There are some books I would recommend reading to get a better idea of Hinduism.
The Concept of Rudra Shiva throug the Ages by Mahadev Chakravarti
Religious Doctrines in the Mahabharata by Nichols Sutton
A History of Indian Literature, Vol. 1 by Moriz Winternitz
The Triumph of the Goddess by C. Mackenzie Brown
Devi Mahatmya by Thomas Coburn
Hindu Goddesses by David Kinsley
All of these books are available for sale on Google. The Triumph of the Goddess should be available for sale but some books published by SUNY have been taken off of the Play store but this has been in error. However, it has been a pretty long while and Google has not put them back up for sale yet so I don't know when they will, but I was told by SUNY that this was an error. Studying Hinduism academically will give you a deeper understanding of the religion and these books mentioned above are not that abstract.
Also, as someone else mentioned, the use of mind altering substances has been done in ancient cultures and Shamans still do it. You can look up Bhang on Google. Soma used to be used in India but no longer. You can also look up the Ambrosia Society.
philemby got a reaction from CaliOM in Is Shiva on Drugs?