Criminals and Researchers: Perspectives on the Necessity of Underground Research

David Nickles discusses the importance of underground psychedelic research while exploring the limits of sanctioned psychedelic research, common misconceptions about underground research, and the myriad of practical and theoretical developments resulting from unsanctioned psychedelic research.
Unraveling the Vines: Phytochemical Analysis from the DMT-Nexus

Presentation on phytochemical analysis by Raph Borges at Breaking Convention: an International Conference on Psychedelic Consciousness held 10-12th July, 2015. Raph discusses how anyone can use a simple technique at home known as Thin Layer chromatography to assess local ethnobotanicals for psychedelic compounds or test other natural and synthetic drugs.
AYA2014: Phytochemical Analysis from the DMT-Nexus

Despite numerous published scientific papers and anecdotal reports indicating the presence of DMT in a wide variety of plants, there is much ambiguity, contradiction, and speculation regarding the actual chemical composition of many of these plants. Discussions of indigenous preparations, which include DMT-containing plants, often treat the phytochemistry of the β-carboline-containing plants as fairly uniform. However, new examinations of these plants, utilizing modern analytical techniques, have shown them to contain a variety of compounds in differing ratios.
BOOM 2014: DMT – Turn On, Tune In, Rise Up!

Forty-three years after the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances imposed global prohibition on psychedelic compounds, demarcating governmental efforts to end the first psychedelic revolution, a second major psychedelic awakening is underway. Set amidst the landscape of late capitalism, this resurgence is unfolding in the forms of renewed focus on sanctioned psychedelic research, the emergence of significant underground psychedelic research, and the rhizomorphic spread of global festival cultures.
MAPS 2013: Phytochemical Analysis from the DMT-Nexus

The DMT-Nexus conducts research to identify the relative abundance of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and β-carboline alkaloids in plant material from around the world. Despite numerous published scientific papers and anecdotal reports indicating the presence of DMT in a wide variety of plants, there is much ambiguity, contradiction, and speculation regarding the actual chemical composition of many of these plants. Discussions of indigenous preparations, which include DMT-containing plants, often treat the phytochemistry of the β-carboline-containing plants as fairly uniform. However, new examinations of these plants, utilizing modern analytical techniques, have shown them to contain a variety of compounds in differing ratios.