Cottonwood Research Foundation

Assay Project:  I recently had the pleasure to spend a couple of days at LSU visiting Steve Barker PhD, Vice-President of Cottonwood, and Ethan McIlhenny, who has begun his PhD project with Steve, developing a new generation of assays to measure DMT, 5-methoxy-DMT, bufotenine, precusors, and metabolites.  Ethan is nearly finished establishing measurement methods for over 20 compounds, and once the methodology is perfected, we should be able to measure extraordinarily small concentrations of all the major players in the “endogenous hallucinogenic tryptamine neuronal system.”  I am one of Ethan’s PhD committee members, and while we had Skyped in the past, this was our first chance to meet.  He’s hard-working, intelligent, and has keen insight into the issues we’re dealing with.  He’s also collecting and making in PDF files, an enormous number of published references regarding DMT and related compounds.  Before too long, we will post an overview of the assay methodology and preliminary results.

Digital library:  Inspired by Ethan’s efforts in compiling PDF files of relevant DMT articles, I’ve begun looking into how Cottonwood might establish a digital library for public use  of this material.  Any ideas are most welcome.

DMT Documentary:  Mitch Schultz, producer of the film, hopes to take a 2-3 month sabbatical early next year, in order to apply himself 100% (and then some) to the film.  We continue requiring a major infusion of capital, so please consider donating what you can through Cottonwood, which is the film’s fiscal sponsor.  That is, your donations are tax-deductible, and Cottonwood also benefits by keeping 5% of the donations for providing this service.  We will be editing down the 75 hours of talking heads, begin work on computer graphics, and write and film the narration.

Our first round of fund-raising letters went out late this Winter, and the response was quite favorable.  We now have some money in the bank, which will allow us some breathing room with respect to feeding and nurturing our infrastructure.  Targeted donations have been for the assay project, and the DMT documentary, as well as for general operating expenses.

Some excellent and exciting news is that Dr. Steve Barker at LSU, one of our board members and the mastermind behind the development of the endogenous tryptamine assay, will have a full-time graduate student working on the assay project.  This student begins in June, and has 3 years of support from LSU to work full-time on the assay, which will be his PhD thesis.  We believe that the degree of scientific knowhow and legwork involved in measuring such low quantities of compounds, occurring in the billionths of a gram per milliliter, will be immense.  Having a full-time PhD student working on this for several years is ideal.

DMT: The Spirit Molecule

“ The Spirit Molecule weaves an account of Dr. Rick Strassman’s groundbreaking DMT research through a multifaceted approach to this intriguing hallucinogen found in the human brain and hundreds of plants. Utilizing interviews with a variety of experts to explain their thoughts and experiences with DMT and within their respective fields, and discussions with Strassman’s research volunteers brings to life the awesome effects of this compound, and far-reaching theories regarding its role in human consciousness.”

We are now fiscal sponsors of the documentary DMT: The Spirit Molecule. If you wish to donate through Cottonwood, all donations are tax-deductible.

For more information on this groundbreaking documentary, please visit http://thespiritmolecule.com.

On August 6, 2007, the US Internal Revenue Service approved our application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. This means that you now may deduct the value of donations and gifts to the Cottonwood Research Foundation from your income when you file your yearly tax returns, as such gifts are now “charitable donations.” I anticipate this will begin a successful fund-raising effort for the Foundation. Many thanks to Laurence Singer from Brooklyn, our attorney who filled out the complicated IRS paperwork, and Andrew Stone and Steve Barker, co-founders, for their helpful comments regarding how to answer the large number of questions from the IRS.

Rick Strassman

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