Projects
Destination: Ayahuasca - A Travel Guide to the Spirit World
Endogenous Hallucinogen Assay Advances
Public Awareness: “The Spirit Molecule” - the Movie.
Digital Library
Research Site
Destination: Ayahuasca - A Travel Guide to the Spirit World
The mission of this film is to demystify ayahuasca shamanism as much as possible, and present it as a method of healing and personal growth. With the new profusion of ayahuasca centers catering to international travelers, competent, authentic shamans are now more easily accessible than ever for Westerners, and this movie will provide guidance to those interested in traveling to Latin America to work within this tradition. This movie will help to raise awareness of ayahuasca's power to heal and transform lives for the better when used responsibly in a shamanic context.
Donations made to the film project through our site are tax-deductible.
Endogenous Hallucinogen Assay Advances
One of our primary research projects, developed by Steven Barker, Ph.D. (Vice-President of Cottonwood Research Foundation), his graduate student Ethan McIlHenny (School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge Louisiana) and Dr. Rick Strassman (President of Cottonwood Research Foundation), is the development of a new methodology to measure DMT, 5-methoxy-DMT, and bufotenine, as well as their precursors and metabolic breakdown products using state-of-the-art liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) equipment. Previous investigations into the role of endogenous tryptamine hallucinogens in humans did not have at their disposal methods sensitive enough to measure the parent hallucinogens at their apparent very low levels, particularly in blood. Additionally, all such studies have previously ignored the importance of the levels of their precursors and metabolites, information that is necessary to fully assess the status of the endogenous hallucinogen pathway. This project provides an improvement over previous assay sensitivity by at least one thousand-fold and finally provides information on the entire pathway as a function of time and in health and disease.
We have established a simple method to, at present, separate, identify and quantify 26 compounds simultaneously in a single blood or urine sample. Our current methodology provides us with the ability to prepare a blood or urine sample for analysis as small as 100 microliters in as little as ten minutes and complete the sample analysis in as little as twenty minutes, all at the sub-nanogram level for the compounds being examined. The method is currently undergoing further validation studies and we are continuing to examine ways to enhance overall assay sensitivity.
The first application of the expanded, 26 compound method, examining all of the relevant compounds in the endogenous hallucinogen pathway, has been in urine samples obtained in a clinical trial in which known doses of ayahuasca were administered to healthy young volunteers. The study was conducted by Dr Jordi Riba (Drug Research Center, Hospital de Sant Pau, Autonomous of Barcelona), whose team has been the first to study ayahuasca in a clinical research setting. The analyses have shown a major metabolite of DMT, DMT-N-oxide, being excreted in the urine. This is the first time this metabolite has been reported in humans following DMT administration, although previous studies in rats and research conducted in tissues in vitro had suggested it would be present. What these data also show, however, is that all previous studies that attempted to measure DMT in urine failed to measure this compound and thus may have missed significant additional evidence for the presence of DMT. We believe that similar results will also occur for the endogenous hallucinogens bufotenine and 5-methoxy-DMT and that measurement of their N-oxide metabolites will also greatly enhance our ability to determine the normal role and function of these compounds. Similar measurements on blood samples from consumers of ayahuasca are also underway and new data that further enlighten us as to how best to detect and study these compounds is being obtained.
In addition, we will determine levels in sleep, dreams, meditation, childbirth, and near-death states. Establishing the role of endogenous tryptamines in these states will provide tremendous insight into their origination, and may lead to more reliable means of working with and studying their utility.
With additional funding from our contributors, we anticipate that it will take approximately a year to complete the development of the new assay, and establish normative values. Subsequent research into these compounds role in naturally occurring altered states, occurring in collaboration with research centers around the world, will be ongoing for many years.
Public Awareness: “The Spirit Molecule” - the Movie.
The documentary DMT: THE SPIRIT MOLECULE, inspired by the research recounted in Dr. Rick Strassman's best-selling book by the same name, has been picked up by Warner Bros distributing and is now available for rent, purchase, download, and streaming from a large number of sites (http://www.thespiritmolecule.com). Cottonwood is proud to have been the movie’s fiscal sponsor. Kudos to producer Mitch Schultz for completing the outstanding film and so successfully marketing it.
As an indication of the movie’s popularity, in January 2012 the Guild Theater in Albuquerque scheduled two screenings for the film with Rick Strassman and Andrew Stone (secretary-treasurer of Cottonwood) in attendance to take questions and provide valuable background to the film. In addition, many former volunteers joined in an contributed their perspective of having participated. A third screening was hastily scheduled and that, too, sold out!
We have copies of the DVD for sale. The cost of the DVD is tax-deductible. If you order it through our site, Dr. Strassman will inscribe and sign the case (or DVD) at your request.
Digital Library
We are delighted to announce the launch of the Cottonwood Research Foundation, Inc. Digital Library. This library will allow access to research material previously unavailable to the Internet. CRF is dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge regarding naturally-occurring and synthetic hallucinogens, as well as other spiritual technologies that so profoundly affect human consciousness. By allowing free access to this library, CRF provides means for inquiring minds to investigate the literature on these substances, techniques, and states, as well as theoretical bases for understanding them.
We hope this is the first step in establishing Cottonwood Research Foundation as a premier repository of scientific, medical, religious/spiritual, and philosophical literature, both digital and physical, for consciousness research.
Funds raised for this project will go towards maintenance of the database and server, mailing and copying costs, and consulting fees to those working on the library.
Research Site
One of the long range goals of the Cottonwood Research Foundation is the purchase and development of a site where research, education, and training takes place in an highly focused manner. Such a center, based in an area of natural beauty in northern New Mexico, will house research faculty, staff, and volunteers. It will contain laboratory and computer equipment for ongoing studies‚ analytic and statistical needs.
In addition to serving as a clinical research center, it will also provide educational and training activities. The site will feature a library housing all forms of media regarding psychoactive plants and derivatives. It will also contain facilities for symposia, conferences, seminars, and training programs. We will publish proceedings from symposia and conferences that deserve wide exposure.
This research site will be the most enduring legacy of The Cottonwood Research Foundation, and will require the greatest input of funds and time. However, its potential for evolving into a unique center of consciousness studies is inestimable.