(Media Request) DMT Mainstream Popularity

[michellelhooq]

Hi everyone,

I'm a journalist from VICE working on a story about DMT and I'd love your help!

- Do you think DMT has become more popular/mainstream in recent years and if so, what signs have you noticed of this? (I have my own theories but I'd love to hear what the community thinks)

- What role do you think technology like vaping (or dabbing) has played in making DMT more accessible?

- How many of ya'll have vaped DMT? Pros/cons?

Please feel free to message me directly if you'd prefer.

Michelle Lhooq

 

[Exitwound]

Hi everyone,

I'm a journalist from VICE working on a story about DMT and I'd love your help!

- Do you think DMT has become more popular/mainstream in recent years and if so, what signs have you noticed of this? (I have my own theories but I'd love to hear what the community thinks)

- What role do you think technology like vaping (or dabbing) has played in making DMT more accessible?

- How many of ya'll have vaped DMT? Pros/cons?

Please feel free to message me directly if you'd prefer.

Michelle Lhooq

- Yes, certainly. A lot of mentions and discussions in mainstream media.
- I don't think ROA plays major role here.
- Pros: it will change your life. Cons: truth of awakening can be harsh.

 

[Quetzal7]

Some feels from Europe :
Definilty growing up in popularity. In festivals, the smell of (badly extracted) DMT stinks on every corner of the dancefloor.

People also seems more relax about doing it in this context. Much people seems to realize that DMT is not only a breakthrough drug, insanely intense, but a valuable microdosing tool. As a microdose, it is a "trip activator", a mindset Reset, and, at least for me, clearly a stimulating, mood lifting, energetic experience.

It is still really respected though, even if, as it get more popular, more people might use it in a edgy set&setting.

On the other hand, the MAOI seems to be still quite unknown ( a part of the comon "oh this stuff to activate the DMT in ayahuasca" ) . I always got to explain to people what's harmals alk.

I found only 1 guy offering it in vaporizers this summer. In a vaporizer, the problem is, it's gonna smell spice forever! Not ideal if you want to use it for weed after (i don't mind but it's quite a strong aftersmell). This guy made E-liquid too (which solves the problem)

the most common way is still a good old pipe of course
Also, "changa" seems the most comon form. It rarely has MAOI thou( a part of trace amount from caapi leafs, for exemple).

 

[michellelhooq]

hi Quetzal7!

- really interesting that it's all over european festivals - is there a particular type of person that's using them at festivals? (mostly dudes in dreadlocks, for example? or is it spreading to a wider demographic?) which festivals have you smelled it in?

- when you say "trip activator" - are you using it to activate trips on other psychedelics? any ones in particular?

 

[skoobysnax]

Hi everyone,

I'm a journalist from VICE working on a story about DMT and I'd love your help!

- Do you think DMT has become more popular/mainstream in recent years and if so, what signs have you noticed of this? (I have my own theories but I'd love to hear what the community thinks)

- What role do you think technology like vaping (or dabbing) has played in making DMT more accessible?

- How many of ya'll have vaped DMT? Pros/cons?

Please feel free to message me directly if you'd prefer.

Michelle Lhooq

7

Popular? I do not consider DMT a recreational drug. It is an entheogen and is sacred medicine.
READ THIS FIRST Moving Into the Sacred World of DMT, by Nick Sand - Psychedelic Frontier
READ THIS NEXT Just a Wee Bit More About DMT, by Nick Sand - Psychedelic Frontier
Nick wrote "Once I was chatting with Jonathan Ott when I had dropped in on an Entheobotany conference at Palenque. At the time I had been underground for about 30 years, and a fugitive for about 20. No one knew who I was. We were discussing sacraments, and I used the word “psychedelic.” Jonathan responded, “We prefer to use the word entheogen.” I replied, “When it is used sacramentally, then it is an entheogen. Until then, it is just a psychedelic, or perhaps only just a drug.”

Popularity is perhaps not the right word but what I see is people knowing the gift of seeing deeper is accessible, people are seeking that connection with the infinite, spiritual seekers. Those looking for kicks find something they didn't bargain for and stay for the lessons it gives. For me this is not a party drug. My attempt at recreational use resulted in a terrifying entity that confronted my cavalier attitude. I was quickly humbled.
I prefer to do my ritual alone or with a small group in a quiet private setting with a great deal of respect and preparation and a journal handy for afterward. It is nothing to trifle with.

 

[dreamer042]

Hi Michelle,

Welcome to the Nexus, and thanks for reaching out to this community for inclusion in your article.

- I have definitely noticed a huge spike in the popularity of DMT in recent years. I attribute this to several factors, but overall I'd say it's mostly just increased exposure, more people talking about it in general, paired with increased availability, it's much easier for your average seeker to get now than it was 10, and especially 20+ years ago. These days it's almost impossible to listen to electronic music and not be exposed to a Terence Mckenna soundbyte or to surf social media and not come across a meme or article or person talking about ayahausca or DMT. Not to mention The Spirit Molecule documentary, the Joe Rogan Podcast, and high profile Vice articles.

- I've definitely seen an increase in people interested in using vape pens and dab rigs to administer DMT, and particularly with the pens and with changa/enhanced leaf, it has made it increasingly simple to share the material (have a puff of this vs. fiddling with measured doses of crystals and glassware). Honestly though I'd point to the extraction teks, here and elsewhere, and the deep web markets as being the major factor in the increased availability over the last decade or so.

To answer the festival demographic question, I haven't noticed any particular type of person more inclined to be using DMT than any other, it's become truly ubiquitous across the festival going sect.

- Pro: One of the most deeply life changing and powerfully beautiful experiences you can undergo. Con: Very short, extremely intense, and fairly overwhelming experience that can be difficult to process and properly integrate.

Looking forward to reading the article, let us know if you have any other questions or if there are any other ways we can contribute. :thumb_up:

 

[jiva]

which festivals have you smelled it in?

2016 i spent a lot of time at the hammocks at the ozora chill dome escaping from the heat.
every other hour there was a cloud of spice coming over

 

[Loveall]

Hello Michelle. Thank you for your interest in this important topic.

- Do you think DMT has become more popular/mainstream in recent years and if so, what signs have you noticed of this? (I have my own theories but I'd love to hear what the community thinks)

Yes.

There has been lot of science coming out strongly indicating that DMT promotes neurological health (neuroplasticity and neurogenesis have recently been observed directly). Indications are that it may also fall into the trend shown in research that psychedelics help with depression, addiction, and axiety while making us feel connected to our loved ones and nature as authoritarian political tendencies are excreted.

We live in an artificial society detached from nature that is depressed. Life expectancy is trending down driven by suicide and drug overdoses. Depression can also lead to poor food and exercise choices that can trigger some types of heart disease, diabetes, and, cancer - the other big killers.

I think psychedlics like DMT can be a huge help in restoring us to a healthy state. I can say that that has been my personal case. There is also strong evidence that psychedelics were widely used in the ancient past. Going back to psychedelics, nature, dark night skies full of stars, and dancing around a camp fire may be a prescription to cure us from many issues in our modern life.

- What role do you think technology like vaping (or dabbing) has played in making DMT more accessible?

It makes it easier to dose. I think this works together with the better understand we have of the healing power of DMT to increase its overall use. This is really just my guess and I have not found a way of backing it up. For some technology may be the main reason they were exposed to DMT, for others it could be learning about the the mental/spiritual benefits, and for others a combination of the two. I understand technology is a hot topic, but it is only part of the story. Our gadgets are mainly toys, the bigger picture here is our optimal mental and spiritual health.

- How many of ya'll have vaped DMT? Pros/cons?

I have.

Pros: Feelings of awe, gratitude, connection to life, deep realization of how precious and beautiful life is. Burried mental issues and traumas surface so they can be integrated and no longer suppressed, which is psycologycally healthier I think. The biggest pro is that you carry this with you into your everyday life, becoming more aware of the beauty of it all and the love that permeates life, in awe of it all.

Cons: A very powerful experience that can be overwhelming and traumatic. A lot of stuff can happen, and the shock of realizing you have been wrong all your life and lying to yourself can be jarring. Traumas may need to be confronted, and that can feel overwhelming. Integration and reflection are very important as others have said, and it is not uncommon to pick up meditation after DMT. It is not allways easy, but in the end we are better for it I think. Exception may be people with pre-existing severe mental health issues, the situation for them is not very clear.

In summary the story of psychedelics is one of the greatest stories ever told. It is part of our past and future. The "prohibition generation" failed to integrate these gifts of nature, and we have payed a big price for it: greed, neurotoxic alcohol, and depression dominate as we hurdle to a planet out of balance. Hopefully we are now learning and doing better, so perhaps one day we can leave our destructive behaviors behind and return to Eden where we can recieve the gifts of tree of life without fear of prosecution in our pursuit of health and happiness.

Be well

 

[ajlala]

Hi everyone,

I'm a journalist from VICE working on a story about DMT and I'd love your help!

- Do you think DMT has become more popular/mainstream in recent years and if so, what signs have you noticed of this? (I have my own theories but I'd love to hear what the community thinks)

- What role do you think technology like vaping (or dabbing) has played in making DMT more accessible?

- How many of ya'll have vaped DMT? Pros/cons?

Please feel free to message me directly if you'd prefer.

Michelle Lhooq

A significant proportion of the recent mainstream exposure could be due to Joe Rogan. I'm not sure he's particularly responsible in the way he talks about it though - as it's a psychologically serious substance and probably shouldn't be talked about too causally (nor either in a sensationalized way, as a lot of journalists will).

This whole topic benefits from a much more neutral, responsible and scientific writing approach, which is of course not forthcoming in the mainstream coverage.

 

[benzyme]

^^ agreed.

I observe that the scientific community is re-investigating these serotonergic compounds as possible alternatives to pharmaceuticals with regards to treatment of depression, specifically the analogues psilocin/psilocybin. DMT, particularly in "pharmahuasca" admixtures, may also be useful in the same context. Although the "elitest" attitudes towards DMT use appears to have waned, there is still a common objection to mainstream promotion of DMT use, as we've learned from the mistakes of the hippy generation, i.e. Leary.

 

[DmnStr8]

Go Gonzo, write yourself into your story, try DMT Michelle. :?: :surprised

You could be the next Hunter S. Thompson for all we know!

Good luck with your story! Please share it here at the Nexus when it is finished.

 

[DreadedShaman]

Go Gonzo, write yourself into your story, try DMT Michelle. :?: :surprised

You could be the next Hunter S. Thompson for all we know!

Good luck with your story! Please share it here at the Nexus when it is finished.

I'd take a Hunter S. Thompson coming out of VICE, unfortunately the best I've seen from them is that poser Hamilton. "Hamilton's Pharmacopeia" really has made me want to cry and puke at certain points (especially the rivertoad eppispde where he "tries" 5meo)
As for mainstream popularity, if you are asking me, yes it has gained popularity, thanks I think to places like VICE.

I don't think tech has chamged much with DmT, could be wrong though.

And why don't you try some DMT, it's going to be different for everyone and pros/cons will be as well


Just don't film someone partaking, and then writhi g around in River, and then yourself partaking and while laying perfectly still and calmy repeating "love" over and over


Last note, these are all oppinions, every last word, and it's my opinion that Hamilton Morris is a poser and I would make a better host for his VICE show than he is.

 

[michellelhooq]

Go Gonzo, write yourself into your story, try DMT Michelle. :?: :surprised

You could be the next Hunter S. Thompson for all we know!

Good luck with your story! Please share it here at the Nexus when it is finished.

who, me??? try DMT??!

 

[null24]

Are you the same Michelle who wrote the online piece about the Dopey podcast?

I have my feelings about Vice media, and the way it promotes unbridled drug use and other questionable behavior without balancingwith stories about recovery and consequences, etc. I'm not sure if i feel that Vice media truly has the best interests of the community at heart. And with a global company like Vice that community is the world. The magazine and all of its other outlets are massive a juggernaut of influence for millennials.

Okay, that said, I'll think about the questions and give you my most thoughtful answers if i have anything new to add to the above comments.

Real quick though, a lot of people will tell you it's medicine, it's spiritual, etc etc and for many of us it truly is. But for many, and I've seen it almost as often, it can be a thing they test their ego with in order to make it stronger and make themselves, whether through their conscious minds or not, into better manipulators. These are often the ones who offer it to others, claiming it to be the medicine it can be. The "instant shamans"- or sham-men (they are usually male) that see a way to enrich themselves by burning some sage, mumbling some new age mumbo jumbo and charging people for the privilege of having their most personal vulnerable experience with the divine coloredby their egos. In the hands of some it becomes a weapon they call a tool of healing.

Or despite what they say, it can be a drug. A simple, get ###ed up drug for many, not some, many. It's pretty colors, a cartoon. I'm talking about anyone I've read here, just disappointing personal conversations and experiences.

You'll hear many apologists who claim it can do no wrong but i feel these points should be made as loudly as the 'save the world' shtuff.

ALSO, i think that Terrance McK, gigantic multi-eyed benign whale of creation bless his strange little heart, as a spokesperson with all his heroic dose and three hit crap is outdated and needs to be put to rest as a source of good info on practice. I smoked dmt in the 90"s. What he smoked you did need three hits, it was big nasty wet red crystals from a lab. Now (thanks to the work done here on designing and perfecting extraction methods) with natural source extracting methods resulting in nice pure product, things aren't so rough.

All that negative s##t out of the way, i love the stuff. 5meo DMT helped me save my wretched life, and the things I've seen with nndmt have helped me come to a place of knowing where belief was insufficient f for me to live with. See my sig and the Bacon quote- "nothing can be known sufficiently without experiencing" to paraphrase; and i feel that way about God. That's one thing TMK and i fall in line together on, that belief is THE trap.

 

[Psilosopher?]

Yeah, i'm not a fan of all the media attention DMT has been getting.

Packaging and marketing one of the most potent psychedelics in a youtube video or hypist article is doing more damage than good. It encourages people to avoid reading in depth, since a lot of people think they've read/watched all they need to know. Then they purchase it off the black market, or get it off an acquaintance (sometimes without even realising that it can be extracted using wit and kitchen chemistry) and proceed to get blasted, often with bad set/setting. Then they think they've seen the entire universe (maybe they have), and that they, and ONLY they, are experienced in the divine. The messiah complex tends to develop in people who have done close to zero research, with the few other exceptions.

Even if one doesn't develop a messiah complex, they often spout misinformation. I've been in countless group discussions at social gatherings where people just state hypotheses as fact, make up pseudoscientific "spiritual" mumbo jumbo or just outright lie. Some inexperienced people even advise others on how to handle DMT. For every person out there that is sharing knowledge about DMT in a responsible manner, there's about 10 others who undo all that effort and willingly or unwillingly deceive people by sharing their badly researched ideas. In all my years of learning about psychedelics, i have not met a single person who knows the basics and doesn't fall for the hypist mentality. I lied, i did meet people like that, at a psychedelic conference, where knowing about psychedelics is a given.

We live in the age of instant gratification, and the media not only does nothing to stop it, but actively engages in it. DMT rewards those that are patient, and punishes those who are impatient and disrespectful.

The beauty of extensive reading is that it requires careful attention and dedication. It weeds out those who are impatient and only invested so they can get "high". Those who seek will find, regardless of the arduous path they need to take. Perseverance will reward the seeker with true knowledge, and not half-baked truths.

I do not believe in making extremely deep topics digestible to the average person, because it usually results in a lackluster description, or leaves one satisfied with a dangerously low level of knowledge regarding the subject material. Hence, the rise of the plastic sham-ans, who think they can administer ayahuasca to people just because they've gone through a weekend course.

Also, more media exposure means it's becoming more and more on the gubmints radar. People who have no idea about psychs will start chiming in with their ignorance, and will make no effort to learn about it. This is what happened with Leary. I have nothing against the guy, but he was way too excited when talking about LSD in the media.

I'm all for more exposure, but careful and calculated exposure is better than opening the floodgates. My biggest fear with psychs is that it will become the soma of Brave New World, just another distraction to appease the masses. Hence, why i think psychedelics should be legal to possess, but illegal to sell, except in clinical settings.



tl;dr: i don't like the media.