“After the injection, you might think that we overdosed you and you have died.”

That ominous warning was part of the research volunteer interview for arguably the boldest, most revolutionary brain/mind/consciousness research ever performed: Dr. Rick Strassman’s University of New Mexico School of Medicine study investigating the effects of N,N-dimethyltriptamine (DMT) on humans.

I was Research Volunteer #34.

Strassman explained that he believed DMT was involved in the death (or near death) experience, and the pineal gland released a large burst of it.

“Sort of the booster rocket for the soul?” I asked, half in jest.

“Yes. Sort of the booster rocket for the soul,” he replied.

In his book, DMT the Spirit Molecule: A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences, Strassman described his research from a medical perspective, including the bizarre and other-worldly experiences of the volunteers. I describe what it was like to actually be a volunteer. I relate my experiences reconstructed from extensive journal entries and tape-recording transcripts of the sessions. Besides descriptions of my experiences in The Study I also share the ongoing beneficial impact being a study participant has had on my life decades later as well as the bizarre and horrifying experiences at an infamous ayahuasca retreat.
Forward comments by Dennis McKenna and Rak Razaam.