Chemical structure of dimethyltryptamine
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Dimethyltryptamine

Dimethyltryptamine, also known as DMT and N,N-dimethyltryptamine, not to be confused with 5-MeO-DMT, is a hallucinogenic tryptamine, similar in structure to the neurotransmitter serotonin. DMT is created in small amounts by the human body during normal metabolism. Pure DMT at room temperature is a colorless waxy or crystalline solid. DMT was first chemically synthesized in 1931. It also occurs naturally in many species of plants. DMT-containing plants are used in several South American shamanic practices. more...

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It is one of the main active constituents of snuffs like yopo and of the drink ayahuasca.

DMT is not orally active unless it is combined with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI), such as harmaline. Without an MAOI, the body quickly metabolizes DMT, and it therefore has no significant hallucinogenic effect.

Hallucinogenic properties

DMT is a powerful psychoactive substance. If DMT is smoked, injected, or orally ingested with an MAOI, it can produce powerful entheogenic experiences including true hallucinations (perceived extensions of reality). A trip sitter is often employed to assist the drug user in staying physically and mentally healthy, and, in the case of smoked DMT, to catch the pipe when the user loses awareness of it.

Smoked: If DMT is smoked, the maximal effects last for a short period of time (30 minutes +). The onset after inhalation is very fast (less than 45 seconds) and maximal effects are reached within about a minute.

Insufflation: If DMT is insufflated (snorted through the nostrils) it will last slightly longer than if smoked and has less powerful effects.

Injection: Injected DMT produces an experience similar to inhalation in duration, intensity, and characteristics, although by some accounts it is more emotionally clinical (versus spiritual).

Oral ingestion: DMT, which is broken down by the digestive enzyme monoamine oxidase, is inactive if taken orally, unless combined with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). The shamanic potion ayahuasca, or yage, is a tea-like admixture of the boiled leaves, bark or roots of a variety of plants, usually including Psychotria viridis, which contains high levels of DMT, and Banisteriopsis caapi, which contains harmala alkaloids that are powerful MAOIs. A common source in the western US is Reed canary grass or Phalaris arundinacea, and Harding grass or Phalaris aquatica. This invasive grass contains high levels of DMT and other alkaloids . Taken orally with an appropriate MAOI, DMT produces a long lasting (over 1 hour), slow onset, high intensity experience. MAOIs should be used with extreme caution as they can make common over-the-counter drugs and foods toxic.

Induced DMT experiences can include profound time-dilation, visual and audio hallucinations, percieved journeys to paranormal realms, and encounters with spiritual beings or other experiences that, by most first hand accounts, defy verbal or visual description.

In a 1988 study conducted at UNM, psychiatrist Rick Strassman found that approximately 20% of volunteers injected with high doses of DMT had experiences identical to purported alien abductions.

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Letters - Letter to the Editor
From Science News, 9/1/01

Know what amine?

Your story on trace amines in the brain ("Obscure brain chemicals draw new attention," SN: 7/21/01, p. 37) neglected to mention the most interesting and well-studied of these, the powerful endogenous hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT's role in endogenous psychosis was studied intensively in the 1960s, before research with these drugs became so controversial. We recently subjected DMT to intensive study in a group of normal volunteers. Our inability to invoke tolerance, as well as others' findings that DMT crosses the blood-brain barrier, continues making DMT the most likely candidate for a trace amine of great physiological significance.

Reinventing the wing?

In your article on powered exoskeleton development ("Dances with robots," SN: 6/30/01, p. 407), you mention the one-person flying machine being developed by Millennium Jet to fly at more than 70 miles per hour, at altitudes of 2,400 meters (7,900 feet), and for a "maximum load of 200 kilograms" (440 pounds). This project is an attempt to recreate a solution provided more elegantly 20 years ago by Williams Research Corp. with their demonstrated flight capability of the Williams Aerial Systems Platform (WASP) II, which was capable of 65-miles-per-hour level flight, altitude of 10,000 feet, and a combined load of pilot, fuel, and payload of 518 pounds. Why are the taxpayers paying good money to reinvent the wheel?

The jet-engine-powered WASP could fly only for a few minutes on a tank of fuel, had control problems, and was as noisy as a jet plane, according to Michael Moshier, who heads Millenium Jet in Sunnyvale, Calif. In contrast, the flying platform his company has been developing is expected to cruise stably for hours per tank using relatively quiet fan engines, he says. --P.W.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Science Service, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group

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