Rick Strassman - Clinical Research in Psychoactives

Clinical Research in Psychoactives

Dr Strassman's studies aimed to investigate the effects of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a powerful entheogen, or psychedelic, that he hypothesizes is produced by the human brain in the pineal gland. DMT is found naturally in various natural sources, and is related to human neurotransmitters such as serotonin and melatonin.

There is speculation involving the role DMT may play in the dream state. Upon entering the REM stage of sleep, minute amounts of DMT are most likely released into the bloodstream after one has fallen asleep. Strassman refers to DMT as the "god molecule" or "spirit molecule" due to many users claiming of contacting non-human or god-like beings under the alkaloid's influence. During the project's five years, he administered approximately 400 doses of DMT to 60 human volunteers. Of the 60 human volunteers who've ingested DMT under Strassman's watch, more than half reported similar experiences. These experiences ranged from profound encounters/interaction with non-human beings to observing highly detailed, self-transforming geometric patterns and other things of similar nature. This research took place at the University of New Mexico's School of Medicine in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he was then tenured Associate Professor of Psychiatry. Dr. Strassman has conjectured that when a person is approaching death or possibly when in a dream state, the pineal gland releases DMT in a relatively large amount, accounting for much of the imagery reported by survivors of near-death experiences.

However, Strassman has not provided much of the explanation for the mechanism's mysterious qualities by which this synthesis could produce levels of DMT that would lead to such effects. Although the necessary constituents (see methyltransferases) needed to make DMT are found in the pineal gland, the enzyme's stereospecificity only allows for the conversion of serotonin to melatonin and vice versa. Others in the field of neurochemistry have not accepted this explanation of DMT's role in this function due to the absence of supporting evidence (i.e. a plausible synthesis mechanism or direct evidence that DMT is found in higher concentration in the body under these circumstances). Dr. Strassman has also noted that the pineal gland first becomes visible at approximately the forty-ninth day of fetal development, nearly exactly the same moment that the gender of the fetus can first be determined. He noted that this was the same length of time that the Tibetan Book of the Dead teaches it takes for the soul of the recently dead to "reincarnate", and that the location of the pineal gland corresponds to the location of the Keter (Crown Sefirah) in Judaism, and the Sahasrara (Crown Chakra) in Ayurveda. He has detailed his research in his book DMT: The Spirit Molecule; and a documentary film by the same name, based on this book has also been produced. Dr. Strassman has also conducted similar research using psilocybin, a psychedelic alkaloid found in hallucinogenic mushrooms.