An epidemiologist, veterinarian and budding psychonaut, Dr. Heather Hannah thrives in dynamic environments. A creative team-player, her career is inspired by bridging disciplines and fostering evidence-informed solutions for positive impacts. She is a Chacruna Graduate.
Extended state dimethyltryptamine (DMT) may be the next frontier in characterising the complex effects of psychedelics. This approach offers an opportunity to advance past dominant and harmful paradigms, opening doors to new ways of perceiving the world.
N,N-DMT is a naturally occurring psychedelic found, according to Alexander Shulgin (1997), “almost everywhere you choose to look (p.249).” The earliest evidence in South America of psychoactive plant use dates to 2130 BC in the form of seeds, pods and pipes recovered from archeological sites in northern Argentina (Torres & Repke, 1996). Historically, Anadenanthera peregrina and Anadenanthera colubrina, were some of the most widely used shamanic psychedelics and were believed to be inhaled through the nose as snuff or smoked in pipes or cigars. Multiple active tryptamines or indole alkaloids are known to occur in the seeds and different parts of Anadenanthera trees, including N,N-DMT, 5MEO-DMT and bufotenine (Torres & Repke, 2014). In the pre-contact pre-Hispanic world, these psychoactive plants were considered intermediaries between the supernatural realm and the human world. There is evidence for the continuous use of Anadenanthera snuff over four millennia for visionary purposes. Anadenanthera remains culturally, medicinally, and economically significant in South America (Torres & Repke, 2014).
As plant-based extracts, ayahuasca, Anadenanthera, and other naturally occurring sources of DMT are complex biochemical mixtures. To study DMT on its own, it must be extracted from natural sources or synthesized, either through chemical reactions or genetically engineered biosynthetic processes (Friedberg et al., 2024). First synthesized in the laboratory by Canadian, Richard Manske in 1931, DMT’s hallucinogenic properties were further explored in 1956 by Hungarian chemist and psychiatrist, Stephen Szara, who extracted it from the Mimosa plant and administered it to himself intramuscularly (Barker 2018). This sequence of events led to establishing the link between the historical use of many DMT-containing plants for cultural and religious rituals and sacraments and modern science’s understanding of the chemical structure of DMT compounds and their effects on the psyche (Barker 2018).
Extended State DMT: An Opportunity for Investigation
DMT consistently generates one of the most unusual states of consciousness, but its short duration of effect has prevented fully characterizing its effects. An avenue of inquiry that has sparked interest and debate is that of extended state DMT. Extending the interval of peak DMT experience provides time for more in-depth analysis. This technology could be a powerful tool when managed in a controlled manner, catering psychedelic effects to the individual while expanding the understanding of consciousness research. A recent study explores the limits of extended DMT in understanding this unique state of consciousness.
“DMT consistently generates one of the most unusual states of consciousness, but its short duration of effect has prevented fully characterizing its effects.”
Routes of Administration Matter
When taken orally, DMT is quickly metabolised by the enzyme, monoamine oxidase (MAO) and loses its psychoactive properties. However, DMT maintains psychoactive properties when administered by routes that avoid enteric and hepatic first-pass metabolism, namely through inhalation, intramuscular (IM), and intravenous (IV) injection. The onset of effects with IV administered DMT are almost immediate, reaching elevated serum levels nearly instantly. Duration of effects following IV administration are typically 10 to 30 minutes (Vogt et al., 2023). Unlike some other compounds with affinity for serotonin 5HT2A receptors, the lack of acute psychological tolerance to the subjective effects of DMT makes it a candidate for prolonged exposure.
A study by a team at Imperial College London who have been working with DMT for some time (Timmerman 2017), tested a protocol which combined an initial loading dose with a constant-rate infusion that extended the immersive DMT experience up to 30 minutes. In healthy volunteers, at all doses tested, the psychological effects plateaued into the desired steady state while plasma DMT concentrations continue to increase (Luan et al., 2024). The findings from this study reinforce that extended DMT states can be consistently produced and maintained safely and effectively, creating conditions that allow for deeper exploration of the neuroscience of consciousness.
Extended state DMT: The Next frontier
Historically, traditional uses of psychedelics emphasized the power of these plant-based medicines to convey information and provide teachings for individuals and societies. This same overarching theme of the teaching presence afforded in the DMT space factor prominently in the extended DMT state and in interviews with past participants. Having established the conditions that permit deeper investigation into the nature of consciousness, neuroscience, and potentially a new world within and outside of the human psyche, the foundation from which to take off is solidly established. In seeking to understand the DMT world, it has been suggested that our brains do not create DMT experiences, rather our consciousness uses DMT to gain access to an alternative world. With assistance in building the scaffold in which to process the experiences in real-time, the conceptual practices that create consciousness might be experienced and elucidated. This is not a novel idea: Terrance Mckenna (1994) described having received such advice from DMT entities, “they assured me that they loved me and they told me not to be amazed; not to give way to astonishment.” With the ability to prolong the breakthrough DMT state, it is conceivably possible to experience initial emotional reactions of amazement, and to learn to respond rather than react, in a similar manner to how emotional intelligence teaches us to process volatile reactions and systematically respond with maturity. Greater objectivity during extended state DMT may risk making the profound less so – or it may be the very component that is needed for the exploration of consciousness that might allow it to be deconstructed. By approaching extended DMT experiences with greater objectivity, we may be able to perceive “the forest and the trees.”
Psychedelic Enlightenment Eclipses the Renaissance
Extended state DMT is proposed as a potential approach to explore the metaphysics of the mind, in essence, the application of psychedelics as a transhumanist technology. In creating a more inclusive understanding of existence, the post-humanist philosophical framework challenges the anthropocentric concept of humans as the apex species. Rather, consider the sophistication of the “Wood Wide Web” or the complex and overlapping ecological systems where mycelia demonstrate behaviour that can only be described as intelligent (Sheldrake 2019). Relative to mycelia, human evolution is nearly stagnant—with a technological boost like extended state DMT, we may precipitate opportunities for meaningful transformation.
“Extended state DMT is proposed as a potential approach to explore the metaphysics of the mind, in essence, the application of psychedelics as a transhumanist technology. In creating a more inclusive understanding of existence, the post-humanist philosophical framework challenges the anthropocentric concept of humans as the apex species.”
Extended DMT states appear to convey cognitive abilities, with participants reporting an awareness of traits they did not know they had. These new abilities unlocked by the DMT experience may be more akin to senses, potentially suggesting that humans may have many more than five senses that modern day humans have lost the ability to recognize and use. Could entity encounters occasioned during extended state DMT experiences unlock and reawaken vestigial senses and traits, being able to convey hyper human intelligences that exert evolutionary advantages by augmenting old traits? This idea may not be far-fetched: several volunteers who experienced multiple extended DMT states reported that repeated experiences appeared to occur as events in a sequence, picking up where the previous experience left off.
Making the World a Better Place
The potential for shifts in paradigms, for promoting cultural humility, for fostering empathy, for challenging the mainstreaming and globalization of psychedelics, and for addressing harms caused to marginalized communities, among others is evident in the work of past volunteers of extended DMT state studies. One such example is Alexander Beiner (2023), who wrote about his experiences in The Bigger Picture, in which he illuminates how psychedelics can help find new ways to make sense of the crises we face in the world and what it takes to elicit personal and cultural transformation. Another example is psychedelic researcher, Leor Roseman, who pioneered the use of psychedelics for peacebuilding with groups of Palestinians and Israelis (Roseman et al, 2021), and whose research interests include communal and social uses of psychedelics to enhance connectedness. These two examples demonstrate the potential for extended DMT states to have profound impacts in creating more just societies, for addressing intersectionality hurdles and for finding alternative and more humane ways of being in the world.
The Future of Extended State DMT
The extended state DMT experiment is still in its infancy. There is tremendous interest in exploring this modality in greater depth and it may be a catalyst for a map of human consciousness, one that distinguishes the edges of human consciousness and potential connections with other consciousnesses.
“As an experimental modality, extended state DMT shows promise to better understand the neurological basis of the effects of psychedelics.”
Extended state DMT does not factor in the traditional historical record of psychedelic use as these states have only been made possible through modern technologies in chemistry and biosynthesis. As an experimental modality, extended state DMT shows promise to better understand the neurological basis of the effects of psychedelics. It may also provide opportunities to test what we believe to be true in our environment and possibly, to validate universal “truths” that presently elude comprehension. By allowing the time and space to perform other analytical modalities while in peak experience states, extended state DMT may prove to be the launching pad for many other types of studies.
As more research is conducted, we will better understand the psychedelic space occasioned by extended state DMT, and it may uncover answers to bigger questions of neuroscience and fundamental human consciousness, while potentially delivering therapeutic solutions. Ultimately, we may learn whether the extended state DMT can yield greater insights into the nature of human consciousness or potentially as a mirror reflecting the true consequences of Western imperialism, or any of the myriad reasons that cause us to venture into the psychedelic space in the first place.
References
Barker, S. A. (2018). N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), an endogenous hallucinogen: past, present, and future research to determine its role and function. Frontiers in neuroscience, 12, 536.
Beiner, A. (2023). The Bigger Picture: How Psychedelics Can Help Us Make Sense of the World. National Geographic Books.
Friedberg, L. M., Sen, A. K., Nguyen, Q., Tonucci, G. P., Hellwarth, E. B., Gibbons Jr, W. J., & Jones, J. A. (2023). In vivo biosynthesis of N, N-dimethyltryptamine, 5-MeO-N, N-dimethyltryptamine, and bufotenine in E. coli. Metabolic Engineering, 78, 61-71.
Luan, L. X., Eckernäs, E., Ashton, M., Rosas, F. E., Uthaug, M. V., Bartha, A., … & Timmermann, C. (2024). Psychological and physiological effects of extended DMT. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 38(1), 56-67.
McKenna, T. (1994). True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author’s Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil’s Paradis. Harper Collins. Quote retrieved from: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Terence_McKenna
Roseman, L., Ron, Y., Saca, A., Ginsberg, N., Luan, L., Karkabi, N., … & Carhart-Harris, R. (2021). Relational processes in ayahuasca groups of Palestinians and Israelis. Frontiers in pharmacology, 12, 607529.
Sheldrake, M. (2021). Entangled life: How fungi make our worlds, change our minds & shape our futures. Random House Trade Paperbacks.
Shulgin, A., & Shulgin, A. (1997). TIHKAL: the continuation. Transform press.
Timmermann, C., (2018, February 6). The DMT experience, the human brain & the science of consciousness. Chacruna Chronicals. https://chacruna.net/dmt-experience-human-brain-science-of-conscisousness/
Torres, C. M., & Repke, D. (1996). The use of Anadenanthera colubrina var. Cebil by Wichi (Mataco) shamans of the Chaco Central, Argentina. Jahrbuch für Ethnomedizin, 1996, 41-58.
Torres, C. M., & Repke, D. B. (2014). Anadenanthera: visionary plant of ancient South America. Routledge.
Vogt, S. B., Ley, L., Erne, L., Straumann, I., Becker, A. M., Klaiber, A., … & Liechti, M. E. (2023). Acute effects of intravenous DMT in a randomized placebo-controlled study in healthy participants. Translational Psychiatry, 13(1), 172.
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