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" entire process, what physiologists call "arm-to-tongue time, about 16 seconds.! is usually 6 * PROLOGUE Most recreational DMT users smoke it in a pipe, sprinkled on mari- juana or a non-psychoactive herb. This is not the ideal method of getting DMT into your body. The drug often catches fire, which is disconcerting when you are trying to inhale as much of the vapor as possible. The smell of burning DMT is intensely nauseating, like that of burning plastic. As the drug takes effect and the room seems to begin breaking up into crys- talline shards, your body following suit, it becomes nearly impossible to know if you are inhaling or exhaling. In that state of intoxication, imagine trying to breathe into your lungs as much of this flaming, foul-odored blob of chemical as possible! The fastest and most efficient way to administer DMT is by injection. Intramuscular injections depend on the relatively limited blood flow through muscles to drain away the drug, and it is the slowest type of injec- tion. Drugs also may be given into the skin, or subcutaneously, where the slightly richer blood flow makes for a faster, though usually painful, method. Injection into a vein is the best method. From the intravenous, or IV, injection site, drug-rich blood returns to the heart. The heart pumps this blood through the lungs; from there it reenters the heart and then makes its way out to the rest of the body, including the brain. The time for this I consulted with my colleague who had made the DMT, David Nichols, Ph.D., at Purdue University in Indiana. He agreed that I needed to switch to the intravenous route. Reflecting upon our mutual anxiety about this change in plans, he added dryly, "I'm glad it's you and not me." It was time to consult with Dr. W., the physician at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) who, after helping guide the project through the two-year regulatory process, was now overseeing its performance. When I asked his opinion, he laughed and said, "You are the only research scientist in the world giving DMT. You're the expert. You decide." He was right, but I was nervous about entering such uncharted terri- tory so quickly, after giving just one dose of DMT. There was only one previously published report that described giving DMT intravenously, but