The alleged 5% unaffected by DMT

[q21q21]

SWIM heard this statistic a while ago and it has recently been really sticking in his mind.

Research has shown that about 5% of people are unaffected by DMT (Strassman). So if you were to ask one of those people if the visions are real, they’d respond with “What visions?”

So when SWIM smokes DMT he gets "visuals" but not would it seems people have as "visions"

He's never walked around or chatted with any of the entities. He's never vividly seen any landscapes.
Mostly it is geometric patterns with faces and limbs intermixed which seem to be entities.

At the absolute peak of smoking 30mg he's opened his eyes to see the world typically but with intense flashing/strobing artifacts.

Even smoking 55mg and being scared and the highest he's ever been he was simply seeing a dark background with blurry fast-moving creatures seemingly laughing at him.

This is not to say the effects aren't strong. As far as the mental effects go he can feel as though he is "out-of-this-world" in a sense but hearing people explain DMT breakthrough leave him wondering about his experiences a lot.

One of the biggest things is that no matter how powerful or trippy the experience is he always seems to be COMPLETELY normal and 100% sober in 25-30 minutes with nothing really taken from the experience.
The oddity there is that he always remember 85-95% of the breakthroughs, mainly because there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of details to remember.



Anyone have a source of the statistic and/or a comment on SWIM's statement?

 

[endlessness]

where does strasmann says there are people that are unafected by dmt? Maybe more tolerant, but completely unnafected? Im very skeptic...

 

[q21q21]

where does strasmann says there are people that are unafected by dmt? Maybe more tolerant, but completely unnafected? Im very skeptic...

also found it on another forum

"I haven't tried any other psychedelics or entheogens. I drink sparingly. I'm allergic to cigarette smoke and am wondering if I may belong to that 5% indicated by McKenna and Strassman who are not affected by DMT. If so, how would you break open a particularly hard head? Higher dosage, if you belong to the 5%, would seem rather dangerous rather than inducing psychedelic states."

though you could guess by the post that it could be found anywhere else

 

[gibran2]

SWIM heard this statistic a while ago and it has recently been really sticking in his mind.

Research has shown that about 5% of people are unaffected by DMT (Strassman). So if you were to ask one of those people if the visions are real, they’d respond with “What visions?”

Hey, I don’t just make this stuff up!

On page 54 of Strassman’s Inner Paths to Outer Space there is a section titled “DMT Nonresponders”:

It is interesting to note that three of our sixty volunteers had little or no reaction to a high dose of DMT. One of these three was a former monastic who had a meditation-induced mystical experience, but the other two – one of whom had absolutely no reaction to DMT – were otherwise ostensibly unremarkable in their background, experiences, and personal characteristics.

Also on page 54 is this footnote:

In a personal communication, Terence McKenna, who introduced many hundreds of people to DMT, shared with me that he also found “about 5 percent” of them have little or no response to the drug.

 

[clouds]

I really hope I'm not part of that 5% *crosses fingers*

 

[kaleidoscope eyes]

I consider it a blessing I respond to it the way I do, it has much to show me & I have a lot I have learnt from it already =)
I guess if I was one of the 5 % I would find an entheogen that I responded better with, surely someone wouldn't have a tolerance to all psychoactives... I wonder if they tried different forms of administration of DMT like in aya or changa etc...

 

[TheReadyAwakening]

Strassman also has a reference to this 5% in DMT: The Spirit Molecule.

Rick Strassman met with Terence McKenna at his botanical research facility in Hawaii shortly before he began his research. McKenna GUESSTIMATED that some 5% out of the hundreds he introduced to DMT experienced NO affects whatsoever. So q21q21, don't be worried. You still react, just not like others. I would encourage testing the spice waters through the use of MAOIs or other plant cocktails. Explore the changa page! Ayahuasca is also another good thing to test. If a diminished response is still there, you probably just have a naturally higher resistance to its' effects. Other than that, the realm of the spirit molecules interactions with the brain are not yet explored enough to accurately diagnose the problem.

But the best part is, McKenna guessed at 5%, and when Dr. Strassman got done with his study, 3 out of 60 (Or exactly 5%) illicited no response to IV injected DMT.

So yes, there is about 5% of people who are not affected. As to why, no one really knows. But what we do know is, if you smoke it, and feel even slightly high, you're not one of them.

 

[soulfood]

I have a friend who didn't respond to the dosage I use for pharmahuasca. Knowing 50mg wasn't much for some orally I loaded up another 50mg into my pipe for him. He took it all pretty good and held it strong. Apparently he just felt very relaxed.

Very strange.

 

[Blackstatis]

i have friends that have had varied experiences like that, but so have i. i've been long gone, not here, off of residue in the pipe before and have had nothing happen on a 50mg dose and anything in between. i always question peoples full inhalations and their ability to HOLD. i also feel like this, unlike anything else i've done, you have to give into it fully. if you aren't ready to go all the way, you wont.

 

[TheReadyAwakening]

i also feel like this, unlike anything else i've done, you have to give into it fully. if you aren't ready to go all the way, you wont.

Very true. A few people SWIM has introduced to the spice seemed very hesitant before smoking it, and never seemed to progress past the veil despite large amounts of spice. It's possible that a first timers pre-flight anxiety subconsciously causes them to take smaller hits or not hold it in as long as they should. SWIM has noticed on his own smoking sessions that he easily gets distracted by the kaleidoscopic colors and patterns, that he gets stuck and never fully goes through.

However, SWIM has also had occasions where he was literally pulled through by another being, and I've heard plenty of reports of this happening. I think ultimately it depends on where you get sent, though dose plays a large part too. It usually will only take a little willpower and concentration to break through, though that's much easier said than done while coming up on DMT.