DMT: The Spirit Molecule

by Rick Strassman

In addition, before entering into a complicated double-blind study, we thought it best to begin a volunteer’s involvement in the research by first giving them two “non-blind” doses of DMT. An introductory low dose of 0.05 mg/kg would let people settle in to the research setting without having an effect so strong that it might disorient them. A subsequent high dose, 0.4 mg/kg, would let volunteers experience the greatest level of intoxication they would ever reach on any subsequent double-blind day. We called this the “calibration dose.” If someone received their first high dose in the middle of the full study but didn’t know it was the most they’d ever get, they might drop out for fear of getting even more of an effect on another dose. With a non-blind high dose, volunteers had the option of dropping out of the study right away, before we had begun collecting a lot of data on them. So subjects actually would receive six doses of DMT—two non-blind and four double-blind.