“DMT is produced in the pineal gland and released when you die/have a near-death experience”
For years, there has been a raging debate about whether or not DMT is a “naturally occurring” compound. It had been found in many plants and animals and, in 1965, German researchers were able to isolate it in human blood and urine,[6] though the credibility of these results has been criticized. Subsequent studies, however, have detected naturally-occurring DMT in human blood, urine, feces, kidney tissue, lung tissue, and spinal fluid. In 2014, a study found that DMT aides the immune response in some cells through sigma-1 receptors and may play a role in tissue regeneration.[7]
The true debate, however, is whether or not DMT is produced in the brain. Some new evidence suggests that it might be. In 2013, scientists isolated DMT from the rat pineal gland, proving that the mammalian brain is at least capable of producing the substance.[8] Whether or not DMT is actually produced in the human brain remains unknown.
Rick Strassman is sometimes accused of throwing false fuel on the fire of this debate in his book The Spirit Molecule, but he really isn’t at fault. As he later put it:
“I did my best in the DMT book to differentiate between what is known, and what I was conjecturing about (based upon what is known), regarding certain aspects of DMT dynamics. However, it’s amazing how ineffective my efforts seem to have been. So many people write me, or write elsewhere, about DMT, and the pineal, assuming that the things I conjecture about are true. When I was writing the book, I thought I was clear enough, and repeating myself would have gotten tedious.
“We don’t know whether DMT is made in the pineal. I muster a lot of circumstantial evidence supporting a reason to look long and hard at the pineal, but we do not yet know. There are data suggesting urinary DMT rises in psychotic patients when their psychosis is worse. However, we don’t know whether DMT rises during dreams, meditation, near-death, death, birth or any other endogenous altered state.”