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sessions. our lives. 18 * PROLOGUE I asked him, "Did you ever give too much DMT to your volunteers?" Dr. Szara thought for a moment, then answered in his refined Eastern European accent, "Yes. They could not remember anything. They could not bring back memories of the experience. The only thing that remained with them was the feeling that something frightening had happened. We did not believe it worthwhile administering those kinds of doses." It is fascinating how many of the themes that would emerge over the next five years appeared that December morning when I administered 0.6 mg/ kg IV DMT doses to Philip and Nils. We hear about near-death and spiri- tual experiences, and contact with "them" in the DMT realms. I felt con- flicting priorities around friendship and research goals. The drawbacks of the hospital setting and medical model quickly were apparent. The need to give full psychedelic doses was already tempered by an awareness of their potential for negative reactions. There was a far-flung network of colleagues and regulators who variously assisted the project. All were there in some form or another in Philip's and Nil's 0.6 mg/kg IV DMT Let's now turn to the background for this research, the vast amount we know about psychedelic drugs, and the way our science and society have used that information. Then we can begin to understand the unique role DMT plays in our bodies, and the astonishing functions it may serve in