DMT, Life and the Universe
      Ever wonder what it would be like, if LSD, for instance,
      would grow everywhere, like the grass on your front lawn?
      Well LSD doesn't. But DMT -- it's everywhere, probably on
      your front lawn, too. Everybody knows mushrooms, and the
      Amazonian virolas, but have you ever heard of Phalaris.
      This file contains information about growing Phalaris
      grasses, increasing their alkaloid content, extraction of
      the alkaloids, and some thoughts on DMT, Life and the
      Universe.
 Text may contain incorrect information! Please - before using any of
 the advice, please use your head - "Is this info reasonable?", "Are
 these figures right?" If in doubt/higher state of knowledge than I
 am, please mail me. -- N. Ipo
 I am sure you all understood that this is strictly FOR INFORMATIONAL
 PURPOSES ONLY. I am not asking you people to do this, only
 presenting my own and others' views. And remember all you guys and
 gals out there - love each other.
 This is the DMT, Life and the Universe #1. Please destroy any
 preliminary copies you may have. Last updated 21.8.1995. C1995 N.
 Ipo. All rights reserved. This work may be reproduced with
 permission from the author.
 BOTANY
 Phalaris arundinacea, reed canary grass, grows everywhere in the
 world outside the polar regions. In Europe, Northern and Eastern
 Asia (partly in Central-), In North America from New Brunswick to
 the Southeastern parts of Alaska, from North Carolina to New Mexico,
 Arizona and Northeastern parts of California. Also in New Zealand.
 As for Finland (and Scandinavia) where I live, it grows on rocky
 shores througout the country. It is common.
 Phalaris aquatica, also known as P. tuberosa, is native to the
 mediterranean region, but as a result of agromomic interest and
 investigation that followed has wide distribution in grassland
 regions. Most probably this plant can be found in Mediterranean,
 Southern Australia and in US California, Missisippi or Oregon [areas
 where native aquatica has been found]. Note that this grass can be
 found in several other places as (escaped) cultivar.
 There are several other Phalarii, such as californica, canariensis,
 minor and arundinacea-aquatica hybrids. Excluding the hybrid these
 are of little interest, except taxonomically. No DMT have been found
 in any of these.
 Most likely Phalaris grows on lake- and riverbanks and on seashores,
 especially rocky. It is often accompanied by Festuca arundinacea,
 Angelica archangelica ssp. litoralis, Sochus arvensis and Veronica
 longifolia. Phalaris grows often in rings and in the middle of the
 spot grows Calla palustris and Bidens-species. Tufts it forms are
 often only Phalaris, but Phragmites, Carex acuta and Iris
 pseudoacorus may grow amidst it. And especially watch out for
 Dactylis glomerata, which looks much like Phalaris, but is smaller
 and has lobed inflorescence.
 Phalaris arundinacea
 Tall grass, usually about 1 meter up to 2 m., 4 to 7 jointed, hard
 and smooth (sometimes reddish), leaves 7 to 30 cm long and 1-2.5 cm
 wide. The "flower" is 10 cm long, dense, the seed is appr. 1,7 mm.
 Pictures and very accurate descriptions of this grass are easy to
 find in any library (and I would recommend finding several).
 Perennial from scaly, creeping rhizomes; culms [stems] 50-150 cm
 tall; leaves usually green, occasionally striped with white (in f.
 picta); panicle [inflorescence?] 7-40 cm long, lobed and branched at
 the base, the branches up to 5 cm long, spreading during anthesis;
 glumes 3.5-7.5 mm long, more or less equal, acute, usually wingless,
 when winged, the wing very narrow and inconspicuous, glabrous or
 with a few appressed scattered hairs; sterile florets 2, 1.2-2.3 mm
 long ; subutate, pubescent; grain 1.5-2 mm long, 0.7-1.0 mm wide,
 subovoid brown with faintly striate surface; somatic chromosome
 number 14, 27, 28, 20, 30, 31, 35, or 42; the chromosomes cs. 5.0 um
 long at diakinesis.
 Phalaris aquatica
 Perennial; culms from a dense crown or a loose base with short
 rhizomes, culms often bulbous at the base, up to 1.5 m tall; panicle
 1.5-11.0 cm long, 1.0-2.5 cm wide, usually cylindric, sometimes
 ovate-cylindric, occasionally lobed at the base; glumes 4.4-7.5 mm
 long, 1.0-2.0 mm wide, glabrous, rarely hisute, broadly winged, the
 wing almost always entire, rarely somewhat erose; fertile floret
 3.1-4.6 mm long, 1.2-1.5 mm wide, lanceolate, densely pubescent;
 sterile florets 1 or sometimes 2, 0.2-2.2 mm long, when 2 are
 present the lowermost is often less than 0.5 mm long; caryopsis
 2.2-2.5 mm long, 1.2-1.3 mm wide, light brown, surface faintly
 striate; chromosome number n=28, the chromosomes ca. 6-7 um long at
 diakinesis.
 ALKALOIDS
 Alkaloid-contents vary considerably in both P. arundinacea and P.
 aquatica (From study to study and in real life). There are three
 genotypes: G, MeO and T. G stands for gramine genotype, MeO for
 methoxy and T for non-methoxy derivatives of tryptamine-genotypes. T
 and MeO genotypes are dominant, G is recessive. And good news is
 that if the alkaloid content in certain genotype was high, the
 heritability of this genotype was also high.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Types of                                                    genotype
 alkaloids                                                    group
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Hordenine (p-hydroxphenethyldimethylamine)[Phenol]            --
 Indoles:
 Gramine   (3-dimethylaminomethylindole)                       G
 NMT       (N-methyltryptamine)                                T
 DMT       (N,N-dimethyltryptamine)                            T
 5-MeO-NMT (5-methoxy--N-methyltryptamine)                    MeO
 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine)                 MeO
 Betacarbolines:
 MTHC      (2-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-B-carboline)           T
 6-MeO-THC (2,9-dimethyl-6-methoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-B-carboline)  MeO
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

 Percentages are total alkaloid contents, not DMT-contents. Either
 way these percentages are good only for illustrating the
 considerable variation. There is no way of knowing your plants
 alkaloid content without chromatography equipment. Note that drying
 lowers the alkaloid content.
 P. arundinacea alk. contents may be anything from 0.0004% of the dry
 plant matter to 0.121% of the dry plant matter (ie. 6.3 kg - 21 g of
 grass equals one 20 mg dose if 80% of the alkaloids are DMT).
 P. aquatica may contain anything from 0.0007% of the dry plant
 matter to 0.18% of the dry plant matter (ie. 3,5 kg - 21 g of grass
 equals one dose).
 To be certain all the extraction procedures are worth the try one
 has to try to maximize the alkaloid content by choosing right
 strain, and by growing this strain right.
 It has been hypothized that tryptamines, especially DMT, would be
 responsible for Phalaris-staggers in sheep (ventricular
 fibrillation, cardiac arrest). This is not true, as sheep have
 experienced the staggers from low-alkaloid strains.
 P. arundinacea contains no 5-MeO-NMT (bufotenine); P. aquatica, on
 the other hand, could possibly contain toxic amounts of 5-MeO-NMT,
 but levels should stay under treshold-dose even in high doses - the
 alkaloids in Phalaris should be safe to use as directed.
 GROWING
 Growing Phalaris is very easy - it is an grass that can tolerate
 floods and extreme drought. A plant dug out of the ground and left
 without any water for 6 days suffers only minor wilting. Severe
 wilting occurs after drought over 9 days in duration. Placing the
 whole plant underwater doesn't kill the plant. Achieving optimum
 alkaloid-level, however, takes some skill. Time never stops, and
 everyone wants to get their Phalaris as big and trypty in as short
 time as possible. Parts you are after are leaves - leaves have the
 highest alkaloid contents - so don't harvest anything else - highest
 alkaloid concentrations are found in immature grass and leaf blades,
 lowest in leaf sheaths, stems and roots.
 Starting from seeds is easy. Get some shallow (10 cm/4") pots. Tray
 with edges will do, bucket is fine - anything that can hold some
 soil together, something that doesn't rot or suck the water from the
 soil. Regular plastic pots are fine. Dont use clay/unglazed ceramic
 pots, these hold water. Place soil in the container, wet it
 thoroughly, and place seeds on the soil. You can soak the seeds for
 24 or 12 or 6 hours before if you want to - this will speed up the
 process a bit. Cover the seeds with thin layer of soil (say like 3
 mm). Spray the soil with water, and cover the container with clear
 plastic so that humidity stays high. If you can raise the
 temperature couple of degrees (23-25 C), seeds will germinate
 faster. After couple of days first sprouts should be visible, remove
 the plastic. Clammy loam works best for Phalaris, but almost any
 soil will do. Regular gardening soil is fine. Note that it may take
 even two weeks for the seeds to sprout. Optimum temperature for
 vegetative growth would be about 22 C degrees. Some grow at even
 higher temperatures, this depends on the strain you are growing.
 Temperatures as high as 30 C may speed the growth provided plant
 receives enough water.
 STRESSING
 Alkaloids in phalarii can be increased with stressing. Stressing, on
 the other hand, slows the growth and decreases the total yield. I
 will refer to any action that increases the total alkaloid-yield by
 stressing. These methods work for both P. arundinacea and aquatica.
 There are three basic methods in stressing: clipping, shading and
 moisture control.
 Clipping is relatively easy. Take clean scissors into your right
 hand, hold the plant still with your left hand, and SNIP, your plant
 just got stressed. But simply clipping the plants shorter will
 decrease your total yield. Wait until the plant is about 10 or 20 cm
 (1/2') high. Cut right above the leaf. Wait until you get another
 leaf, above which to cut, could be two days or two weeks. Clipping
 increases tryptamine content by 50 % to even 400%. The amount of
 betacarbolines is roughly doubled.
 Shading is quite controversial issue. Shading slows the growth, and
 seems to affect different strains different ways. I will try to shed
 some light into shadows. First of all, you will probably grow your
 plants indoors, and if these plants are not on the windowsill, they
 will not be receiving anything near the light plants outdoors do,
 where all the studies are made. Forget shading. If you grow yours
 outdoors/near good light source, shading might be useful. Shade the
 plants for their last 1/4th or 1/5th of the growing-period.
 In practice, placing a sheet of glass/plexiglass or a thin net
 between the plants and the light source should work. Glass eats
 anything from couple to 20% (dirty) of the light.
 Amount of shading is quite troublesome, too. General mean value
 would be maybe 5 to 15%. Arundinacea responds to smaller shifts,
 halve the figures. Shading increases the tryptamine content by 20 to
 30%.
 Moisture-stressing is also quite easy. You don't water for a week or
 so. Interestingly, plants droughted for a long time produce some
 unknown alkaloid. Young plants respond better to drought, whereas
 older (+30d) may not show any response in respect to the alkaloid
 content. Regrowths grown from droughted plants (which did not show
 response) had a higher alkaloid content. If you wilt, wilt young
 plants. No water for a period of 5 to 10 days. If any damage (brown
 leaf tips etc.) begins to show, stop wilting. Note that although the
 plants cannot be rotted to death with overwatering, it slows the
 growth. Let the soil dry out every now and then. Phalaris likes lots
 of water, and overwatering of it means LOTS of water if you compare
 to average houseplant. Moisture stress may as much as double the
 alkaloid content.
 To get high leaf mass, your plant needs high amounts of water,
 light, and nutrients. Nutrients, on the other hand, have been shown
 to have a negative effect on the alkaloid content - adequate
 fertilization may in fact lower the total alkaloid content. And
 stressing decreases the leaf mass. So you must walk the fine line
 between these two. Make a growing program, divided in 4 to 8 parts.
 During certain parts you maximise the leaf mass. And during certain
 parts you maximise the alkaloid content.
 Example:
 Simon Sez grows Phalaris aquatica. 1st period goes almost entirely
 to germination, as the seeds dry out a bit, "Whatta dumb mistake,"
 Simon thinks, as third of the seeds won't germinate anymore.
 2nd and 3rd period Simon has dedicated for growth. Simon gives the
 plants nutrients; during 2nd period complete, well balanced N-P-K
 (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and micronutrient (Zn,B,Cu, Fe,
 Mn, etc.) fertilizer, and during 3rd only natural nitrogen. Every
 now and then he snips the top off 'em.
 4th period is about fasting - Simon gives plants no water.
 During the 5th Simon begins to feel sorry for the plants and after
 giving them adequate, but not too much!, watering, lets them grow.
 And at the beginning of the 6th period, Simon thinks that its time
 to chill out a bit, so he sneaks the plants into large fridge his
 friend has (after giving it a dose of nitrogen fertilization). Just
 for a night. Its always above 0 C, but below 6 C.
 Last days the plants get to grow normally. Then Simon strips the
 leaves, and lets the plants do their own thing for a while, as he
 tries to put together the wheat grass juicer he got without any
 instructions. That would theoretically make 200% for the clipping,
 25% for the 4th, 10-200% for the 6th. But in reality the increase in
 tryptamines cannot be calculated so easily. But lot anyhow. Simon
 smiles happily.
 The period length is also important - alkaloid content rises
 steadily as the plant grows, and is highest at 30 to 50 days. Simon
 had 7 day periods =).
 Fertilizers - problematic. Don't use good, rich soil - if the plants
 get enough of micronutrients, alkaloid content is diminished. Mix
 regular gradening soil with sand and rocks to get a good mix (for
 example 1/3rd of each). When the plant is young, ensure adequate
 nutrition with liquid fertilizers, then move to only nitrogen
 fertilization, and finally give only water (for example first
 quarter, second quarter and last half, resp.). This makes plants
 grow fast, big and finally tryptish. Phalaris can use fairly large
 amounts of fertilizers, but stick to the instructions of the
 manufacturer until you know what you are doing. Urine is an
 excellent excellent nitrogen fertilizer - add about half an
 desiliter (2 oz) per liter of water (1/5gallon?) - fully organic and
 very soluable.
 Cloning - an easy way to get more plants. First pick your best plant
 - healthy, big and high in alkaloids. Wait till you harvest, and
 then cut the whole stem off, place it underwater, glass or a bucket
 does fine, cut in small pieces, add small amounts of
 seaweed(-extract) and wait couple of days. After that place pieces
 in pots, and keep humid. It might take as long as 3 weeks for first
 signs of life, but try to keep the soil relatively humid - not wet,
 humid. Excess water may attract molds and fungi. You can also take
 part of the rhizome (root) and do the same thing. Simply divide the
 rhizome and place the pieces in soil. Water with light
 seaweed-extract-solution. Wait. Leaves are of no use here, they will
 only rot away.
 Harvesting the fruits of labor is very easy. Simply cut out the
 leaves. If you like you can leave one leaf/stem to speed up the
 regrowth. Remove parts of the stem above the leaf. Plant will
 continue growing for a long time. Repotting the plant or dividing
 the rhizomes often gives plant new vigour. Repot at least once a
 year.
 Time of the day has no effect on the tryptamine content if you are
 growing indoors or in an greenhouse. Outside, morning harvest may
 rise alkaloid content.
 If you are producing seeds - don't clip, have at least four of such
 plants, all from different sources, and of good strain. Let these
 grow, and when the seed production has started, place a clear bag
 over the flower. Bags made of loose nylon mesh are best. Plants
 produced from seed often have more energy than plants that have been
 cloned from a clone (and so-on). Produce seeds at least once in two
 years to ensure the vigour of your plants.
 EXTRACTION
 Extraction of DMT and 5-MeO-DMT, which it contains, is relatively
 simple. However one should get some basic information on chemistry
 and the substances used in process as some of them are poisonous. To
 find good substitutes, please see solvent FAQ, or some chem-books.
 Following extraction is relatively efficient. You need acid "A"
 (Hydrochloride, vinegar or acetic acid), defatting solution "B"
 (Methylene chloride, naphta, acetone), base "C" (Ammonium hydroxide,
 lye), kettle, filter or cheesecloth, two containers, extraction
 funnel, pH meter or paper.
 Find all this equipment, read and understand how the extraction
 works, and find a place you can do it in. Harvest.
 If you have fresh grass, place it in freezer overnight. Next morning
 take it out, let it soften just a bit and place it in blender or
 juicer or chopper and blow it to pieces. If you want to be thorough,
 you can freeze it again after first chopping, and chop again next
 morning. This is done to rupture the cells of the plant to free as
 much of the alkaloids as possible.
 Dried grass pulverizes (literally!) easily in blender. Dont open the
 lid immediately, or some of your finest powder will float away. Note
 that drying will lower the alkaloid-content (as a result of plants
 metabolism).
 Add small amounts of water to make the mush/powder pourable. This is
 called Mixture. You can now begin.
   1. Converting alkaloids to salts.
         o Add acid ("A") to the Mixture to bring the pH down to 5.
           Add small amounts, check pH, add small etc. etc. Alkaloids
           react with the acid and form salts. To ensure that large
           portion of the alkaloids really do this, give the Mixture
           time and some heat (less than 50 C); don't boil. Simmer it
           overnight with a lid on.
   2. Removing unwanted oils.
         o Place the Mixture in the funnel. Add 10% of the Mixtures
           volume of defatting solvent ("B"). Shake. Shake. Shake.
           Let the Mixture and the solvent separate; they will form
           two different layers, and oils and fats will move to the
           solvent layer. Separate solvent and Mixture layers, and
           throw away the solvent layer. Mixture no longer has
           solvent-soluable oils or fats.
   3. Converting the alkaloid-salts to freebase-form.
         o Add base ("C") to the Mixture to bring the pH up to 9.5.
           Add small amounts, check pH, add small etc. etc.
           Alkaloid-salts react with the base and convert into
           freebase-form, making them non-water soluable, but
           soluable into your solvent ("B").
   4. Removing the alkaloids from the Mixture.
         o This is similar to step 2. Add 10% of the Mixtures volume
           of solvent ("B"). Shake. Shake. Shake hard. Wait until the
           solvent and Mixture form different layers. Separate
           solvent and mixture. Put the solvent (which now holds some
           of the alkaloids) in some container to wait. Repeat this
           step three more times, and wait a week each time before
           separating the solvent and the mixture.
   5. Preparing the alkaloids for smoking.
         o Place the solvents in some shallow container and allow to
           evaporate. Do this in either very well ventilated space or
           outside. No smoking or open fire near the solvent. This
           takes several days. Solvent evaporates, leaving behind
           orange (color varies) substance, that may be hard or
           gummy. Scrape this off the container. You now have
           extracted DMT, 5-MeO-DMT and some other alkaloids from the
           plants. NOTE: Unless you are 101% sure you know your
           extraction will be safe for oral ingestion, DO NOT ingest.
 If you need to add some smokable material to this tar, simply add
 some solvent or alcohol (spirits over 40% of total alcohol in
 volume). Mix in the material (organo is fine), and let the liquid
 evaporate.
 As for dosage, the person extracting the alkaloids should do
 everything with relative accuracy - it is easy to maintain the same
 dosage later. Dosage would be confirmed by experimentation - first
 1/4 gram, if nothing 1/2 gram, and so on...
 Once a good strain of Phalaris has been found, complicated time- and
 effort consuming extraction with solvents and bases may not be
 necessary. Simply find a good wheat grass juicer and juice fresh
 leaves, evaporate the resulting liquid in an shallow container and
 gather the resulting dark tar.
 A quick extraction with acetic acid or lemon juice follows.
 Pulverize dried Phalaris leaves. Mix powder with 1/3 acetic acid or
 lemon juice and 2/3 water-solution. Let simmer for 12 hours. Filter
 the liquid, put it aside, and in another solution-mix, simmer the
 mush for 12 hours. Filter again, combine liquids, and put in shallow
 container and allow to evaporate. Resulting goo may or may not be
 psychoactive. I have not done this extraction myself.
 There is no way of knowing how much DMT will be in your extraction.
 Start low and aim carefully. Good starting dose for smoked DMT is
 15-20mg, and 5-MeO-DMT 3 or 4 mg, so start low, especially if you
 think you've got your hands on good aquatica-extract. One could for
 instance start with 25 mg. If you get no psychoactive effects from
 this dose, double it. Continue until you find suitable dose.
 Remember that if you don't get enough DMT into your brain in short
 time, more will not get you through - you will have to wait about
 half an hour, although I must say the warm body-glow and lightheaded
 feeling are not unpleasant at all. But there is more to it...
 RANTRAVE
 Phalaris, mushrooms and homegrown cannabis are good ways to
 disconnect yourself from the criminal underground, the drug wars,
 from this mad society of of ours. LSD, for instance, produces bad
 feeling because of its illegality, and because you have to be in
 contact with criminals, who often get their income mainly from
 heroin or amphetamines (read violence and darkness). We are
 approaching the year 2000 and one look around makes me sick - planet
 is beginning to feel sick from the poison it has produced, humans,
 and will soon begin to get rid of us. We humans ourselves feel sick
 in our warped societies amidst concrete and machines, away from the
 nature.
 PollutionWARSviolenceMONEYsadnessdestructionINSANITYmachinescommercialism
 NEGATIVITYendangeredspecieshungerHUMAN-MADEDESERTSextinction...
 Yes, we know whats going on. All too well, most of us just want to
 escape, into television reality, into drug-induced realities, and us
 at the net, into net-reality... Speaking doesn't do much, too little
 too slowly... this whole race needs a boot in the head before
 getting it. The kicker is Mother Nature, and the boot is DMT. . o O
 =)
 Most Psychedelic drugs are just like other drugs - LSD, 2CB, MDMA,
 you name it - human made, tied to the society, in the hands of
 international crime and shackles of our laws. Altered conciousness
 made dirty with crime and drug prohibition wars, and in the end
 connected to the deadly virus that has humanity by its throat -
 MONEY.
 There is no longer need to subject yourself to any of those negative
 forces. Mushrooms grow in abundance almost all over the world.
 Phalaris-grass makes DMT available to almost anyone. Don't sell
 these - if necessary give them away for free - selling makes the
 whole experience inpure. The experience is not necessarily
 recreational - DMT is one of the most powerful entheogens there is.
 Prepare yourself properly.
 "Let the sun shine in..."
 I'd like to hear your opinions and comments
 nipo@brahman.nullnet.fi
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
 Check out the Phalaris arundinacea page.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
 The essential references:
    * "Factors affecting concentrations of dimethylated
      indolealkylamines in Phalaris tuberosa L." Moore, R. M.,
      Williams, J. D., and Chia, Joyce, 1967, Aust. J. biol. Sci.,
      20:1131-40
    * "Genetic control and seasonal variation of some alkaloids in
      reed grass" D. L. Woods and K. W. Clark, Canadian J. of Plant
      Sci., 51:323-329 (Jul71)
    * "Effects of time of day, moisture stress, and frosting on the
      alkaloid content of Phalaris tuberosa" J. D. Williams, Aust. J.
      Acrig. Res., 1972, 23, 611-21
    * Great study, but because of the copier I have only this:
      "Alkaloids in Reed Canary Grass", [destroyed] 15-31 [EN, 48
      ref] Department of Agronomy and Plant genetics, Minnesota U. I
      remember it was some study by US government, and also published
      govenment.
    * "Studies on genetic variation in reed canarygrass, Phalaris
      arundinacea L." (I. Alkaloid type and concentration), Liv
      0strem, Hereditas 107:235-248
    * Sheepy: Australian Veterinary Journal 1988, 63 (3)88-89 and
      65(7)218-220
    * DMT: "Dose-response study of N,N-dimethyltryptamine in humans:
      I Neuroendocrine, autonomic, and cardiovascular effects",
      Strassman R. J. and Qualls C. R., and "II Subjective effects
      and preliminary results of the new rating scale" Archives of
      General Psychiatry 51(2): pp. 85-97 and 98-108.