In this episode, Joe interviews Dr. David Nichols, American Pharmacologist and Chemist. Dr. Nichols has made many contributions to the psychedelic space and is recognized as one of the foremost experts for his outstanding efforts in medicinal chemistry of hallucinogens. 3 Key Points: Dr. David Nichols is the founder of The Heffter Research Institute, which promotes research of the highest scientific quality with the classic hallucinogens and psychedelics in order to contribute to a greater understanding of the mind leading to the improvement of the human condition, and to alleviate suffering. Dr. Nichols has a strong opposition toward the DMT/pineal gland theory. The assumption is that DMT is released during birth and death, but Dr. Nichols presents opposing arguments as to why it isn't true. David doesn't believe in the research of microdosing psychedelics. He believes there are many other diseases and disorders that research money could be put toward discovering drugs for than the potential for heightened creativity with microdosing. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Trip Journal                                              Integration Workbook Show Notes About David When he was a kid he was into pyrotechnics He synthesized a lot of MDMA for MAPS He is the founding President of Heffter Research Institute He was introduced to psychedelics before he went to graduate school David's work was never interrupted during the drug war because he wasn't doing any clinical work He proposed the study for MDMA testing on rats for a micro-dialysis of chemicals being released from the brain David’s History of Substances David attended a meeting at the Esalon Institute He met Rick Doblin, a young kid at the time, who was enthusiastic about MDMA and Marijuana Rick decided he wanted to develop MDMA as a drug, and asked David to make it with him Then David met Rick Strassman, who asked him to make DMT So he made the DMT and then DMT Spirit Molecule came out as a result David made the first batch of psilocybin for John Hopkins “The only way to use these substances, is to use the medical model.” - David Microdosing David doesn't agree with microdosing, he thinks its all just a big hype He says that there is a huge placebo effect with microdosing He says there isn't a lot of proven results and literature to make him believe in it He thinks that there are far too many other things to research and create drugs to cure (like eating disorders for example) vs. just heightening creativity with microdosing David edited Torsten Passie’s book, The Science of Microdosing Psychedelics DMT Rick Strassman’s DMT hypothesis is that upon birth and death, the Pineal gland produces DMT, which produces an outer-body experience David says that the pineal gland is too small, it's only 180mg It produces 25 micrograms of melatonin in 24 hours, so there is no way for it to produce 25 milligrams of DMT, the amount needed for a DMT trip Heffter Origins Heffter Research Institute was David’s idea Arthur Heffter was a scientist with a PhD in Pharmacology and Chemistry He was one of the most well respected Scientists in Germany He got samples of Peyote, and knew there were alkaloids in it, and he separated all the alkaloids, and took each alkaloid himself to find out that mescaline was the active component in Peyote He was the expert who invented hair tests to find out if people were suffering from lead poisoning Heffter Research Institute The effects that they discovered from Psilocybin blew them away They knew LSD had powerful effects, but they weren't expecting to find the therapeutic benefits that they did with Psilocybin Psilocybin has a great timeline too, LSD is really long lasting, and 5-MEO-DMT is super short and really powerful Psilocybin is gre