What is DMT?

History of Use

Europeans who first arrived in the Caribbean and in Central and South America came into contact with indigenous peoples who used DMT derived from plants to induce hallucinations as part of their religious experience. The explorers tried to suppress these practices, which persisted, often in secretive settings.

DMT was first synthesized in a laboratory in 1931 by chemist Richard Manske. It
gained popularity as a drug of abuse in the counterculture of the 1960s. In 2006,
the US Supreme Court ruled in Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente
Uniao Do Vegetal that a Brazilian church in the United States could
import and use hoasca, a tea containing DMT, for their religious ceremonies,
saying that the practice is protected by the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration
Act. According to the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the use of DMT in
the United States has increased from roughly 688,000 users in 2006 to more than
1.4 million in 2012.

Effects and Potential Risks

DMT is the shortest-acting of commonly abused hallucinogens. Its effects are evident within ten minutes, peak at about thirty minutes, and usually end within an hour. Hence the street name businessman’s special.

Physical effects of DMT abuse include increased blood pressure and heart rate,
agitation, dizziness, nystagmus (involuntary, rapid eye movement), and loss of
coordination. At high doses, seizures and respiratory arrests have occurred.
Psychological effects of DMT abuse include intense visual hallucinations,
depersonalization, auditory distortions, and altered sense of time and body image.
DMT causes anxiety attacks far more frequently than does the hallucinogen
LSD (acid).

Bibliography

Abadinsky, Howard.
Drug Use and Abuse: A Comprehensive Introduction. 8th
ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2013. Print.

Julien, Robert M.,
Claire D. Advokat, and Joseph E. Comaty. A Primer of Drug
Actions. 12th ed. New York: Worth, 2010. Print.

Kuhn, Cynthia, Scott
Swartwelder, and Wilkie Wilson. Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the
Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy. 4th ed. New
York: Norton, 2014. Print.

Ruiz, Pedro, and Eric
Strain. Lowinson and Ruiz's Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive
Textbook. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 2011.
Print.