DMT: EFFECTS, CHARACTERISTICS AND MECHANISM OF ACTION - ARTE - 2024

The DMT or N, N-Dimetiltriptamina is a psychedelic drug and entheogenic. Many people consider this narcotic as the most powerful drug that exists and its main effects lie in the alteration of consciousness, stimulation of the central nervous system and perceptual distortion.

DMT is used as a drug of abuse in different regions of the planet, its high potential has been demonstrated and it is pointed out that its consumption can generate important alterations in brain function.

DMT crystals

In this article, we will review the characteristics of DMT, clarify its mechanism of action, the effects it produces on the brain, and the experiences that its use can cause.

Characteristics of N, N-Dimethyltryptamine

Chemical structure of DMT

N, N-Dimethyltryptamine, which from now on we will name as DMT, is an entheogen, that is, a plant substance with psychotropic properties that when ingested causes a modified state of consciousness. This substance is found naturally in many plants and animals, and belongs pharmacologically to the tryptamine family.

Despite making a natural substance, in recent years its use as a drug of abuse and recreational use has become widespread, mainly due to the effects on consciousness and the experimentation of hallucinations that it produces.

DMT as a psychedelic, that is, as a drug, can be found both in natural extracts and in synthesized forms. In its recreational use, the DMT adopts different nomenclatures such as executive tripi, dimitri, false ecstasy or robocop, among other forms of slang.

Naturally, this substance appears as a white crystalline solid, however, when it is made synthetically, it takes an impure form and usually appears yellow, orange or salmon.

This fact is relevant since the synthesized DMT (to be used as a drug of abuse) can present a different formulation and produce different effects on the nervous system when consumed.

However, it must also be borne in mind that by synthesizing DMT, impurities in the substance can be removed and a color and appearance identical to the natural substance can be achieved, so it is often difficult to differentiate a pure DMT from a synthetic DMT.

The DMT that was discovered in 1931 by extracting the active principle from ayahuasca. It became very fashionable in British clubs but is now consumed mainly by "psychonauts."

Psychedelic / hallucinogenic substance

Both natural DMT and synthetic DMT belong to the group of substances known as psychedelics or hallucinogens.

These types of drugs are grouped into the same classifying entity due to the intense effects they produce on perception, thought and emotion. Its historical use is linked to magical or mystical aspects such as relating to spirits, finding cures for diseases or entering different worlds.

However, nowadays the recreational use of these substances is more widespread and not all people consume it under religious or mystical contexts. There are multiple psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs, and each contains a number of specific characteristics.

We can find hallucinogenic mushrooms such as amanita muscaria or psilcybe, hallucinogenic plants such as atropa belladonna, mescaline or cannabis, and synthetic drugs.

Specifically, DMT belongs to the latter subgroup of hallucinogenic substances, that is, hallucinogenic synthetic drugs.

Hallucinatory synthesis drug

Designer drugs are psychoactive stimulant substances of synthetic origin, created from the modification of the chemical structure of certain natural products or medicines.

In this way, these substances are synthesized in laboratories by simple chemical methods in order to enhance or sharpen the effects of a given substance.

There are multiple types of synthetic hallucinogenic drugs such as synthetic opiates, arylcyclohexylamine, amphetamine derivatives, phenethylamines, and triptamines.

Of all of them, the DMT corresponds to the last subcategory, so we can classify this substance as a hallucinogenic, synthetic substance and belonging to the tryptamine substances.

This fact shows us that even though DMT is found naturally, its trade and use as an illicit drug is carried out through the synthesis of the substance, so its effects can be somewhat unpredictable..

Effects edit

DMT can be ingested orally although it is usually consumed smoked, and it can be mixed with marijuana or tobacco. Its effects last between 45 and 60 minutes, which can be divided into different phases: after 20 seconds the first effects appear, during approximately 15 minutes the "trip" is experienced and in the last 15 minutes residual effects appear.

The first effect that the DMT drug usually produces is perceptual distortions. Consuming relatively low amounts of this substance already tends to experience uncolored visions, and disturbances of the notion of time and space.

With higher amounts one can experience what is known in slang as "Blase", an intense perceptual alteration characterized by the feeling that one stops being oneself and becomes another person.

Another important effect of this drug is based on emotional communication. The individual who is under the effects of DMT will present emotional reactions of an extremely high intensity.

Finally, experiencing strong and very elaborate hallucinations, non-verbal communication with unreal beings, the sensation of traveling spiritually to other realities or planes, mental expansion or subjective intensity are other very common effects of DMT.

Stages and sensations after DMT consumption

Accurately describing the effects of this drug is difficult due to the serious sensory alteration it produces. In fact, it is argued that DMT is the drug with the greatest potential for perceptual distortion and that its consumption invariably produces the experimentation of extremely elaborate hallucinations.

People, naturally, do not experience the sensations that DMT produces, so verbalizing its effects through language becomes a difficult task.

This fact is explained by Terrence Mckenna, a writer, speaker, philosopher and psychonaut who used DMT more than 30 times and who tried to explain exactly the characteristics of the effects of the drug.

To clarify the effects of DMT, this author made 8 different stages that are experienced after consumption of the substance:

First touch

McKenna described that immediately after taking DMT, the first psychedelic effects begin to be experienced.

The senses are heightened, colors begin to shine brighter, edges are more defined, and distant elements begin to be seen more clearly.

The first perceptual alterations, mainly visual, begin to be witnessed.

Second touch

Later, the perceptual alterations increase, when closing the eyes the colors move and come together, forming a chromatic figure that rotates slowly.

The author named this image "the chrysanthemum," which lasts about 10 minutes.

Third touch

The chrysanthemum is then split. When this visual alteration occurs, an auditory hallucination can also be experienced, characterized by a sound similar to the bursting of a flame.

Explosion

It consists of the highest effect produced by the drug that we have previously described as Blase.

McKenna assumes the difficulty of delimiting this sensation with words and, therefore, describing the effects that are experienced.

In general, it is a severe and very elaborate hallucination, in which the person witnesses himself in a different place, in a parallel reality.

Many DMT consumers call this place "the dome" and it is described as a dimly lit place, where the walls move slowly and geometric and color hallucinations are experienced.

Paralysis

This fifth experience produced by the drug serves to define a good part of the characteristics of its effects.

According to McKenna, the effects of the drug do not affect the idea that one has of oneself.

After the explosion in a different reality, the individual realizes the change, and wonders why he is not where he was before, where he is now and what is happening to him.

Appearance of unreal beings

People who are under the effects of DMT witness strange and unreal beings. There is some confusion when defining this hallucination and the characteristics of the elements that are perceived.

There are people who claim they are aliens, others who believe they are people from a parallel world, dead people or humans from the future.

However, it is argued that DMT produces visual hallucinations in which one sees, communicates and interacts with unreal people (the product of hallucination).

Body hallucinations

It is described as a less typical experience but appears in some individuals who use DMT. It is a hallucination that combines unreal bodily sensations with the appearance of language.

In this way, the person can feel how when speaking, language travels through different regions of the body providing different physical sensations.

Diffusion

Finally, the hallucinations fade and are experienced with less intensity.

McKenna relates this feeling as the fading of dreams when you start to wake up.

Mechanism of action of DMT

DMT is a triptamine alkaloid with an indole core. Its oral use among humans is possible thanks to the synergy between an MAOI (inhibited by monoamine oxidase) and plants that contain tryptamine such as Mimosa hostilis or psychotria viridis.

Thus, DMT can be consumed orally if an MAOI is added (if it is not added, it does not produce psychedelic effects) or by the most common route, smoked.

It is usually consumed in doses that vary between 15 and 50 milligrams, although there are experiences of consumption with up to 150 milligrams.

Once consumed, it easily accesses the brain regions, overcoming the blood-brain barrier that separates the bloodstream of the brain from the current of the rest of the body.

It is hypothesized that the synthesis of this substance could be carried out in the pineal gland, a small endocrine region of the brain.

Furthermore, it has been discovered how DMT plays a fundamental role in the human nervous system as a regulator of the SIMA-1 receptor, however, the specific brain mechanism of action that this drug develops has not yet been detailed.

DMT as an endogenous substance

The discovery that this substance could act in the pineal gland of the brain not only served to know some of the effects of the drug, but also allowed us to know that the substance DMT is produced naturally by the brain.

Not only do we find DMT in plants or plant elements, but humans themselves secrete this substance in a normal way in our body. Specifically, DMT is produced by the pineal gland, a region on the roof of the diencephalon that is popularly known as "the third eye."

The main function of this gland is to produce melatonin when there is no light, a fact that regulates the wake-sleep cycle. Likewise, the pineal gland performs sensory activities, being considered one of the main visual pathways that allows converting the light information captured through the eyes.

On the other hand, it is a region with an important antioxidant power, participates in the apoptosis processes of cancer cells in the thymus, and controls endocrine and growth-related aspects.

Finally, the pineal gland produces Dimethyltryptamine, that is, DMT, which is responsible for producing the visual effects of sleep, enhancing internal consciousness and controlling the notion of time and reality.

This substance is secreted in small amounts normally by the brain, however, when DMT is consumed, the drug is "added" to the endogenous dimethyltryptamine.

This fact would explain a good part of the effects of the drug since the functions that this substance controls would be altered with the entry of the drug and the massive increase in the amount of DMT in the pineal gland.

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