The Ego TripKimon de Greef, White Rabbit (UK); Doubleday (US) If you have heard tales of 5-MeO-DMT, the psychedelic substance secreted by desert toads, then chances are it is due to one man. The Ego Trip tells the story of physician Octavio Rettig Hinojosa, who popularised the use of this intense drug, claiming it could treat addiction and trauma. He portrays 5-MeO-DMT as an ancient practice of the Seri people in Sonora, Mexico, and preaches its therapeutic benefits to his many disciples, promising it can reveal new planes of enlightenment.
Only, as Kimon de Greef writes, Rettig Hinojosa’s narrative is full of fiction, and his supposedly healing practices are described in the book as dark and dangerous. (De Greef is an acquaintance as we both report on psychedelics, and he thanks me in his acknowledgements for “inspiration and camaraderie”, as we received the same reporting grant.) As de Greef writes, 5-MeO-DMT (in full, 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine), has been called the “Everest” of psychedelics. Whereas LSD distorts reality, creating vivid hallucinations, 5-MeO-DMT completely shatters all perception and sense of the self. The experience is brief, lasting less than half an hour, but creates a total obliteration of the ego.
The psychedelic is found in Sonoran desert toads, and de Greef opens his book by describing, in graphic detail, how to extract the toxin. LSD distorts reality, creating vivid hallucinations, while 5-MeO-DMT shatters all sense of the self This practice is ancient, says Rettig Hinojosa, having once been performed (but forgotten) by the Seri people. His work was initially welcomed by the group’s elders, and many of the Seri became 5-MeO-DMT practitioners.
The importance of Indigenous customs are often heralded by psychedelic enthusiasts, who hark back to ancient ceremonies, but, in the case of 5-MeO-DMT, de Greef convincingly argues, there’s all too little evidence. Rettig Hinojosa latched on to the idea as an outsider, changing how the Seri are seen and their view of their history, but the relationship is shallow and the notion of ancestral toad psychedelics is a modern invention. A lot of Seri people have since distanced themselves from Rettig Hinojosa, asking him to stop using their name to champion the drug.
De Greef spends a lot of time with Rettig Hinojosa, whom he initially depicts as charismatic but dubious, only to show him act with increasing disregard towards those he gives drugs to. At one point, he claims, Rettig Hinojosa physically wrestles with a customer to get him to take more 5-MeO-DMT, and angrily commands a 14-year-old boy to inhale another hit. The psychedelic can cause people to lose consciousness, vomit and feel intense confusion and fear.
On another occasion, the book tells of Rettig Hinojosa pushing a woman who was bleeding and covered in mud while on the drug into a swimming pool with his foot. He paid her little regard as she emerged, dripping. Incredibly, de Greef admits that Rettig Hinojosa tricked him into taking psychedelics while reporting, after falsely telling him the substance was essential oil.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
