Yes, DMT (N,N-Dimethyltryptamine) is a Schedule I controlled substance under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act. It has held that classification since the law was passed in 1971, placing it in the most restrictive federal drug category alongside heroin and LSD. Internationally, DMT is also listed under Schedule I of the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971.
What Schedule I Means in Practice
Schedule I is reserved for substances the federal government considers to have a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. That designation makes it illegal to manufacture, possess, distribute, or import DMT without specific federal authorization. The penalties mirror those for other Schedule I drugs, including potential felony charges for possession or distribution.
Because DMT sits in Schedule I, researchers who want to study it in clinical trials face additional hurdles. They need both FDA approval for the study design and a separate DEA registration to handle the substance. These requirements slow the pace of research compared to drugs in lower schedules, though clinical studies on DMT and related psychedelics are actively underway at several institutions.
Related Compounds and the Analogue Act
DMT is not the only version of this molecule that’s restricted. A close chemical relative, 5-MeO-DMT (found naturally in certain toad secretions and plants), was placed into Schedule I on January 19, 2011. It had already been controlled in several European countries for years before the U.S. followed suit.
For chemical variants that aren’t specifically named in the schedules, the Federal Analogue Act of 1986 can still apply. This law says that any substance with a chemical structure “substantially similar” to a Schedule I or II drug, and that produces similar hallucinogenic, stimulant, or depressant effects, can be treated as a Schedule I substance if it’s intended for human consumption. In practice, prosecutors must use expert witnesses to prove both the structural similarity and the pharmacological effect, which makes analogue cases more complex than prosecutions involving specifically scheduled drugs. But the law means that novel DMT-like compounds sold as “research chemicals” or under other labels are not necessarily legal simply because they aren’t listed by name.
Plants That Contain DMT
DMT occurs naturally in dozens of plant species, including Mimosa hostilis (a tree commonly sold for its root bark) and Psychotria viridis (a shrub used in traditional ayahuasca brews). The legal status of these plants exists in a gray area. The plants themselves are not specifically listed as controlled substances. However, because they contain DMT, extracting, concentrating, or brewing them with the intent to produce a DMT-containing product can be prosecuted under federal law. Buying Mimosa hostilis bark for use as a natural dye, for example, is treated very differently than buying it to brew a psychoactive tea.
Ayahuasca, the traditional South American brew that combines a DMT-containing plant with a second plant that makes the DMT orally active, falls squarely into this territory. The finished brew contains DMT and is therefore illegal under federal law for most people.
Religious Exemptions for Ayahuasca
A narrow exception exists for certain religious organizations. The most significant case involved O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal (UDV), a Brazilian church that uses ayahuasca (which they call “hoasca”) in their ceremonies. The UDV opened its first U.S. branch in 1993, and when the government tried to stop their imports, the case went to the Supreme Court. In Gonzales v. O Centro (2006), the Court ruled unanimously that the government had not shown a compelling enough interest to override the church’s rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). A federal court injunction now protects the UDV’s importation, possession, and distribution of their DMT-containing tea for use in bona fide religious ceremonies.
The Santo Daime Church, another ayahuasca-using religious group with roots in Brazil, has received similar legal protections through court rulings. Other organizations, including the Church of the Living Tree and the Genesis 1:29 Corporation, applied for religious exemptions but were denied by the DEA. These exemptions are rare, specific to the organizations that won them, and do not extend to individuals who use ayahuasca outside of those approved religious contexts.
State and Local Decriminalization Efforts
While DMT remains federally illegal, some states and cities have moved to reduce or eliminate criminal penalties for psychedelics at the local level. Denver, Colorado became the first U.S. city to decriminalize psilocybin (the active compound in “magic mushrooms”) in May 2019, kicking off a wave of similar efforts. Oregon decriminalized psilocybin and legalized it for supervised therapeutic use in late 2020. Colorado passed legislation decriminalizing certain psychedelics as well.
Most of these measures focus specifically on psilocybin rather than DMT, and the details vary widely. Some bills target therapeutic use for specific patient populations, while others broadly reduce possession penalties. By one analysis, roughly half of the 43 psychedelic-related bills introduced across U.S. state legislatures called for legalizing possession of at least one psychedelic drug, whether for therapeutic or recreational purposes. But even where local laws reduce penalties, federal law still classifies DMT as Schedule I. That means federal agents could still pursue charges, even in a city or state that has decriminalized.
The practical takeaway: DMT is illegal under both U.S. and international law for the vast majority of people, with only a handful of court-ordered religious exemptions. State-level psychedelic reform is expanding but has not meaningfully changed DMT’s legal status in most of the country.