DMT 133
may seem slower if many events crowd simultaneously on someone’s con-
sciousness—an explanation that does not require time itself to alter. Likewise,
industrious investigators have detected changes in the eye during DMT in-
toxication, changes that the brain may interpret as light and that a person can
“see” as hallucinations.
Drawbacks.While under DMT’s influence a person can experience memory
trouble, shortened attention span, and altered perception of one’s body. Phys-
ical effects may include dizziness, nausea, tingling, trembling, weakness, and
breathing difficulty, along with higher body temperature, heart rate, and
blood pressure. Reportedly a typical human-size dose per body weight is
enough to kill a sheep.
Some researchers suspect that excessive natural production of DMT and
related substances by a person’s body processes may be the cause of schizo-
phrenia and other psychotic conditions. Research along that line has produced
mixed results. One study found that DMT levels generally went up and down
in psychiatric patients, depending on outbreaks of psychotic behavior and
return to normalcy, but timing of the shifts did not always match changes in
patients’ conditions. In addition, psychologically normal persons with liver
disease can have DMT levels about as high as those found in schizophrenic
individuals.
Abuse factors.Human experimentation has detected no development of tol-
erance to DMT’s psychological effects. Tolerance to some physical actions
(such as higher pulse rate) has been measured, but tolerance to increase of
blood pressure has not been seen. Mice form a tolerance to DMT, and rats not
only acquire a tolerance to DMT but have also exhibited cross-tolerance with
LSD (meaning the drugs can be substituted for each other, in some ways at
least). Humans have also shown partial cross-tolerance between those two
drugs. Cats and monkeys fail to develop tolerance to various DMT effects
(such as changes in appetite, behavior, and coordination) but apparently tol-
erance can develop to other effects. Some researchers feel that DMT tolerance
is an uncertain phenomenon at best.
Drug interactions.Not enough scientific information to report.
Cancer.Not enough scientific information to report.
Pregnancy.Not enough scientific information to report.
Additional scientific information may be found in:
Fish, M.S., and E.C. Horning. “Studies on Hallucinogenic Snuffs.”Journal of Nervous
and Mental Disease124 (1956): 33–37.
Gillin, J.C., et al. “The Psychedelic Model of Schizophrenia: The Case of N,N-
Dimethyltryptamine.”American Journal of Psychiatry133 (1976): 203–8.
Riba, J., et al. “Subjective Effects and Tolerability of the South American Psychoactive
Beverage Ayahuasca in Healthy Volunteers.”Psychopharmacology(Berlin) 154
(2001): 85–95.
Rosenberg, D.E., et al. “The Effect of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine in Human Subjects Tol-
erant to Lysergic Acid Diethylamide.”Psychopharmacologia5 (1964): 217–27.
Shulgin, A.T. “Profiles of Psychedelic Drugs—DMT.”Journal of Psychedelic Drugs 8
(1976): 167–68.
Strassman, R.J. “Human Psychopharmacology of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine.”Behav-
ioural Brain Research73 (1996): 121–24.