DMT, OR N,N-DIMETHYLTRYPTAMINE, is an extremely powerful yet short-acting psychedelic drug, derived from tryptophan, a chemical substance that is found universally in living systems.1 Pharmacologically, DMT is a relatively simple molecule. It has been used for centuries by various cultures for ritual purposes in that it induces alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, and cognition. For example, in South America, indigenous tribes have long consumed ayahuasca, which is derived by decocting two plants native to the Amazon forest—Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis. Taken separately they have no hallucinogenic effect, but when brewed together they can induce an extraordinary visionary state lasting for several hours.2
It was not until 1931 that Western science became aware of DMT after it was synthesized in a laboratory by Canadian chemist Jeremy Manske. In 1946, a Brazilian chemist and ethnobotanist, Gonçalves de Lima, isolated DMT from plant sources. The psychotropic effects of DMT were first described in 1956 by the Hungarian-born chemist and psychiatrist Stephen Szára after he self-injected the synthesized substance.3 In 1965 a German team announced that they had discovered DMT in human blood.