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Journey into the unknown

Episode 1103 · Jul 10, 2004 · 2h 51m

July 10, 2004: Psychedelic Drugs - Daniel Pinchbeck

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    Drug war as social controlPinchbeck argues the drug war's true function is bureaucratic self-perpetuation and warehousing minority/poor populations in the prison-industrial complex.

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    Shared DMT reality is realArt reasons that if so many DMT users encounter essentially the same alternate reality, it argues for the objective existence of that realm.

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    Ayahuasca and ibogaine as DMT interfacesPinchbeck describes ayahuasca and ibogaine as 'Macintosh windows' that slow down and translate the raw 'cosmic machine language' of the DMT realm into usable communication.

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    Ibogaine treats heroin addictionPinchbeck reports ibogaine has been used successfully for heroin and cocaine addiction, delivering what users describe as ten years of psychoanalysis in one night.

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    December 21, 2012 galactic alignmentPinchbeck explains the Mayan/Toltec date December 21, 2012 marks Earth and Sun aligning with the Milky Way's center - a black hole the Mayans already named the cosmic mother.

Art Bell sits down with author Daniel Pinchbeck to explore the history, science, and personal dimensions of psychedelic drugs. Pinchbeck, whose book Breaking Open the Head chronicles his shamanic investigations around the world, argues that the government's war on drugs stems partly from the way psychedelics fundamentally alter a person's relationship to society and authority.

The conversation centers on DMT, or dimethyltryptamine, a compound found naturally in the human brain that produces remarkably consistent visions across users. Pinchbeck describes being transported to an alternate reality populated by strange, chattering entities in a vaulted space. Art presses on the implications: if users universally experience the same realm, the simplest explanation may be that it actually exists. The discussion extends to ibogaine, an African psychedelic showing promise in treating heroin addiction by resetting both the psychological and physiological components of dependency.

Pinchbeck also recounts a harrowing experience with DPT, a synthetic analog of DMT, that triggered weeks of poltergeist phenomena and required an exorcism. He reflects on the personal costs of his research, including the possibility that trespassing into these realms without traditional safeguards carried consequences for those around him.

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