Police Investigate Possible ‘Tree Bark’ Drug Lab

LIBERTY, Mo. — Police in Liberty are investigating what could be a drug lab. However, the ingredient involved isn’t methamphetamine — it’s tree bark, and it’s made in a process similar to meth. Liberty, Mo., police said they’ve only seen the drug a handful of times. On Tuesday, they were called to the Jefferson Park Apartments for what appears to be a DMT laboratory. Police said DMT is a hallucinogenic drug that can be made with the bark of the mimosas hostillus tree.

Police are trying to determine who owns a number of mason jars and other lab items at the scene — items that could be used in an operation to create the drugs. Sgt. Tim Witcig with the Kansas City Police Department said it’s legal to buy the tree bark but not to process the drugs.

“DMT is a hallucinogen made from tree bark,” Witcig said. “It can be purchased over the internet and through a simple chemical process they can make a hallucinogen to put in their body.” Sgt. Witcig wouldn’t say who alerted them to the lab but they’re trying to determine who owns it. Witcig added that DMT is not a “fad drug” or an item on the rise, saying that his department has only seen a limited number of cases related to it.

What is DMT?

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Police say this morning’s drug lab bust in Liberty is one of only a handful of times they’ve worked with a DMT lab in the area. DMT is often called the “God Molecule” or “Spirit Molecule” after it’s effects were studied extensively for five years by a doctor working at the University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine.

Dr. Rick Strassman says DMT is found naturally in the human brain and in hundreds of plants but local drug experts warn that processed DMT is not natural and can cause serious side effects.“DMT is a hallucinogen made from tree bark. It can be purchased over the internet, and through a simple chemical process, can make a hallucinogen they can put in their body,” says Sgt. Tim Witceg of KCPD’s Metro Meth Unit who was called to Tuesday mornings drug lab bust in Liberty.

Strassman cites DMT as naturally occurring in our body and theorizes that when a person is approaching death, the body’s pineal gland releases a large amount of DMT, which is how the drug has gotten the nickname “The Spirit Molecule.”

Local drug prevention experts at First Call say naturally occurring DMT is much different than the drug hitting the streets. “Thinking that cooking something up in a kitchen that you’re using weird compounds to create, then smoking it is natural, that’s not accurate,” says First Call President and CEO Molly O’Neill.

While users like Jodie, a woman who describes side effects of DMT online, reports hallucinations causing the brain to see imagery related to near death experiences.

O’Neill says it’s not safe. “Having an intense vision of this altered reality may pull you to hear voices to think that you should be doing things that are really super dangerous like jumping out a window or off a balcony or going out into the ocean and never coming back,” said O’Neill.

Police remind people, it’s not legal.

“It’s legal to buy the tree bark, but it’s not legal to process it,” said Witceg.

Possible drug lab busted at apartment complex

"uthorities [sic]" continue to investigate what could be the components needed to set up a drug laboratory in Liberty to manufacture dimethyltryptamine, a hallucinogenic drug known as DMT.

Sheriff Bob Boydston said the Clay County Drug Squad, comprised of area law enforcement agencies, was still trying to sort out the items found in an apartment at the Jefferson Park apartment complex, 1220 Missouri Court. What is believed to be ingredients for making DMT was sent to a Kansas City lab for analysis, he said.
While the finished product was not found at the scene, Boydston said significant precursors needed to make the drug were found. No arrests have been made.

“It’s amazing what people find to put in their bodies,” Boydston said. “I’m not a chemist, but I understand that DMT is similar to meth and gives you similar hallucinations to LSD.”
According to information on the Internet, the drug can be made from materials extracted from tree bark and other plants. The drug is most commonly smoked in a pipe or joint and produces a high that can last from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on the dosage and form of DMT consumed.

“Today a young man on DMT realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Heres Tom with the Weather.”

this....

doesnt go down to well on the news

“It’s amazing what people find to put in their bodies,” Boydston said. “I’m not a chemist, but I understand that DMT is similar to meth and gives you similar hallucinations to LSD.”

Here's my favorite part of this article:



Wow... Just, Wow...

This quote sounds a bit like a dog trying to explain television to a wolf.

Well, it's this thing they watch... It's similar to sleeping, because they don't move, but it's also like a refrigerator because it's a big box.

And when someone says "I'm not an expert, but I understand.." What they usually mean is that they think they really are an expert. LE is full of people who have never tried any mind-altering substances who are convinced they are experts on them.

This quote sounds a bit like a dog trying to explain television to a wolf.

Well, it's this thing they watch... It's similar to sleeping, because they don't move, but it's also like a refrigerator because it's a big box.

Police remind people, it’s not legal.

“It’s legal to buy the tree bark, but it’s not legal to process it,” said Witceg.