Contribution short abstract:

Amid a broad “psychedelic renaissance,” how does a once-stigmatized psychedelic—DMT—become newly “common” through shifting legal, medical, and cultural frameworks? By examining the emergent DMTx protocol, this paper explores the dynamic processes of un/commoning in contemporary drug cultures.

Contribution long abstract:

DMT, a naturally occurring psychedelic known for its intense alterations of consciousness, has long been embedded in Indigenous spiritual traditions. Yet colonial and prohibitionist drug policies rendered it “uncommon” in most parts of the world. Now, amid a broader “psychedelic renaissance,” DMT is re-emerging in the Global North—no longer confined to underground communities, but increasingly legitimized through therapeutic research, clinical trials, and public discourse.

My contribution spotlights the DMTx protocol—a method for prolonging DMT experiences via IV infusion under study at Imperial College London—to examine how these highly dynamic and contested processes are reshaping psychedelic substances. By tracing how medicalization, scientific inquiry, and shifting regulations turn DMT into a potential shared resource, we also see how these frameworks risk overshadowing Indigenous cosmologies and spiritual uses. Thus, state authorities, research institutions, and commercial interests may “re-uncommon” DMT by restricting it to sanctioned practices or to the privileged experience of a select few.

In bridging biomedicine and spiritual traditions, DMTx exemplifies the potential for both synergy and friction. These dynamics highlight how attempts to decriminalize, normalize, and professionalize psychedelics can broaden access yet produce new exclusions. Ultimately, the shifting status of DMT underscores broader questions about the politics of knowledge, ethics of care, and the contested nature of “commoning” in global drug cultures. By examining knowledge, power, and social practice, this paper advances the anthropology of drugs, raising critical questions about who shapes the future of these substances, on whose terms, and what this means for emerging psychedelic commons.