N,N-DMT
| Other Names
Dimethyltryptamin, dimethyltryptamine, DMT, nigerin, nigerina, nigerine (1946), AT,N-dimethyltryptamine, 3- [2-(dimethyl-amino)ethyl] -indole Substance type: tryptamine (indole alkaloid) R. H. F. Manske first created DMT as a synthetic substance in the laboratory in 1931. It was not until 1955 that it was isolated as a natural compound in the seeds of Anadenanthera peregrina. It is found in a great number of plants and also occurs naturally in humans and other mammals (see table, pages 853-854). N,N-DMT is closely related to 5-MeO-DMT and psilocybin/psilocin. N,N-DMT and 5-MeO-DMT are among the psychedelics whose effects are short in duration. They are not orally effective in an isolated form (as a salt or abase) because the MAO enzyme breaks them down before they can pass through the blood-brain barrier (cf. ayahuasca, f3-carbolines). They reveal their awesome effects only when injected by syringe (Strassman et al. 1994), snuffed, or smoked. When N,N-DMT or 5-MeODMT is injected intravenously, the effects last some forty-five minutes; when the substance is smoked or snuffed, the effects last only ten minutes. Subjectively, however, those few minutes may seem to have spanned centuries. People who have had experiences with DMT unanimously agree that it is easily the most powerful psychedelic known (cf. McKenna 1992; Meyer 1992). Some people have described DMT as "crystallized consciousness." When DMT is smoked, it is said that the "scent of enlightenment" fills the air. Only "a few seconds after taking it, DMT acts like the trumpets of Jericho upon the gates of perception" (Kraemer 1995, 98). DMT experiences can be so extraordinarily alien that most subjects find it extremely difficult or even impossible to describe them in words. Many people speak of contact with strange beings (aliens, fairies, machine elves, et cetera) (Bigwood and Ott 1977; Leary 1966; McKenna 1992; Meyer 1992). When pure DMT is smoked or vaporized and inhaled, the effective dosage lies around 20 mg (although amounts as high as 100 mg are sometimes smoked). The dosage for ayahuasca and ayahuasca analogs ranges from 50 to 100 mg. When DMT is injected, the typical dose is 1 mg/kg of body weight (Ott 1993,433*). DMT is also produced in the human nervous system, where it appears to serve an important function as a neurotransmitter (Barker et al. 1981; Callaway 1996; Siegel 1995b). Neurobiologists are as yet uncertain about the role DMT might play in the nervous system. Hyperventilating causes the concentration of DMT in the lungs to increase (Callaway 1996). One physician has reported that the release of endogenous DMT is highest at the moment of death. It is my opinion that this chemical messenger is responsible for the ultimate shamanistic ecstasy, for enlightenment, and for the merging into the "clear light of death." An experiment in which DMT was given to practicing Buddhists found that the subjects had experiences and visions that corresponded to the Buddhist teachings (Strassman 1996). DMT has clearly inspired numerous novels in the fantasy and science-fiction genres. The novel Kalimantan deals with the search for a fictitious hallucinogenic drug called seribu aso. The descriptions of the effects of this drug agree perfectly with the descriptions of DMT trips (Shepard 1993). Several novels, including the Valis trilogy of the science-fiction master Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), also appear to represent a literary attempt to understand the hyperdimensionality of DMT experiences (Dick 1981a, 1981b, 1982). Commercial Forms and Regulations DMT occurs as a free base, an HCL, and a fumarate. Although the fumarate crystallizes out easily, it contains only 600/0 of the pure substance. DMT is classified as a Schedule I drug in the United States and is a "narcotic drug in which trafficking is not allowed" in Germany as well as in Switzerland (Korner 1994,38*). |
Plants Containing DMT
(from Block 1994*; Smith 1977; Montgomery, pers. comm.; Ott 1993*; Schultes and Hofman 1980, 155*; supplemented)
Literature See also the entries for 5-MeO-DMT. Arnold, O. H., and G. Hofman. 1957. Zur Psychopathologie des Dimethyltryptamine. Wiener Zeitschrift fur Nervenheilkunde 13:438-45. Barker, S., J. Monti, and S. Christian. 1981. N,Ndimethyltryptamine: An endogenous hallucinogen. International Review of Neurobiology 22:83-110. Bigwood, Jeremy, and Jonathan Ott. 1977. DMT: The fifteen minute trip. Head 11:56 ff. Callaway, James. 1996. DMTs in the human brain. In Yearbook for Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness (1995), 4:45-54. Berlin: VWB. Dick, Philip K. 1981a. The divine invasion, New York: Vintage Books. ---. 1981b. Valis. New York: Vintage Books. ---. 1982. The transmigration of Timothy Archer. New York: Vintage Books. Kraemer, Olaf. 1995. Die Trompeten Jerichos. Wiener 9:97-99. Lamparter, Daniel, and Adolf Dittrich. 1996. Intraindividuelle Stabilitat von ABZ unter sensorischer Deprivation, N,N-Dimethyltryptamin (DMT) und Stickoxydul. In Jahrbuch des Europiiischen Collegiums fur Bewufitseinsforschung (1995), 33-43. Berlin: VWB. Leary, Timothy. 1966. Programmed communication during experience with DMT. Psychedelic Review 8:83-95. Manske, R. H. F. 1931. A synthesis of the methyltryptamines and some derivatives. Canadian Journal ofResearch 5:592-600. McKenna, Terence. 1992. Tryptamin hallucinogens and consciousness. In Yearbook for Ethnomedicine and the Study ofConsciousness (1992),1:133-48. Berlin: VWB. Meyer, Peter. 1992. Apparent communication with discarnate entities induced by dimethyltryptamine DMT. In Yearbook for Ethnomedicine and the Study ofConsciousness (1992),1:149-74. Berlin: VWB. Shepard, Lucius. 1993. Kalimantan. New York: Tom Doherty Associates. Shulgin, Alexander T. 1976. Profiles of psychedelic drugs. 1: DMT. Journal ofPsychedelic Drugs 8 (2): 167-68. Smith, Terence A. 1977. Tryptamine and related compounds in plants. Phytochemistry 16:171-75. Strassman, Rick J. 1996. Sitting for sessions: Dharma and DMT research. Tricycle 6 (1): 81-88. Strassman, Rick J., Clifford R. Qualls, Eberhard H. Uhlenhuth, and Robert Kellner. 1994. Doseresponse study of ~N-dimethyltryptaminin humans. Archive of General Psychiatry 51:85-97, 98-108. Szara, S. 1. 1956. Dimethyltryptamin: Its metabolism in man; the relation of its psychotic effect to the serotonin metabolism. Experientia 15 (6): 441-42. |