Alissa Hirshfeld-Flores, M.A., LMFT, The American Journal of Psychiatry, August 2002
This book is a highly readable, intriguing, provocative description of Rick Strassman's theories and research concerning the effects of DMT.


Andrew Weil, author of Spontaneous Healing
"Rick Strassman's pioneering research work with DMT raises fascinating questions about the neurochemical basis of experience. Truly adventurous reading!"


James Dekorne, Fortean Times, November 2001
What you will find is a thoughtful, well-written report about another of life's mysteries.


Rupert Sheldrake, author of The Presence of the Past
Fascinating and provocative. A remarkable exploration of the boundaries of science and consciousness itself.


Bruce Greyson, editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia
The Spirit Molecule is a tantalizing peek into a new model of how the brain and mind work.


Karl Jansen, M.D., Ph.D.
This book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the mind, philosophy, the nature of reality, and spirituality.


Jonathan Ott, author of The Age of Entheogens and Hallucinogenic Plants of North America
DMT: The Spirit Molecule points the way beyond the present impasse of the reigning "drug abuse" paradigm.


Ralph Metzner, Ph.D., author of Ayahuasca: Consciousness and the Spirits of Nature
The most extensive scientific study of the mental and perceptual effects of a psychedelic drug since the 1960s.


John Mack, MD Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, author of Abduction, and Passport to the Cosmos
Strassman's important research contributes to a growing awareness that we inhabit a multi-dimensional universe.


Larry Dossey MD, Author of Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words; Executive Editor, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine
Strassman raises vital questions about the origin of spiritual experiences and the nature of consciousness.


Book Description
Strassman's research connects DMT with the pineal gland, considered by Hindus to be the site of the seventh chakra and by René Descartes to be the seat of the soul. DMT: The Spirit Molecule makes the bold case that DMT, naturally released by the pineal gland, facilitates the soul's movement in and out of the body and is an integral part of the birth and death experiences.


About the Author
Rick Strassman, M.D., lives in Taos, New Mexico, and is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

SYNOPSIS

A clinical psychiatrist explores the effects of DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known.
* A behind-the-scenes look at the cutting edge of psychedelic research.
* Provides a unique scientific explanation for the phenomenon of alien abduction experiences.

From 1990 to 1995 Dr. Rick Strassman conducted FDA- and DEA-approved clinical research at the University of New Mexico in which he injected sixty volunteers with DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known. His detailed account of those sessions is an extraordinarily riveting inquiry into the nature of the human mind and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. DMT, a plant-derived chemical that is also manufactured by the human brain, consistently produced out-of-body, near-death,
and mystical experiences. Many volunteers reported convincing encounters with intelligent nonhuman presences: angels, aliens, spirits. Nearly all felt that the sessions were among the most profound experiences of their lives.

Rick Strassman's pioneering research work with DMT, a natural psychedelic drug used by Amazonian Indians, raises fascinating questions about the neurochemical basis of experience and the feasibility of conducting human research with mind-altering drugs in a university medical center. Truly adventurous reading!Strassman's research connects DMT with the pineal gland, considered by Hindus to be the site of the seventh chakra and by Rene Descartes to be the seat of the soul. DMT: The Spirit Molecule makes the bold case that DMT, naturally released by the pineal gland, facilitates the soul's movement in and out of the body and is an integral part of the birth and death experiences, as well as the highest states of
meditation and even sexual transcendence. Strassman also believes that alien abduction experiences are brought on by accidental releases of DMT. If used wisely, DMT could trigger a period of remarkable progress in the scientific exploration of the most mystical regions of the human mind and soul.

FROM THE CRITICS

Fortean Times

What you will find is a thoughtful, well-written report about another of life's mysteries.

Trip

Strassman's research was an important step, one that will potentially illuminate the path for future researchers and volunteers alike, and this book is a great contribution to the ongoing dialogue surrounding psychedelics.

Book Reader

This is probably the most thorough book on the psychedelic, DMT-its history, chemistry, uses (legal and illegal, and its effects. This is a very compelling, thoughtful book, written by a scrupulous scientist with the soul of a meditator...

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Rick Strassman's pioneering research work with DMT, a natural psychedelic drug used by Amazonian Indians, raises fascinating questions about the neurochemical basis of experience and the feasibility of conducting human research with mind-altering drugs in a university medical center. Truly adventurous reading!(Andrew Weil, author of Spontaneous Healing) — Andrew Weil