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CLANDESTINE DIMETHYLTRYPTAMINE (DMT) LABORATORY

SEIZED IN HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Scientific Investigation Division (SID; Los Angeles) recently received two gallons of an aqueous, dark brown solution, presumed to be a natural product extract containing N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT; see Photo 1, Label A), and one liter of a clear solution suspected to be a solution of purified DMT (Label C). The exhibits were recovered from a clandestine laboratory located at a residence in Hollywood, California by the Los Angeles Police and the SID’s Hazardous Chemicals Team. A glove box and filter apparatus (not shown) were also seized. Of note, several of the first responding officers were made ill by chemical odors while securing the laboratory. The dark brown solution was basified with 10 percent ammonium hydroxide, and extracted with chloroform; analysis of the extract by GC/MS confirmed DMT (not quantitated, but estimated to be roughly 5 percent in the original solution). Analysis of the clear solution by GC/MS and color testing (Marquis (brown) and nitroprusside (negative)) confirmed DMT in naphtha (not quantitated, but again estimated to be roughly 5 percent). The off-white, crystalline powder labelled as “B” shows DMT that was extracted from the dark brown solution and recrystallized from chloroform. The laboratory operator was apparently isolating DMT via naphtha extraction of a natural product, possibly Mimosa hostilis root. This is believed to be the first ever DMT clandestine laboratory in Los Angeles.