En exclusivité pour vous mesdames et messieurs... une mini-interview de Rick Strassman ! :yawinkle:
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>>As a psychedelic researcher, what have been the major difficulties you have encountered? (Studies, law, colleagues, money…)[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Keep in mind that I began working on my project in 1988, initiated the actual study in 1990, and left the University in 1995. Things have changed to some extent over the last 20 years in that much more research is taking place.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]At the time, I needed to start from scratch. There had been no US projects of this type for nearly 20 years when I submitted my requests. An entire regulatory structure had been built up since the passage of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970 and a lot of work was necessary to get the various regulatory and funding agencies talking to each other. Specifically, I needed to obtain a Schedule I drug for clinical use. Animal studies with these drugs had continued after 1970, but these did not require any oversight by the Food and Drug Administration nor close communication between FDA and the Drug Enforcement Administration.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Funding was not much of a problem. I obtained a modest but significant seed grant from a private foundation which then legitimized my research in the eyes of the US federal government. Since no high-quality studies had taken place of humans in so long, the National Institute on Drug Abuse was quite interested in funding my project and I received funding for the two major series of experiments for which I had applied for support.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Colleagues were few and far between and this was one of the major problems contributing to the end of my studies. It was difficult to attract and retain qualified staff and I lacked colleagues at the University for the essential peer-review and support necessary for such demanding work.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]>>Do you think becoming a psychedelic researcher is harder elsewhere than in the United States?[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I don’t really know the answer to that. There was a German study with mescaline that came out before my DMT work and the Germans continued to publish on psychedelics after I left the University. In addition, the Swiss have been doing high-quality psychedelic research for almost as long as the Germans. There have been good studies in Spain researching ayahuasca and there are several projects taking place in the UK. It still is rather a nascent field, or perhaps more accurately is in the earliest stages of renaissance, so I think in any of the countries I just mentioned, having good training, qualifications, a track record of previous clinical research, and a solid simple research proposal would contribute to a high likelihood of success.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]>>Is it very difficult nowadays to get an authorization from the DEA to plan a psychedelic research? Do you think it might become easier as time goes by?[/FONT]
[FONT=&]As I mentioned, it’s been over 20 years since I got my DEA Schedule I permit. I think our DMT work opened the door for subsequent American researchers to interact with DEA and FDA in an easier manner because they knew the issues involved. The first paper I published regarding my DMT work was simply a description of how I worked through the regulatory maze. I like to refer to that paper as my “what if I am hit by a bus before I publish my data?” paper. I wanted other people to know how to get approval as I did.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Perhaps it is of value to consider rescheduling these drugs in a way that recognizes their research value, but does not overlook their acutely potentially highly disruptive effects. I have suggested the creation of a new Schedule, tentatively Schedule IA, where clinical research with these drugs would be easier from the DEA’s point of view if specially qualified researchers who are trained in working with these compounds had easier access to them. It would be akin to frequent travelers obtaining a permit allowing them to pass through security more quickly once they had been carefully screened initially.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]>>What are your expectations for the future of psychedelic research? [/FONT]
[FONT=&]So far, most of the research has been a reworking and modest evolutionary approach to previous studies in the 1950s and 1960s. That is, psychotherapy research, brain chemistry, “clinical spirituality,” drug abuse, psychophysiology, and so on. I think this is an eminently reasonable approach. One thing this new generation has learned is not to make the same mistakes the previous one did. No one is making wild eyed claims nor grabbing the media spotlight for their own psychological needs.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]At the same time, I do wonder about what we can do new this time. The creativity research from Stanford in the late 1960s is crucial to renew. In addition, I would like to see some attention directed towards unlocking the mysteries of DMT. Why is this compound endogenous to the human body? What is the location of the “DMT world”? What is the nature of the “beings” that so many people describe? I do realize the controversial nature of this line of inquiry, and great care must be taken to pursue such unconventional avenues as these.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]>>How do you deal with experiencing psychedelics by your own as a psychonaut and as a scientific researcher at the same time ?[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I get asked that a lot and have a stock answer. That is, if I admit to my own psychedelic drug use, I might be seen as a zealot. If I admit to having no such experience, I might be seen as not having any bases for establishing expertise in the field. My preference is to let my findings and hypotheses speak for themselves.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]>>What do you think about the pineal gland calcification theory?[/FONT]
[FONT=&]There are several aspects to the questions I receive about pineal gland calcification. My understanding of pineal calcification, although I admit to not having looked into the area very carefully for 25 years, is that it is not the pineal cells themselves that calcify but the supporting cells within the pineal gland. Nevertheless, nonfunctional supporting cells might reduce the metabolic activity of the pineal gland. We just recently established that the living mammalian (rat) pineal gland contains DMT. It has been known for nearly 50 years that the lungs synthesize DMT and if DMT were to have a role in normal psychophysiology, it would be lung-derived. While we do not have many cases out there of people with no pineal glands, such cases do exist; for example, in cases of cancer or strokes that have destroyed the pineal. Generally, these people are normal—the most I have read about is that they have a difficult time re-entraining after extensive time zone travel, probably because of lack of melatonin.[/FONT] [pensée spéciale pour Moonshiner]
[FONT=&]>>Does your job play a role in your spiritual accomplishment?[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I was led to investigate spiritual models’ explanation for my DMT volunteers’ experiences after considering more objective biophysical ones. That is not to say that biophysical models are inadequate, but after prolonged and careful consideration, I decided that the religious traditions have a longer and more sophisticated history with subjective experience along the lines of that described by my DMT volunteers. I entered my research with an extensive background in Zen Buddhism but needed to look elsewhere because Buddhism posits the fundamental unreality of states like those entered into by my DMT subjects. One of the bedrock qualities of the DMT state is how real it feels. I also have some familiarity with Latin American shamanism but for a variety of reasons did not feel this was as good a fit as it could be.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Returning to my roots, I began looking into the Hebrew Bible’s notion of prophetic consciousness, and this search and where it has led are the themes that run through a new book that will appear in September. Its title is “DMT and the Soul of Prophecy,” and it compares the DMT to the prophetic state, pointing out differences and similarities that suggest differences and similarities in underlying mechanisms. These mechanistic issues then lead to some interesting albeit controversial suggestions of a theoretical and practical nature. [/FONT]