Hours after he was booked into the Marion County Jail following his arrest on possession of precursor chemicals to manufacture DMT and resisting arrest without violence, Dallas Keen made his first appearance in front of a judge Thursday morning.

DMT, or Dimethyltryptamine, is known as Ecstasy, a hallucinogen.

The 22-year-old Ocala man told the judge he was going to hire an attorney. His bond was set at $102,000.

Outside the room at the jail where inmates appear via video link with judicial officials, Keen told a Star-Banner reporter he is “feeling a lot better now,” compared to Wednesday night. He said he was going to “stay away from DMT and get my life back on track.”

“I regret having it,” he said about the products used to make the drug.

Drug agents secured a warrant to search a storage shed owned by Keen late Wednesday night, but they did not found any drugs or products to make DMT.

When Ocala police officers went to 3450 SW 19th Place on Wednesday afternoon, they thought they were going there in hopes of preventing someone from committing suicide.

Instead, officers ended up calling the Marion County Fire Rescue HAZMAT Team, who in turn alerted local drug agents on a discovery that officials said they had never seen before in Ocala or Marion County.

"Although we've dismantled 14 meth labs this year, this is the first time that we've discovered an Ecstasy lab within Ocala/Marion County," said Lt. Donnie Winston of the Marion County Sheriff's Office and head of the High Intensity Drug Enforcement Team (HIDTA).

At the location, agents assigned to the Multi-Agency Drug Enforcement Team or MADET and their counterparts from HIDTA said that, while city officers were assessing the scene, a K-9 had alerted on a car.

Officers said they noticed some strange ingredients while searching the car, and they notified other authorities.

Epsom salt, measuring beakers, Mimosa Hostilis Root Bark, scales, drain cleaners, goggles and other items that, when mixed together, produces Dimethyltryptamine, were found inside the vehicle belonging to 22-year-old Dallas Keen, according to officers.

Officers said they also recovered $1,900 in cash from the vehicle, and drug paraphernalia from inside the residence.

According to the Department of Justice website, Dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, came into prominence in the 1930s, and gained popularity in the 1960s as a hallucinogen.

In the U.S., the website states, DMT has no medical use; however, it can be used by researchers with the approval of the federal government.

Keen told the Star-Banner while seated in the back of an Ocala police squad car that he takes DMT once every couple of months and it can be taken orally or you can smoke it. He said his method of choice is to take it orally because he has asthma.

"It breaks down your reality and makes you explore deeper levels of your consciousness," a handcuffed Keen said.

Keen said he purchased DMT but wouldn't say where.

He also said the material used to make DMT, which was confiscated by drug agents, was going to be used by him to make DMT so "I could have a personal stash to give to friends."

While talking with agents, Keen ran but was quickly caught by officials, police said.

Asked why he ran, he said, "I was really scared. I'm just really desperate."

As for his friend, Keen said that when police arrived, the friend had already left the home and went to Gainesville.

Agents charged Keen with possession of precursor materials, resisting without violence and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Talking amongst themselves, neighbors said they're not surprised at what was found inside the residence because they've seen scores of people going in and out of the home both day and night.

I stopped reading after "DMT, or Dimethyltryptamine, is known as Ecstasy, a hallucinogen."

MHRB is technically illegal...it's not a grey area. Additionally, having extraction equipment and chemicals is quite incriminating and definitely enough to grant probable cause for a search and/or detainment. This isn't new, it's just one aspect of the police state that we live in. Imo, it's better to be realistic (cynical, to some) than idealistic about the state of things if you want to protect yourself.

Yes, it is a carrier of DMT (Schedule I substance), but I still consider it grey area since they're not enforcing the law to the degree they normally would. I want to know from which grounds the search warrant was granted. The article mentioned that officers first went to the home to prevent a suicide. Then they contacted local drug agents to investigate the home owner. What did the initial officers see when they went inside the residence that prompted them to notify local drug agents? Unfortunately, the article doesn't go into detail, but if they saw an extraction in process in the kitchen with materials lying around, then I'd understand their suspicion and further action to attain a search warrant. All the more reason to not keep one's materials in plain sight inside one's residence, including beakers and scales.

The officers would have had legal grounds to be there for the suicide call...beyond that, anything from a bag of MHRB to lye and solvents could have qualified as probable cause for the officers to search the premises.

Again folks...I say this AGAIN: If you ever get arrested (for anything--but especially for a non-crime like having "precursors" for drug manufacture) please have the good sense to KEEP YOUR F******* MOUTH SHUT, and say to the police only that you WISH TO SEE A LAWYER. It is absolutely, positively, NEVER.... N E V E R ...to your advantage to say ANYTHING to police, and it is essentially ALWAYS to your disadvantage.

If you keep your mouth shut, and you have a decent lawyer, your odds of getting off (or getting only probation) are probably better than 90%.