I'll call the subject "Jasmine". Jasmine is ~ 40 years old, has been lost to heroin for a long while, trapped in an abusive and physically violent relationship, and has 3 teenage kids to boot. There's more, and it's all bad, but you get the point. Anyway, finally the violence got too bad and she fled to friends where we met. The financial drain from heroin meant she was flat broke - with little more than the clothes they had on and the car they were in. To add insult to injury, the coppers were not much help with the domestic violence but instead had given her a traffic fine the day before. Putting it mildly, Jasmine was all buggered up by the world, no self esteem, no hope, and had twice recently tried suicide by hot-shot (deliberate OD). Interestingly, when she had OD'd - she had not experienced any "after-life" or near death stuff - just black out like the pause button had been pushed.

I've been around long enough to know that virtually nothing fixes heroin addiction, that methadome or counselling etc doesn't seem to have a very high sucess rate. Jasmine had tried all of these, and obviously none had worked for her. Seemed clear to me that this human was on a collision course with death, with significant impacts for the kids if she went. Hence "we" (a little club of spice adventurers) considered, debated, then decided to conduct a human healing experiment.

We spent a full day teaching Jasmine about spice, where it comes from, what it has traditionally been used for, the potential risks (and less likely risks too) as well as what it might do for her. There were no majic promises, and our position was "you may wish to try this, it may help, it may not, but chances are you won't be seriously harmed, and there is a small chance you will find something else that may help. In order to "cover our asses ethically", we didn't hold back on potential risks, telling her she could possibly die, have a stroke or something else neurologically yucky. Jasmine is far more experienced with drugs that most, and she was a little skeptical about spice, but she decided to give it a go.

The setting was around an open fire, under a star filled night sky out in the bush. Those who had been before, took turns, giving Jasmine an opportunity to observe effects and duration. The others would move off and provide a bit of private space / silence during
the trip. Finally it was Jasmine's turn.

She was instructed to go in and "ask for healing", to let go of fear, and remember that however wild it seemed, it would soon pass. We reassured her we would watch and keep her safe (as possible). So with a 'medium' sized cone, packed with lots of spice, away she went. It was a short trip, ~ 10 minutes, then she was back.

Jasmine had a very different expression afterwards, not crazy joyful, but quietly peaceful, and she was clearly astounded by what had happened. She explained, she had travelled back in time and met herself as a child in a playground from her youth. She had talked with herself and through this gained an understanding of how the child within her had been scared and scarred by the horrors of life. She was struck by how beautiful and innocent she had once been and how there was no way the Adult Jasmine would tolerate the things done to the Adult if someone tried to do those same things to the child Jasmine. She said the experience made "the mother" in her feel intensely protective towards her younger child-self. Like most spice experiences, there had been far too much information to recall it all, but it was all very deep and meaningful.

Then we waited to see if the experiment suceeded....

Next day Jasmine reported that she no longer felt the hunger that drives a heroin addict, and at this point she was about 3-5 days into withdrawal. Prior to the spice trip, she had been getting very "edgy", hanging out. She felt pleasantly surprised that she didn't feel the hunger anymore, and hopeful for the future, like she now had a direction to head in.

Apparently, as of several weeks later, she remains clean of heroin and has no desire to go back - which is a first for her in about 20 years or so. She has a slightly different outlook on life, and a different self-attitude. She hasn't turned into a tree-hugging hippy but she is no longer the same "bitter soiled soul". Being a cynical realist, I remain skeptical that this is a permanent cure, given what I know about smack, but given what I have learnt so far about spice, I remain quietly hopeful. The most promising aspect is she has a direction now, in terms of good/bad and how she treats herself. To some extent, she gets "it" now. We concluded the experiment was a success.

The experiment raises a few questions

1 - If dumb-ass me can figure this out - surely far more intelligent people already know
about the healing and other potential of spice - which leaves me very confused / disturbed
as to why spice is so highly illegal. It lends credence to the conspiracy theorists, and I too am now starting to suspect that people at the highest levels of power on this planet - must already know about spice but they don't want the rest of us to.

2 - Is it a permanent cure? I doubt it, but maybe. Generally, one dose of antibiotics does
not cure an infection, (unless it's a really big one!) so I suspect that one dose of soul medicine is not a permanent cure for a wayward self-destructive life. Anyone out there have experience with this? What is the appropriate dosage for permanent healing? (I doubt there is one, probably life is an ongoing fight between spiritual disease / health....)

3 - If the academic and medical worlds are legitimate and claim the intentions that they do, why the hell hasn't there been some serious efforts to get the double blind studies off the ground? I suggest the corruption of the academic research and peer review process by big pharma means there is little chance of serious spice experimentation to cure drug addictions (or any of their other cash cow medical conditions, eg Depression, ADHD, Bipolar...) Why is there an information war against spice? Other than the "prison planet" hypothesis, I am struggling to come up with feasible explanations. How many nexians think that the "powers that be" already know what spice is, and can do for humans? (I am not talking the Ranga PM, or Obama, or other public faces, I am talking the big old money.... Club 300 / Bildebergers...)

4 - Ethics of human experimentation? I strongly believe we all have the right to experiment on ourselves, should we so choose. "We" are free adults, provided we have the information, we should be free to chose (or not) our path in life. Jasmine was well informed and freely chose her path without inducement or pressure. This "subject" was at the end of her tether, doing nothing would result in impending harm arriving unopposed due to a lack of will to live but doing something was potentially also harmful and of questionable legality.

Ultimately, it wasn't my choice, other than to provide her with a choice. I am relieved that Jasmine believes she benefited, and so far, "objective" observations seem to confirm this, but does this outcome justify the means? What of the idea that human experiments must be tightly controlled by some goverment institution? I think - whatever you do or don't do, will have an effect, possibly make a lasting change to the other person. What do my fellow nexians say?

5 - What is/are the optimal set and setting for healing? They seem all important for outcome. Seems the more effort that goes into preparation, the greater the positive psychic change possible. It also seems that there are a swathe of "technologies" that should be used with spice, eg - emotional/mental intentions, music, breathing, minimal or "gansfield type" visual field stimulation, muscual relaxation with minimal postural demands. Thoughts anyone?

FINALLY - I don't immagine for one second that this kind of result is repeatable 100% of the time, but I am pretty certain that if Jasmine can achieve this by herself, perhaps those brilliant medical boffins could too for the addicts they "treat"... wouldn't the world be such a nicer place, if those trapped by smack or other nasty drugs could get free?

I can't really answer any of your questions but I really like your post. I'm very glad to hear your friend is doing a lot better. I hope she will stay on path but we all know how easy it is for people to get a bit lost. But I believe that her experience with DMT will help her then to get back on track. Sometimes all looks like lost but there's always hope and DMT has definitely shown her something valuable.

Thank you for sharing.

Although I've never had a heroin or illegal drug addiction, I have had addictions of workaholic and food at times. I think that your friend will need to have some kind of intent to continue to explore her spirituality and the spice in order for her to make permanent changes that last a life time. As I was reading your post, I imagined a great deal of terrible pain for your friend and as healing as spice is , I think she would need regular intervals of it, along with continued friendship and support from you. Also, part of the healing process is going backwards adn then going forwards again, nothing's a straight line like that. But then again, I've yet to experience spice, so I really may not know what I'm talking about at all. I would imagine, though, that your genuine love for her as a friend and fellow human being may definitely affect her spice experience and how much healing she herself is able to let in. Also interesting how the spice had her undergo a very effective form of psychotherapy. Very interesting.