On Thursday March 28, 2019 at approximately 22:00 hours Boston Fire and Medical Services arrived at UMassBoston for a level 2 hazmat caused by a student attempting to make a homemade substance.
The “chemical spill or leak” incident that occurred on the ninth floor of the West Building confirms that a student was attempting to manufacture a drug. The alarm asking for units to respond was raised at 9:55 p.m. and first responders arrived at the scene at 10:02 p.m. and cleared the scene floor at 11:14 p.m.
A male resident of the dorm had mixed two substances-Sodium Hydroxide, a very corrosive substance that can cause severe chemical burns and Naphtha a flammable and carcinogenic substance that irritates skin and airways. The exact circumstances that led the student to obtain these materials are unknown.
It was reported that the student had been researching how to extract DMTs, which are a hallucinogenic tryptamine drug which can cause brief but intense visual and auditory hallucinogenic experiences. Similar to the effects of psychedelics, like LSD and magic mushrooms.
As seen pictured the 18-year-old male resident was put into a full-body hazmat suit for precaution. After the resident was placed in the suit, on-campus police took custody of the chemicals and building was turned over to school personnel.