The enzymes and precursors in the pineal gland are not unique to it, but the high concentrations of these compounds, and the glands remarkably convenient location, make it an ideal source of the spirit molecule. Lung, liver, blood, eye, and brain all possess the appropriate raw materials for DMT production. In fact, for some years researchers jokingly referred to schizophrenia as a lung disease because of the high concentrations of DMT-forming enzymes within the lung! These other organs may produce DMT when the same sets of circumstances exist as those that would stimulate the pineal to do so. As radical as these theories were, I believed they could be tested using the traditional scientific method: designing experiments, analyzing data, and redefining the theories based upon results of this step-by-step research. So, the next step in this hypothesis-building process was to determine if DMT given to people reproduced the features of those experiences. If outside-administered DMT elicited effects similar to those presumably resulting from inner-produced DMT, such as near-death and mystical states, my hypotheses would be much stronger. Therefore, I needed to find some way to perform a human research study with DMT. However, I was studying melatonin, and this pineal hormones effects scarcely resembled those of DMT. Further studies into melatonins physiology seemed futile. A paper I wrote in San Diego on adverse reactions to psychedelics, published while I was performing the melatonin project, drew the attention of Rick Doblin, a tireless fund- and consciousness-raiser for psychedelic drug research. He invited me to a conference in 1985, where I met the major figures of the psychedelic research and therapy field. Representatives from a wide variety of disciplines joined together for wideranging, far-reaching discussions about what to make of, and do with, the psychedelic experience. These new colleagues provided support, inspiration, valuable experience, and crucial information. They made it much easier to begin conceptualizing how a psychedelic research project actually might look.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 22:48:19 +0000
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