Rick Strassman

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Dr. Rick Strassman (born 1952 in Los Angeles, California, United States [1]) is a medical doctor specialized in psychiatry with a fellowship in clinical psychopharmacology research.[1] Dr. Strassman was the first person in the United States after twenty years of intermission to embark in human research with psychedelic, hallucinogenic, or entheogenic substances. During the intermission period, research was restricted by law to animals studies only.

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[edit] DMT study

Dr. Strassman's studies investigated the effects of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a powerful entheogen, or psychedelic, that he theorizes is produced by the human brain in the pineal gland. DMT is found naturally in various natural sources, and is closely related to human neurotransmitters such as serotonin and melatonin, which helped create the basis of this theory. During the project's five years, he administered approximately 400 doses of DMT to 60 human volunteers. This research took place at the University of New Mexico's School of Medicine in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he was tenured Associate Professor of Psychiatry. Dr. Strassman has conjectured that when a person is approaching death, the pineal gland releases DMT, accounting for much of the imagery reported by survivors of near-death experiences. He wrote about the research program in his book DMT: The Sprit Molecule, and a documentary movie based on this book is currently in production. [2]

[edit] Other areas of interest

Dr. Strassman has also conducted similar research using psilocybin, a psychedelic alkaloid found in hallucinogenic mushrooms.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Rick Strassman, DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences, 320 pages, Park Street Press, 2001, ISBN 0-89281-927-8
  • Rick Strassman, Hallucinogens (chapter), in Mind-Altering Drugs: The Science Of Subjective Experience, 402 pages, Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-516531-4

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Rick Strassman.
  2. ^ DMT: The Spirit Molecule (movie).

[edit] External links

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