The Spirit Molecule

This book is a highly readable, intriguing, provocative description of Rick Strassman’s theories and research concerning the effects of N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT)—a short-acting and powerful plant-derived psychedelic chemical that is endogenously produced in the human brain—and what its evolutionary and psychological function might be. In this intellectually courageous book, which reads more like a novel than a scientific text, Strassman, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, recounts the history of psychedelic research; the bureaucratic labyrinth he had to navigate to begin the first clinical research with psychedelic substances approved by the Drug Enforcement Administration in more than 20 years; his methods and results (including case descriptions of what his volunteers encountered while taking the drug); the dangers of experimentation with psychedelics as well as possible beneficial effects; and speculations regarding the body’s built-in mechanisms for contacting spiritual realms. Throughout, Strassman shares his feelings about his research and the personal and ethical dilemmas he encountered along the way in an authentic and honest manner, which makes him a narrator who seems not only sympathetic but familiar.

Beginning in the 1950s, DMT had been studied as a possible cause of schizophrenia, before the 1970 Congressional law made further research nearly impossible. Strassman begins with the question, What is DMT doing in our bodies? He wonders why the brain so actively seeks it out, transporting it across the blood-brain barrier and very quickly digesting it. He hypothesizes that DMT is produced by the pineal gland—what Descartes termed 'the seat of the soul' and what he calls the 'spirit gland'—and is released during naturally occurring psychedelic states, including childbirth, the dying process, dreams, and a variety of subjective mystical experiences. Thus, Strassman posits that human beings have been designed with a biological mechanism that enables us to have spiritual experiences.

The research that Strassman describes, conducted at the hospital of the University of New Mexico between 1990 and 1995, includes a dose-response study, a tolerance study, and mechanism-of-action studies to determine which brain receptors mediate DMT’s effects. Sixty volunteers participated. There was no development of tolerance. Findings were inconclusive as to which serotonin receptor regulates DMT’s effects. Throughout the studies, Strassman monitored the effects of the drug on heart rate, pulse, hormone levels, and body temperature. For some subjects, he used an EEG or magnetic resonance imaging head scan to measure which brain sites were most active during a DMT experience. Throughout his report, he is sensitive to issues of set and setting; his orientation as a clinician is evident in the way he counsels volunteers through their psychedelic sessions and in his thoughtful follow-up with them.

Strassman emphasizes his frustration with trying to fit his spiritual questions into a biomedical research design. His ultimate goal was to establish the safe use of psychedelics under supervision and eventually shift to psychotherapeutically oriented studies. Unfortunately, Strassman never undertook his next wave of research—which was to involve work with the terminally ill—because of a multitude of obstructing factors, including family issues, lack of collegial support, criticism by his Buddhist community, the complexity of working with volunteers, ethical dilemmas regarding the use of psychedelics with the terminally ill, and questions as to the long-term benefits of psychedelics.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/kz3p4qhVhls