5-MeO Conclusions

Conclusions After a Week's Research

Substances: 5-MeO-DMT

The method of evaporation is by placing the crystals on a square piece of tin-foil (about 3" by 3"), placing an inverted glass-funnel on top of the foil, wrapping the corners of the foil over the funnel, so that the whole construct can be held by the "stem" of the funnel. With his mouth on the thin end, he would then bring the whole construct slowly down over a candle-flame and inhale the vapors as soon as the crystals start melting and boiling - always careful not to get too close to the candle not to burn any of the chemical.

Approximately like this:

              Hold here
             /
        ________
       /________    => to mouth
      //
      ||
      ||
      ||
     /  \   <== Pyrex Funnel
    /    \
   /  x   \
  ---------- <== foil


     .X   <== flame
     X/
     |
    +++   <== candle
    | |

If done properly, the tin-foil looks completely clean afterwards, with no residue of the drug remaining. It seems important to him, that he never lets the funnel-volume fill with smoke, since the substance will immediate re-condensate when it hits the (colder) glass-surface -- smoke that touches the glass seems lost to the experience.

Over the course of this week, the character in my book has consumed several hundred mg of this substance and finds himself in agreement with some, but in disagreement with some other of the information that can be found at the Lycaeum.

First and foremost, he observes that the proper inhalation technique and the duration for which the smoke is held in the lungs seems considerably more important for the intensity of the experience than the amount of crystal used. The proper dosage for him seems to be about 10mg - anything less produces bizarre, trippy effects but not the full 5MEO blast, much more (up from about 12 mg) simply lets him pass out without retention of memory (as happened once and is described below; not a useful experience). The dosage/effect curve seems steep and a little lost smoke seems to result in a lot of lost effect.

Secondly, he reports very vivid and colorful visual effects - contrary to the claims that 5MEO is not visual.

Thirdly, and most weirdly: The MEO seems to have some MAOI effect all by itself, if taken in sufficient dosage, as witnessed by the following events of the last (wildest and most dangerous) day of the research regimen noted in his diary:

7:30 pm

Three more hits, then I'll take a time-out to integrate this substance.

Hit number one. I over-did it immensely. I spent about five minutes rolling on the floor. When I sat up, I found myself at a different position than I remembered taking the hit. The candle that I used was toppled over. I had thrown up on the floor and apparently rolled into it. It was -not- five minutes later, it was -ninety- minutes later: I must have passed out, thrown up, somehow instinctively rolled onto the belly to avoid choking(?) - all without my remembering it. Cleaned up, cleaned myself, all without ever reaching "baseline". Obviously, I should get someone else in here as a sitter before I continue this experiementation.

9:15 pm

Hit number two. Very careful this time: only a very small amount (5 to 7 mg I suppose) and spent the high bent over the bathtub just in case I'd throw up. This time it seemed to go on forever. My mind in a universe of colors, all flowing and rolling in a pulsing rhythm, my breath aligned with that rhythm. My body waving in that rhythm. Having intercourse with the universe. Being one with hyper-space. And on. And on. And on. Forever. Then, suddenly, darkness. Everything comes to a grinding halt. I am blind and deaf, have no body. I relax and wait a while and slowly the world comes back to me. Is it possible that I completely exhausted every single brain-cell in my skull? Should I stop here? The last hit awaits me, normal size (about 10mg), larger than the previous, but...

Hit number three. As expected, it is just not the same as before - my brain is exhausted. I can not re-establish the rhythm. The colors are as clear and deep as before, but they seem sluggish, want to be coerced out of my brain. Interestingly, I don't seem to come "down" as abruptly as normal.

the next day, 11:30 pm

Slept quite well last night, spent the -whole day- today with some threshold DMT-weirdness in the back of my mind (and the corner of my eyes). Now, about 26 hours after the last hit, I am -still- not completely back to baseline. Looking at my hand, it seems a little weird like in those old blue-box movies, where one can see easily which part is actors and which is just copied into the background. Staring at my mirror image, I can make a low-level version of the "folding" effect happen - I can not, however, project my consciousness between my body and my mirror image back and forth, as I am able to do on acid.

Who said the 5MEO experience only lasts a few minutes?

Fourthly, the character in the book concurs with the findings of others, that the experience is not a "pleasant" one in any useful sense of the word. Just intense. Different. Every time he looks. Colorful. Dark. Light. Extatic. Warm. Cold. Welcoming. Deadly. Wild. Bizzarre.

Fifth, while there seems to be a short-term tolerance effect (the second hit is generally perceived as the "best", additional ones deliver less and less intensity), the long-term behavior seems to be that of a negative tolerance - a week of experimentation has produced ever more and more intense trips on basically unchanged dosage (never less than about 5mg, never more than about 12 or 14mg), and there doesn't seem to be a limit to what this drug can do. He quit this run of experimentation basically because the intensity got so strong that it started to scare him.

Sixth, he agrees heartily with the observation that this substance is not for the faint of heart. He strongly disagrees with the person who called it "One of the most unpleasant of all of the entheogens" and "horror, pure and simple" - while he can see the horror and fear and desperation in this substance, he can also see the beauty, the joy, the extasy. The intensity.

Now this character has showed an odd affinity to tryptamines in earlier chapters of the book, most notably a full-blown Satori-experience with complete ego-loss on nothing but a measly 50mg of AMT, so any of his experiences may or may not be "normal".

I just thought I'd keep you all abreast of the progress of this book and the fact that there's at least one dissenting voice to some of the information here'round. Any additional input (either confirmations of my character's experiences or reports of very different reactions) are greatly welcome as usual.