I listen to Psychedelic Salon, Lorenzo posted something a few days ago about some lost snippets from McKenna.

In one of the snippets he asks about the real life situation of psychedelic users versus others.
(Paraphrasing) "Are we more successful? Are we better educated? Do we treat our children better? That is what matters when the rubber meets the road and how we can see if this is a valid path".

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think our community and communities have more or less responsible people? Do they seem to go higher in their careers? Have more stable families?

Why is it in human nature to judge, quantify and classify everything? Why we strive to classify one group as being higher on the horse than another one?

I have to admit, sometimes I am guilty of such thoughts myself, sadly. The imprint of the society on my ego and domination instinct is too strong and I react without really thinking sometimes.

I think that it can be said for sure, that psychedelic users are more open-minded people on average.

Does it make them better or not, all things considered, not sure. Probably it just makes them more open-minded than average

Teonanacatl......... led to ripping hearts out.

The study's done on the use of psychedelics within the santo-daime, una de vegetal, and native american church communities, do suggest so.

But i don't know if these studies correctly represent the effects of psychedelics within any community, because in most societies, psychedelics do not play such a central role in community life.
In western society, it may very well be true that many users of psychedelic drugs are in fact 'self-medicating'. And thus, it could very well be that such a study in western society would show opposite results because the 'sample' of users of psychedelic drugs could consist of many former alcoholics and drug addicts, and so on: people who've been addicted to alcohol, meth or heroin, probably do less well in terms of health, career and general happyness. Statistically speaking.

So it's hard to say. I think that if you'd have a control group that would accurately represent the group of people who use psychedelics, you probably would see some benefits.

btw, it is a good question indeed.

I'm not sure one can generalize like that. But I'm pretty sure the world would be a better place if much more people used psychedelics, responsibly.

The people who would need to use psychedelics for us to change the world (Trump? the experience might be lost with psychopaths?) don't.

It has helped me open my eyes, I thirst for more knowledge and experiences. I have matured a bit through my use of psychedelics the last couple of years, spiritually and emotionally. But if I'm a better person for it? I still do all the things I know is wrong like before

Not to speak for everyone who was in a similar position but I used to be a heroin addict and DMT was one of the things that helped me quit that stuff. That was about 6 years ago. Now I am a Software Engineer and doing much better.

The way I have always looked at it is a kind of tool. If you use it looking for something or take what it gives you, you will probably get something out of it. You don't have to use it this way, much like how you can use a hammer. A hammer doesn't need to be used for nails, it can be used for painting if you're creative enough.

I see that a lot (maybe not heroine, but with alcohol).

Very true..

As a follow up:
I do believe many of these "qualities" are considered subjective. Is the fisherman who has a astrophysics degree "doing better" as a physicist or a fisherman. I think based on the person you asked, you would get better answers, mine would depend completely on what they thought themselves.

"are you happy"?

I think there is something to a simple life, Thoreau and Emerson would tilt this on it's head.

If I had to look at it, I really do think people who properly approach psychedelics in a respectful fashion are generally more loving and more aware of their own issues. I also think your point is valid, there are quite a few people I know that are addicts who are more willing to do Ibogaine than hit a center. (Not that I am making a call on what is actually better). Also professionals are less likely to "dox" themselves to get help. So maybe "yes and no" is the right answer but for the right reasons.