23.11.06

Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)

Okay, so the word is on the street that my last few posts...er, make that all of my posts, have been, how shall we say, a tad dry. And chock full of comas. Ergo, I am totally going to post about psychedelic drugs for a while, since pretty much everyone thinks that these things are rad.

According to this groovy textbook I acquired today, the term "psychedelic" was coined by this dude named Humphry Osmond, a Canadian psychiatrist who: a) helped pioneer the use of psychedelic drugs in psychotherapy and b) turned Aldous Huxley (the guy who wrote Brave New World) onto mescaline. In essence, psychedelic drugs are those that produce LSD-like effects on the human psyche. They include LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline (the big three), as well as a bunch of other drugs that have similar chemical structures as the three biggies. One of these other drugs is dimethyltryptamine, better known to those in the know as DMT.

Dig these facts about DMT:

  • present in a number of plants used by the indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest and the Caribbean
  • has a relatively simple chemical structure that is present within the structures of both LSD and psilocybin
  • occurs naturally at low levels in the human body and may have roles in dreaming and near-death experiences (far out!)
  • became popular in the 60s as "businessman's LSD" since a typical trip lasts only an hour (onset of effects within seconds, peaks in 15 minutes, and return to normal within less than an hour)
  • got a rep for producing more bad trips than LSD, but Timothy Leary and his Harvard buddies injected each other with it and found that this was bogus
Perrine, Daniel M. The chemistry of mind-altering drugs: history, pharmacology, and cultural context. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society, 1996.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine

5 chemically inspired comments:

Doctor Fong said...

This stuff is nuts. PLease know what you are doing before trying it. Make sure you are in a safe place with somewhere soft to collapse.

Anonymous said...

As a habitual marijuana smoker, regular mushroom eater, and regular LSD consumer, I decided to try DMT for the first time a few days ago. The experience was fabulous, but very intense. It is not like any other drug. It brings you to new places, and opens up new doors in your mind. The 15 minute trip, which to me was clearly a three day trip (how many days I felt the trip lasted for) was a phenomenal visual, sound, and euphoric trip. Only for the last 2-3 minutes did I have thoughts of "bad" tripping, which I had to fight off. I can not recommend the use of DMT to any non-seasoned trippers.

Anonymous said...

WOAH!

Anonymous said...

Would you recommend ayuascha to newbies?

Anonymous said...

i am 17 and i smoke cannabis regularly, although i havent tried shrooms or LSD yet i have tried a little bit of DMT, i was told that i shouldnt do DMT as my first big drug, but i look at it as this; if your brain releases it when you dream (REM sleep) and you cannot die from a dream, there is no reason why i or anyone should have second thoughts about this drug. also i have done extensive research about this drug because i find it fascinating, i reccomend that people should learn more about a drug before they experience it. just so they have a more open mind and dont freak out because they arnt expecting that intense of an experience.