Rick Strassman, M.D.
Clinical Psychiatrist; Researcher; Author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule
Conducted the first new psychedelic research on humans approved by the FDA since the 1970s — his DMT studies at UNM and subsequent book shaped a generation's understanding of the most potent psychedelic compound.
Biography
Rick Strassman is a clinical psychiatrist whose DMT research at the University of New Mexico in the 1990s represents one of the most significant inflection points in the modern psychedelic research revival. After a decade-long effort to obtain DEA Schedule I research approval, Strassman became the first researcher to receive government authorization to administer a classical psychedelic to human subjects since the 1970s. Between 1990 and 1995, he administered intravenous DMT to approximately 60 volunteers in a controlled research setting, carefully documenting their experiences.
The results of those studies were remarkable: at sufficient doses, nearly all participants reported complex, elaborate experiences including contact with what they described as non-human intelligent entities in environments of great geometric and architectural complexity. Strassman's 2001 book DMT: The Spirit Molecule — written for a general audience — described these findings along with his theoretical framework proposing endogenous DMT produced by the pineal gland as a possible mediator of near-death experiences, mystical states, and psychotic breaks. The book became an influential text in psychedelic culture and was adapted into a popular documentary.
Though some of Strassman's theoretical claims about endogenous DMT and the pineal gland remain contested, his clinical research opened the door — demonstrating to IRBs, the DEA, and the FDA that psychedelic research on human subjects could be conducted safely and rigorously. The regulatory pathway he established was foundational for the subsequent wave of psilocybin and MDMA research.
Strassman later collaborated with Andrew Gallimore on a pharmacokinetic paper proposing sustained intravenous DMT infusion protocols, which contributed to the Imperial College London DMT neuroimaging research. He is the author of multiple books on psychedelics and spiritual experience.
Organizations
Why They Matter to the LearnShrooms Community
Strassman demonstrated that FDA-approved Schedule I psychedelic research on human subjects was possible after a 20-year gap — and his regulatory groundwork contributed to the approvals subsequently obtained by Hopkins, NYU, and MAPS. His DMT research and writing also introduced millions of people to the structured, consistent phenomenology of intense psychedelic states, contributing to serious public discourse about what these compounds actually do.
Legal Context
For the legal landscape where Rick Strassman, M.D. operates, see psilocybin laws in New Mexico.