Georgetown Students Arrested for Manufacturing Illegal Drug in Dorm Room

Oct. 25, 2010— -- Washington, D.C., police arrested three men at Georgetown University over the weekend and charged them with illegally manufacturing a controlled substance after authorities found a drug, later determined to be dimethyltryptamine(DMT), was being manufactured in a dorm room.

The men, two students and a guest, were arraigned today. A police spokeswoman said police were directed to a certain room on the ninth floor of Harbin Hall after a student reported a strange odor. Seven people, including several students, were treated for possible effects from exposure to chemicals, but no one was hospitalized.

In an e-mail, Greg Olson, Georgetown's vice president of student affairs, told parents that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency had confirmed that DMT was being made in the dorm room.

"The DEA has informed us that there was never a health risk to students in Harbin, including those on the same floor, beyond those who lived in the room. Hazardous materials experts have now removed all potential contaminants," Olson wrote in the e-mail.

University officials evacuated the dorm's 400 or so other residents but allowed them to return to their rooms around 6:30 in the evening, according to a university spokesperson.

According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, DMT is a powerful hallucinogenic drug that is typically smoked, sniffed or injected. It's found naturally in plants and seeds but can also be manufactured synthetically. It's also found in very small amounts in the brains of most mammals, including humans.

It acts by increasing the brain's level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that influences moods. DMT produces what's called the "businessman's trip" -- a high that lasts for about an hour.

"Serotonin is thought to be the target of a lot of hallucinogens, like LSD, MDMA [ecstasy], PCP and others," said Glen Hanson, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Utah and former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.