DET
Pronunciation:dee-ee-tee
Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number:61-51-8
Formal Names:Diethyltryptamine
Type:Hallucinogen.Seepage 25
Federal Schedule Listing:Schedule I (DEA no. 7434)
USA Availability:Illegal to possess
Pregnancy Category:None
Uses.In rats DET actions resemble some ofbufotenine’s, but DET effects
in humans are likened to those ofmescalineandLSD. Volunteers report major
changes in body perception, such as feeling porous or having an empty chest
or absent hands. Sometimes users feel they are outside of their bodies. Hal-
lucinations may seem real; typically they are visual, but sometimes sounds
and smells are perceived as well. Users have reported that faces of individuals
around them look different, taking on a masklike or caricature quality. Barriers
between senses may erode, for example, allowing sounds to be seen. Altered
perception of time is common. Perception of space can also change; a room’s
size may appear to grow, with walls getting further away or becoming curved,
or motionless objects may appear to keep coming closer. Typically conscious-
ness becomes fuzzy, with persons reporting they feel partially asleep.
Reactions to such experiences differ. A researcher who engaged in self-
experimentation, once a more common procedure in science but now uncom-
mon, reported that his mood flipped back and forth between happiness and
anxiety. He also reported temporary autism while intoxicated by the drug.
Another self-experimenting scientist noted a need to avoid interacting with
people. A group of artists and professional colleagues of researchers who
wanted to explore creative possibilities with the drug were ecstatic about what
happened to them. Some had spiritually moving experiences; afterward some
felt impelled to begin creating artwork they had never attempted before. The
substance can promote meditation, allowing repressed concerns to emerge.
For that reason the drug was considered to have potential in psychotherapy.
One research team reported examples of reticent schizophrenics becoming
communicative while under DET’s influence, revealing honest information
that benefitted therapy. In a setting where users feel safe they may become
more sensitive to one another’s emotions and have genial interactions.