Hallucinogens on the High Plains
Kevin Cummings
Just on the other side of the highway from Texas Tech University sits the Sierra Crossing apartment complex, situated between the financial failure of the Raider Park Garage and endless rows of low income housing. It’s a quite community comprised mostly of Tech students and a few small families. For the most part the gated complex goes through the day uneventfully; a few people smoking cigarettes on their patios, or walking to and from their apartments. In late May of 2012, however, one of the apartments was swarmed with local police and DEA agents. On the morning of May 2nd, Jonathan Nolan, dressed in his usual tie-dyed shirt and cut off shorts was riding his longboard to class when he was stopped by a campus police officer. The officer verified his name while an unmarked car pulled up behind him. “I knew I was in trouble when a second cop showed up in plain clothes and a ski mask,” Jonathan said. The second officer was a DEA agent who handcuffed Jonathan, and put him in the back of the unmarked squad car.
The two police cars, with Jonathan in the back, drove over the bridge to the Sierra’s Crossing apartments where several other squad cars were already waiting. “We’ve just raided your house with a warrant,” one of the officers told Jonathan, “is there anything you want to tell us before we continue our search?”
“I knew they had got me,” Jonathan said, “so I told them about the half ounce of DMT that I had. I also told them that there was an unloaded AK-47 in my closet, but that wasn’t mine, I was just holding it for a friend.” The drug DMT or dimethyltryptamine is a highly hallucinogenic drug, and is classified by the DEA as a schedule one drug, meaning it has no medicinal value, it has a high potential of abuse, and presents a serious health risk. It is also a felony charge for manufacturing with intent to distribute. The drug causes dreamlike hallucinations and a feeling of euphoric, enlightened consciousness. “The cops showed up way to quickly, after the product was finished, there had to have been someone watching me. That or someone must have given me up to them,” he said.
“For me, DMT is a really spiritual thing; it allows a person to better understand their own consciousness and the world around them.” Jonathan said. When asked why he decided to make it in his apartment, he stated “well, obviously for personal use, but I wanted to help other people experience it if they wanted to, and give them a safe environment to do it in. Besides, it’s really easy to make.” This answer was not good enough for the police though. Jonathan was taken to the Lubbock County Jail, where he spent a week locked up. He is out on bail now, but is still awaiting trial for two felony charges, one for manufacturing a schedule one drug and one for intent to distribute, and also two misdemeanor charges for possession of marijuana and marijuana related paraphernalia. He could face up to a year in prison.
After the sirens and flashing lights faded away, Sierra Crossing grew quite again. “This has always been a pretty decent place to live,” Jacob Masters, Jonathan’s upstairs neighbor said. “I didn’t know he was really doing anything wrong, he seemed like a cool guy, I mean he obviously smoked pot, but who doesn’t?” Like most things in Lubbock, it seemed as if even the news of someone manufacturing hallucinogens in their apartment had been swept up by the wind, and gone mostly unnoticed. One neighbor was unaware anything had ever happened.
“I guess I was in class when all of that happened,” neighbor Gregory Ramirez said, “I guess it just goes to show you that you never really know who people are.”