How have drugs changed you?

I'm interested to know how many of you can honestly say i'm the same person as when i started my drug taking career? Tell me how drugs have changed you into the person you are today? I know i have had physical (health) changes, as well as emotional, spiritual and general lifestyle changes since i started taking drugs, stopped taking other drugs and so forth. Tell me how profoundly, journies to that happy place we all search for, and escapes from the dark side have influened your story?

I now have 11 fingers...
But seriously, I have discovered a lot about myself and my life through the insights of acid.
Acid saved my life

I've realised that materialistic things in life aren't as important as I thought they were. It made me realise that my friends mean to me my whole life.

"... yeah, before drugs I was a nobody. I was broke, had lost my job, was facing eviction from the government housing I was renting, and my girlfriend had left me. Then I discovered hard drugs, and now I have a reason to get out of bed every day. I'm motivated, goal-oriented, and I know exactly what it will take to get fulfilment out of each day. I have heaps of friends, I'm filled with confidence, and I've lost that shyness that used to stop me from taking what I wanted out of life. Thanks hard drugs, for making me a driven person with ambition..."
BigTrancer

Drugs are great if you are single and want to just hang out with your friends and be part of the group sailing through life experiencing as much as you can.
When you are in a relationship then it becomes more difficult.
My fiance and I have been together for two years now and we had both done pills for a while prior to meeting each other but were pretty cool with them when we started seeing each other, in fact we were not Eing together for the first month at all. All of a sudden we slipped into the habbit of going out lots and doing it all over again, it was great and it enabled us to talk more about ourselves and be close.
Whats happened now after all this time is that the drugs which once pulled us together is now only serving to tear us apart because when we get on it, then we are only concerned with talking loads of crap to people we hardly know and spending days on end in a group situation and not spending time together alone. We would go the whole night and not have spoken to each other which is pretty shitty.
In my case I feel that pills have had a serious negative impact on my life not to mention the associated cost. However we all know that it can be fun to so it just comes down to what you are looking for out of the gear !!!

I've discovered how expensive drugs are.
How much of a munter I can be.
That I dance like an epileptic chimp.
and that too much acid does not mix well with work...
and most of all that they are not to be taken seriously (both quantitive and emotionally).
and don't even get me started on the clothing I now have in my wardrobe...

^^^^^
Hurry up and turn blue dude, you're giving greenlighters a good name!
Seriously though - I totally agree, and I actually think I'm at a similar stage as dim_mak. My ecstasy honeymoon is long over (mine didn't last long at all) and the apeal of everything else is waning. I initially used drugs out of curiosity, and the fact that I've now tried just about everything except heroin, research chems, and a couple of psychedelics means that I'm getting tired of rehashing the same old experiences. A couple more to knock off the list and then I'll probably be done with it...
So how have they changed me - well they've opened my mind fully... who'd have thought two years ago that I'd have no problems with people using heroin if that's what they chose to do... and they've also given me self confidence, because you need to get a grip on who you are to be able to learn anything from drugs...
I've found things out about myself that I think would have taken much longer to discover any other way, and my way of thinking has been permanently altered for the better. But they haven't really changed me in some magical epiphany - they've just been a catalyst for me to realise some things quicker than I might have otherwise...
And I'm going to stop now, because this turned out more like a rant and not an essay, so I can't wind it up nicely with a conclusion...

Yeah beware ppl, drugs can shake yr whole identity. One minute you'll be doing smack and getting round in black clothes- life is simple. The next, you discover E and it's a slippery slope to a wardrobe full of fuckin fluro. I dunno who I am anymore...

hmmm i cant deny i havent changed because i know i have in a very good way tho i think. I think so differently now ive learnt not to worry bout petty little things that used to upset me or piss me off. Not giving a shit bout things and just worrying bout myself, close friends and family, i know it sounds bad and kinda selfish but i think at the end of the day its my life no1 elses ill do what makes me happy Oh but in the process no one gets hurt or upset i make sure of that.
As for physically ive lost heaps of weight and at one satge i was looking extremely sick but thats all passed and i look extremely healthy now
The best thing ive learnt is at the end of the day im not going to worry bout what people think of me wheather it be how i look, how i act, how i behave etc as long as im not hurting anyone and im happy then its all good :D
In a way i think it was also the party scene as well as the drugs that have changed me for the better
SPACE over n out

Anfalicious... Acid also saved my life!
Otherwise I would probably be a bored tart that smokes too much with a greasy smelly computer programmer-wannabe husband who has affairs with 17 year old girls.... and totally regreting not going to macquarie uni and doing the astrophys degree...
*Thanx to nyx for the fantastic rainbow learys all those years ago, and for also inadvertantly pissing the wannabe-programmer off enough for me to dump him and go out with you, cos you were much hoopier! also thanx to nyx for introducing me to e... No thanx to nyx for being a junky and stealing my computer... *
but seriously, i have become a much happier, more social and much more productive person ever since i really started getting into it...
Thanx drugs! Youre the greatest!
Andromeda

I don't know if drugs have changed me as such but they made me realise things about myself and life that deep down i already knew!
They made me see what a great person i am, what great friends i have, how important it is to be happy, not to give a fuk what other people think of me (unless i value that persons opinion), to be open minded, just to enjoy each day as it comes and a heap of other stuff. Each time i took drugs was a lesson in itself.
I already knew all of this stuff before i started taking drugs but never really acknowledged it and it was like the drugs held a mirror up to me and forced me to look at all that stuff!
I'd have to agree with Pleonastic and say that the what i learnt about myself is stuff that i would of learnt eventually but it would have just taken a bit longer.
I've stopped the drugs now because i think i've learnt all i can from them (well the learning finished a while ago but i just kept using them for the sake of it) So not sure if drugs have really changed me but they made me open my eyes to myself and the world! I'm sure i would still be the same person i am today even if i had never touched drugs

Thanx peoples , there are some really interesting posts here. I know this question would have been asked before, but it's an oldie and a goodie, and as DM said people change from the honeymooners to the all but jaded (here's looking at you pleo ). It seems that most people agree that drugs are a window upon the soul and a vehicle for change, be it good or bad.
Oh yeah Anfalicious acid has saved my life many times but acid and meth almost destroyed the life giving vitae of LSD!

i have a dead end job and i live only for the weekend.. my life resembles that movie human traffic
*Goes hunting for a life*
but seriously wot did the bikkies teach me?? how to be a more affectionate person.

Drugs have given me a new way to explore relationships. They may not have changed me per se, but they have changed my perception of myself, and my perception of my perception.

Today I am a happier, more tolerant person, with a much heightened sense of the world around me
The insights gleaned off ecstasy, marijuana and acid have stuck with me in times of straightness and I have incorparated them into my personality
I have stopped drinking and feel healthier than I have in years
I am now a person who asks questions, and seeks answers.
I am now a proactive person who has dreams rather than goals. I now follow a path towards a fuzzy end, one without a defined climax, and this makes me happy. No more will I be judged by the material things in life, I have learnt that you dont need to compare yourself to someone more successful financially.
I no longer feel hatred, and no longer feel insignificant.
I am part of a world wide culture of togetherness
I am me
Life is good