I recognize that at various points in my life I have been much more productive than I am currently without the use of (1). As for (2) the substances can also be extraordinarily dangerous and in many related religious traditions practice with a more experienced person (usually a shaman of some sort) is mandated because of the potentially live changing nature of the experience (negative or positive, see the Datura stories on Erowid for a poignant example, most of them prompted by Castneda's highlight of Dature in his Don Juan chronicles). So, as with most other areas of life, the answer is not yes or no, but know yourself and know exactly what you are dealing with.