The International Monetary Fund is in the process of revising the laws that govern the trading of gold by the world's central banks which will radically change the ability of central bankers to suppress the gold price, a major factor depressing the price of the yellow metal that has been an open secret for years.
This sort of systemic market reform will likely have a huge impact on the gold market. It is like the 'Big Bang' changes to world stock markets that started in the 1980s and led to an explosion in equity ownership and higher price-to-earnings ratios.
That gold prices have been artificially depressed for decades is not hard to establish. Consider the nominal peak oil price last year of $78-a-barrel, twice the previous nominal peak value reached in 1980. Gold by comparison hit $725 an ounce last year, yet is still below its nominal peak value in 1980.
What has been happening is that central bankers have been swapping and loaning gold in the gold market to keep the price down to produce another false indication that inflation is under control.
Gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) are soon going to become a reality in our country. The entire perception regarding using gold as an investment avenue is likely to change soon, especially among conservative investors who use gold as a hedge against the inflation.
With the permission to allow Gold ETFs, Sebi has enabled mutual funds to purchase physical gold and issue units to the buyers against the same. However, since the units will be issued in demat form, investors will have the comfort of offloading any number of units on the NSE without having to bear any exit load.
Only brokerage charges will be incurred. The entry of gold ETFs in India is likely to be started by Kotak Mutual Fund, UTI Mutual Fund and Benchmark Mutual Fund. As of now, investors have the option of only using commodity exchanges such as the MCX and NCDEX to trade in gold. This happens in the form of gold futures.
Gold futures investors would need to watch ETFs closely. In case of gold futures, the cost of carrying turns out to be high as compared to holding units of a gold ETF in the demat account. However, despite such a possibility of gold ETFs taking over the business from investors trading in gold futures through commodity exchanges, commodity exchange members are not bothered.
N,N-dimethyltryptamine(DMT) is a psychoactive chemical in the tryptamine family, which causes intense visuals and strong psychedelic mental affects when smoked, injected, snorted, or when swallowed orally (with an MAOI such as haramaline). DMT was first synthesized in 1931, and demonstrated to be hallucinogenic in 1956. It has been shown to be present in many plant genera (Acacia, Anadenanthera, Mimosa, Piptadenia, Virola) and is a major component of several hallucinogenic snuffs (cohoba, parica, yopo). It is also present in the intoxicating beverage ayahuasca made from banisteriopsis caapi. This drink inspired much rock art and paintings drawn on the walls of native shelters in tribal Africa- what would be called 'psychedelic' art today (Bindal, 1983). The mechanism of action of DMT and related compounds is still a scientific mystery, however DMT has been identified as an endogenous psychadelic- it is a neurotransmitter found naturally in the human body and takes part in normal brain metabolism. Twenty-five years ago, Japanese scientists discovered that the brain actively transports DMT across the blood-brain barrier into its tissues. "I know of no other psychedelic drug that the brain treats with such eagerness," said one of the scientists. What intrigued me were the questions, how and why does DMT alter our perception so drastically if it is already present in our bodies?
DMT is known as the "spirit molecule" because it elicits with reasonable reliability, certain psychological states that are considered 'spiritual.' These are feelings of extraordinary joy, timelessness, and a certainty that what we are experiencing is more real than present day reality. DMT leads us to an acceptance of the coexistence of opposites, such as life and death, good and evil; a knowledge that consciousness continues after death; a deep understanding of the basic unity of all phenomena; and a sense of wisdom or love pervading all existence. The smoked DMT experience is short, but generally incredibly intense. Onset is fast and furious, and thus the term "mind-blowing" was used to describe the effect. It is a fully engaging and enveloping experience of visions and visuals, which vary greatly from one individual to the next. Users report visiting other worlds, talking with alien entities, profound changes in ontological perspective, fanciful dreamscapes, frightening and overwhelming forces, complete shifts in perception and identity followed by an abrupt return to baseline. "The effect can be like instant transportation to another universe for a timeless sojourn" (Alan Watts).
Every night Pinoline (made by the pineal gland), DMT and 5meoDMT are produced in the brain and are the causal agents of vivid dreams. The interior dialogue produced on a DMT trip leads scientists to believe that the language centers are also affected. Of late, various experiments have been conducted that show that DMT allows awareness of processes at a cellular or even atomic level. Could DMT smokers be tapping into the network of cells in the brain or into communication among molecules themselves?
According to Groff, the major psychedelics do not produce specific pharmacologic states (i.e-toxic psychosis) but are unspecific amplifiers of mental processes (Groff, 1980). At the same time, the identification of 5HT2 receptors as possibly being involved in the action of hallucinogens has provided a focal point for new studies. Is there a prototypic classical hallucinogen? Until we have the answers to such questions, we continue to seek out the complex relationship between humans and psychoactives.