DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is a short-acting tryptamine psychedelic found in many plants and, in trace amounts, in mammals, including humans. The popular claim that the pineal gland releases DMT at birth, at death and during dreams began as a hypothesis in psychiatrist Rick Strassman's 2001 book; DMT has since been detected in the pineal gland of rats, but DMT production by the human pineal gland has never been demonstrated.
That gap between what has been measured and what is widely repeated matters. The "spirit molecule" story sits at the centre of modern conversations about the third eye, mystical experience and what happens to consciousness at death, and it is often presented online as settled science. This guide, part of the consciousness topic hub, walks through what DMT is, where the pineal idea came from, what the animal studies actually found, and what remains unknown. It is informational only and contains no sourcing, preparation or dosing content.
What is DMT?
DMT is N,N-dimethyltryptamine, a member of the tryptamine family of compounds, which also includes the neurotransmitter serotonin. It occurs naturally in a wide range of plants, and small amounts have been reported in the brains of rats and in human cerebrospinal fluid and other mammalian tissues. Because the body's enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) breaks it down rapidly, DMT taken by mouth on its own is largely inactive, which is why traditional Amazonian preparations pair DMT-containing leaves with a vine that blocks that enzyme.
The enzyme most associated with making DMT in the body is indolethylamine-N-methyltransferase, usually shortened to INMT. Together with aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC), it provides a plausible chemical route from the amino acid tryptophan to DMT. For a look at how researchers have studied the drug's effects on the brain, see the earlier 4biddenknowledge write-up on a brain-imaging study of DMT.
Where the pineal gland idea comes from
The link between DMT and the pineal gland comes mainly from Rick Strassman, a psychiatrist who ran government-funded DMT research at the University of New Mexico from 1990 to 1995. Over those five years he administered approximately 400 doses of DMT to nearly 60 human volunteers. It was the first time in roughly 20 years that anyone had legally given a psychedelic to people for research in the United States, and the work is often credited as an early step in what is now called the psychedelic renaissance.
In 2001 Strassman published DMT: The Spirit Molecule (Park Street Press), which combined his clinical findings with a set of more speculative ideas. Chief among them was the proposal that the pineal gland, the small, pine-cone-shaped structure deep in the brain that produces melatonin and has long been associated with the "third eye" in esoteric traditions, might produce DMT under certain conditions, such as at birth, at death and in dream states. Strassman framed this as a hypothesis to be tested, not as an established result.
A 2010 documentary of the same name brought the idea to a far larger audience. In the retelling, the hypothesis often lost its qualifiers and was repeated as established fact.
What did the rat studies actually find?
Two peer-reviewed rat studies form the core of the evidence on brain-made DMT, and both are narrower than the claims often built on them.
The 2013 pineal microdialysis study
In 2013 Steven Barker, Jimo Borjigin, Izabela Lomnicka and Rick Strassman published a paper in Biomedical Chromatography (volume 27, issue 12, pages 1690–1700) describing a sensitive laboratory method, liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), for measuring DMT, related compounds, their precursors and their breakdown products. Applying it to microdialysate collected from the pineal glands of living rats, they reported the presence of DMT. This was the first reported detection of DMT in pineal gland samples, and it was in rats.
What the study did not show is just as important. It did not measure DMT in the human pineal gland, it did not show the amounts were large enough to produce psychedelic effects, and it did not connect pineal DMT to dreaming, birth or death.
The 2019 Scientific Reports study
In 2019 Dean and colleagues published "Biosynthesis and Extracellular Concentrations of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in Mammalian Brain" in Scientific Reports (volume 9, article 9333). The team found INMT and AADC messenger RNA in the same cells in rat brain tissue, which provides a plausible way for neurons to make DMT locally. They also found INMT expression in human brain tissue samples, including the cerebral cortex, pineal gland and choroid plexus.
Measuring DMT in the visual cortex of living rats, the researchers reported baseline levels averaging around 0.56 nanomolar, concentrations they described as comparable to known monoamine neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Two further results reshaped the pineal story:
- The pineal gland was not required. In rats whose pineal glands had been surgically removed, cortical DMT levels were not significantly lower. The cortex itself appears able to make DMT.
- Levels rose during experimental cardiac arrest. After cardiac arrest was induced, DMT in the visual cortex increased in both pineal-intact and pinealectomised rats, on average about 2.8-fold and 1.8-fold respectively.
The authors were careful about humans. They wrote that their findings "raise the possibility" that the same phenomenon may occur in human brains. That is a reason for further research, not a demonstration.
What is established, and what is not
The honest summary is short. Established: DMT occurs in trace amounts in mammals; the enzymes that can make it are present in mammalian brain tissue, including human tissue; DMT has been measured in the pineal gland and visual cortex of living rats; and in rats, cortical DMT does not depend on the pineal gland and increases after induced cardiac arrest.
Not established: that the human pineal gland produces DMT in meaningful amounts; that endogenous DMT reaches psychoactive levels in people; and that it plays any role in human dreams, mystical states or near-death experiences. There are no human data linking the body's own DMT to any of those experiences. Some researchers have compared accounts of the DMT experience with accounts of near-death experiences and noted overlap in the language people use, but similar descriptions do not show that the brain releases DMT at death. For the wider evidence on that question, see the guide to near-death experiences, the Greyson scale and the AWARE studies.
In short, the field has moved from no evidence to intriguing animal evidence, and the most interesting recent finding points away from the pineal gland as the main source.
Does a calcified pineal gland block DMT?
There is no scientific support for the claim that pineal calcification blocks DMT or shuts down spiritual perception. Calcium deposits in the pineal gland are common and increase with age, and they have no established link to intuitive or spiritual capacity. Because the pineal gland has not been shown to produce meaningful amounts of DMT in humans in the first place, and because the 2019 rat data suggest the cortex can make DMT without it, the "decalcify to release DMT" idea rests on two unproven steps. The pineal gland explainer covers what the gland is known to do, mainly regulating melatonin and the sleep-wake cycle, and what it does not.
DMT, ayahuasca and religious use
Most people encounter DMT through ayahuasca, a traditional brew from the Amazon basin. It combines the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, whose harmala alkaloids (such as harmine and harmaline) act as monoamine oxidase inhibitors, with DMT-containing leaves, most often Psychotria viridis. The MAO-inhibiting vine is what allows the DMT to be active when the brew is drunk.
Ayahuasca has a long history of ceremonial use among Indigenous peoples of the Amazon, and in the twentieth century it became the sacrament of Brazilian religious movements, including the União do Vegetal (UDV) and Santo Daime.
Is DMT legal?
In the United States, DMT is a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act, the most restrictive category. Internationally, it is listed in Schedule I of the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances, signed in Vienna in 1971. National laws vary, and the treatment of plants and brews that contain DMT differs from country to country.
The best-known US exception is Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal, decided by the Supreme Court on 21 February 2006. In an 8–0 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts (Justice Samuel Alito did not take part), the Court upheld a preliminary injunction allowing the UDV's US branch to continue its sacramental use of hoasca tea, which contains DMT, under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The government had not shown a compelling interest in barring that particular religious practice. The ruling protected one church's sacramental use; it did not legalise DMT or ayahuasca generally.
Safety: what the evidence says about risk
The most serious, well-documented risk with ayahuasca comes from its MAO-inhibitor component. Combined with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and other serotonergic medicines, it can cause serotonin syndrome, a potentially life-threatening reaction whose signs include agitation, high body temperature, raised blood pressure, muscle rigidity and seizures. MAO inhibition also creates a risk of dangerous blood-pressure spikes when combined with stimulants.
Psychedelics, including DMT, can raise heart rate and blood pressure, which is a concern for people with heart conditions. They can also trigger or worsen psychiatric illness, particularly in people with a personal or family history of psychosis, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Retreats operating outside legal frameworks may offer little or no medical screening, emergency care or accountability, which compounds every one of these risks. Anyone taking prescription medication, or living with a heart or mental-health condition, should speak with a clinician before considering any psychedelic setting, including a religious or retreat context.
Billy Carson's reading
Billy Carson's interest in the pineal gland comes from the esoteric side of the subject rather than from DMT chemistry. In his teaching, the pineal gland is the physical counterpart of the third eye described in mystical traditions, and he approaches it through meditation and focused attention, a contemplative discipline built over time rather than a single event. His framework is rooted in the idea of a single Universal Mind: in Carson's view, the third eye is a faculty through which an individual tunes more clearly into a consciousness that is already shared, which he presents as removing interference rather than generating something new. That position, and the meditation practice that goes with it, is laid out in the guide on how to open your third eye and explored on 4BK TV in Awaken the 6th Sense.
His engagement with psychedelics and expanded states is a separate thread. On the 4biddenknowledge Podcast episode Psychedelic Renaissance and Consciousness Expansion, Carson talks with William Henry and David Mersky about plant medicine, holotropic breathwork, altered states and the growing legal psychedelics industry. Carson does not claim that the pineal gland produces DMT; his interest is in the pineal gland and in expanded states of consciousness.
Watch, read and go deeper
For Carson's own approach to the third eye, start with the 4BK TV series Awaken the 6th Sense. The psychedelics conversation continues on the podcast episode with William Henry and David Mersky linked above. For the biology of the gland itself, read The Pineal Gland Explained, and browse the full consciousness topic hub for related guides on near-death research, meditation and the nature of mind.
Frequently asked questions
Does the pineal gland produce DMT?
In rats, DMT has been detected in fluid sampled from the pineal gland, first reported in 2013. In humans, the enzyme INMT is expressed in pineal tissue, but production of DMT by the human pineal gland has not been demonstrated. A 2019 rat study also found that the brain's cortex makes DMT even when the pineal gland is removed.
Does the brain release DMT when you die?
This has not been shown in humans. A 2019 study found that DMT levels in the visual cortex of rats rose after experimentally induced cardiac arrest, and the authors said this raises the possibility of something similar in humans. There are no human data linking endogenous DMT to near-death experiences.
Who is Rick Strassman?
Rick Strassman is a psychiatrist who conducted DMT research at the University of New Mexico from 1990 to 1995, giving approximately 400 doses to nearly 60 volunteers. His 2001 book DMT: The Spirit Molecule proposed the pineal gland as a possible source of DMT in the body, a hypothesis that a 2010 documentary of the same name popularised.
Is DMT legal in the United States?
No. DMT is a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law. In 2006 the Supreme Court allowed one church, the União do Vegetal, to continue its sacramental use of a DMT-containing tea under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but that ruling did not legalise DMT for anyone else.
Is ayahuasca safe to combine with antidepressants?
No. The vine in ayahuasca contains MAO inhibitors, and combining them with SSRIs or other serotonergic drugs can cause serotonin syndrome, which can be life-threatening. Anyone on medication should speak with a clinician.
Sources and further reading
- Rick Strassman, DMT: The Spirit Molecule (Park Street Press, 2001)
- Steven A. Barker, Jimo Borjigin, Izabela Lomnicka and Rick Strassman, "LC/MS/MS analysis of the endogenous dimethyltryptamine hallucinogens, their precursors, and major metabolites in rat pineal gland microdialysate," Biomedical Chromatography 27(12), 2013
- J. G. Dean et al., "Biosynthesis and Extracellular Concentrations of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in Mammalian Brain," Scientific Reports 9:9333, 2019
- Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal, US Supreme Court, decided 21 February 2006
- United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971
- US Drug Enforcement Administration, controlled substances schedules (Orange Book list)
This article is for general information and is not a substitute for professional advice; anyone with questions about a health condition or medication should consult a qualified clinician. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This content is for information only and is not medical advice.
