5-MeO-DMT

5-MeO-DMT—short for 5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyltryptamine—looks just like DMT on both a macro and micro level, with a few extra atoms attached (which is what “5-MeO” in the name tells us). That slight change makes all the difference, though.

Like DMT, 5-MeO-DMT also appears in many plants and animals—including the venom of a particular toad—but has not been found in humans. While the DMT experience tends to be highly visual, 5-MeO-DMT is more like a perspective shift. Some have said it’s something like a near-death experience.

5-MeO-DMT has a traditional, shamanic use as well, in the form of a powerful “yopo,” or powder blown forcefully into the nose. Being somewhat more obscure than DMT, the potential of 5-MeO-DMT for healing substance addiction is less well known, but some progressive treatment centers have found it extremely useful.

One such is the Crossroads Treatment Center in Northern Mexico, which specializes in combination ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT therapy. 5-MeO-DMT seems to work synergistically with the ibogaine, by allowing patients to integrate the ibogaine with a transcendental or mystical experience. It helps patients recontextualize their experience and ultimately can give them inspiration and motivation.

Each of these substances holds tremendous untapped healing power, and treatment experts and patients alike are helping to determine their unique potential. DMT, in the form of a long-lasting ayahuasca experience, may help those attempting to open themselves up, to travel outward to bring back insights. 5-MeO-DMT, on the other hand, has its place as a very brief but effective supplement to an ibogaine experience as a way to become one with the universe.