Dr. Rick Strassman is a Clinical research psychiatrist, founding figure of the American psychedelic research renaissance, and best-selling author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, an account of his DMT and psilocybin studies which has sold a quarter-million copies  and been translated into over a dozen languages.  He co-produced an independent documentary by the same name.   Dr. Strassman performed clinical research investigating the function of the pineal hormone melatonin in which his research group documented the first known role of melatonin in humans. He also began the first new US government approved clinical research with psychedelic drugs in over twenty years, focusing on DMT and to a lesser extent, psilocybin. Rick has been a consultant to the US Food and Drug Administration, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Veteran’s Administration Hospitals, and the Social Security Administration, In 1984, he received lay ordination in a Western Buddhist order, and co-founded, and for several years administered, a lay Buddhist meditation group. He currently is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.  Dr. Rick Strassman  newest book is : The Psychedelic Handbook: A Practical Guide to Psilocybin, LSD, Ketamine, MDMA, and DMT/Ayahuasca.