In the first two books there are elusive descriptions of practical/magical use of certain drugs. From the third book and forward there are no use or even a mention of drugs or drug use. It says in the third book, early in the intro, that drugs where not the only avenue to Don Juans teachings. In the fourth book it says that the drugs used is not necessary in the general case.

It says that psychotropic drugs where used in the beginning of Castanedas training to shake him and to speed things up. Castaneda also says, on several occations, that drugs are harmful and inflict permanent damage to the body.

Castaneda has since many times denied that drugs should be essential, and he have not on any occation recommended their use. (Search the net for references!) There have been huge crowds of 'hippies' roaming the desserts of Mexico for sacred cactii, nearly making them extinct in some areas. Poor M e s c a l i t o ... 

Furthermore: The different drug experiences described by Castaneda does not look anything alike what others commonly experience on the same drugs, so it is easy to draw the conclution that (if Castaneda was telling us what he really experienced) there where more things influenting his experiences than the pure drugs.

Besides, no-one seems to know what was in don Juans smoke mixture or his other concoctions, not even Castaneda himself, although he participated in the collection of the  m u s h r o o m  smoke mixture. He have said that he is not even certain of the exact spieces of the  p s i l o c y b e  mushroom [letter to Wasson].

I generally make no recommendations or comments on this subject, but since drug use is so popular these days among the young wannabe shamans/ shamanesses I will say this:

1. Drugs do make permanent changes to the mind. You have to concider if you really want these changes. Not everybody does.

2. Don't do drugs as the first step on the mystical path! Practice 'real' stuff a year or a couple of years first! This is a good advice for several reasons.

3. Do your homework, read everything (everything!) about the drug before trying. Keep in mind that you will almost never find anything about the adverse effects of the drug, people in mental hospitals don't produce 'trip reports', and you will find alot of propaganda telling you how great certain drugs are. Some drugs, like the infamous  D a t u r a,  are not nice.  D a t u r a  may kill you, and almost no one takes  D a t u r a  more than once.

4. Do not use drugs regularly. Do not use drugs for recreation. If you need to use them, for any purpose, then you are a junkie. Avoid  o p i a t e s  (h e r o i n e,  o p i u m,  m o r p h i n e,  c o c a i n e  etc) and  a m p h e t a m i n e s  at all costs, as they make changes to you that you do not want.

5. If you feel you must, use only hallucinogens. Be careful. Use a babysitter who can watch over you. (D a t u r a  is not a hallucinogen, it's a deleritant. )

Six and last. You are on your own. The responsability is yours. But then again, it always was...