Toad rescue
You can add the Sonoran Desert Toad to the current escalating body count of threatened species worldwide, as the amphibious creature’s psychoactive secretions continue to gain popularity with psychedelic enthusiasts.
Increased interest in Bufo alvarius toad venom — derived from the animal’s defense secretions and containing the psychoactive compound 5-MeO-DMT — is seeing toad populations routinely harassed and their numbers steadily bulldozed. The expanding practice of extracting their venom for the prized, mind-altering toxin has had the effect of creating a cottage industry over the past decade, which has translated into many thousands of toads at a time being captured and milked of their venom.
The growing demand for toad-derived 5-MeO-DMT is a result of mounting consumer interest in the compound for its unique psychoactive effects, said to be among the most powerful psychoactive substances on the planet. Users in the U.S. (where it is a controlled substance) and Canada and Mexico (where it is not a controlled substance) find that the dried and vaporized toxin holds extraordinary therapeutic qualities. Touted for its fast onset of just a few seconds and its short-duration, sometimes lasting as little as several minutes, 5-MeO-DMT can catapult users into a state of oceanic bliss and a feeling of unity with all living things. People commonly report positive, expansive experiences that alleviate the baggage of past emotional traumas. At least one European study conducted in 2019 showed a diminishing of depression and anxiety after just one session.
But use of the substance can also be a heavy psychic load. Due to a lack of rigorous clinical research, data on outcomes are a mixed bag. Author Michael Pollan, who wrote the popular psychedelic-focused book How To Change Your Mind, described his harrowing trip on the toad as a frightening affair. He said it was like being strapped to the outside of a rocket ship. Nothing but scorching white light and velocity. His overarching sensation was panic, he said, the only positive aspect being a return back to reality and the realization that he wasn’t nothing, that he actually did exist. Contrast that with others who have had profound, life-changing experiences with the toad. People I’ve interviewed for a book series I’m writing on psychoactive drug use (many of the people featured have had no previous experience with psychedelic drugs), have described how 5-MeO-DMT has unequivocally changed their lives for better — and in some cases actually saved their lives. People dealing with everything from end-of-life anxiety to chronic depression to post-traumatic stress are finding relief through the substance.
But it all comes at a cost to the toad.
Whatever the experience for users, the result for the beleaguered Sonoran Desert Toad is the same: Widespread use means constant harassment of Bufo alvarius and the species’ eventual demise. It’s not quite the altruistic approach you’d expect from psychedelic devotees looking for communion and oneness with the cosmos and all living things. But to be fair, most users are probably unaware of toad venom’s cruel production methods.
That’s why a few conscientious conservationists have stepped up on behalf of the defenseless amphibian.
Robert A. Villa, a research associate at the University of Arizona Desert Laboratory, located at the northern edge of the Sonoran Desert near Tucson, is one those herpetological guardians. Villa spends a good amount of his time trying to mitigate the harm done to toads by reckless hunters and overambitious practitioners. Getting the toad designated an endangered species by federal governments in North America is a long and involved process, so researchers like Villa are forced to do the grassroots legwork themselves. “We’ve embarked on a collective propaganda campaign on behalf of the toad,” says Villa. “There’s a side to use of this substance that people don’t realize they’re supporting.”
During hunting, toads are often jammed into plastic bags by the hundreds, dislocated from their habitats, and over-expressed of their fluids.
Villa has teamed up with Hamilton Morris, the super-sleuth chemist of psychoactive substances, whose popular show on Vice, Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, has featured segments on Bufo alvarius venom. In the show’s third season, out now, Morris looks at manmade options of 5-MeO-DMT. To get the word out about synthetic alternatives, Villa and Morris have reprinted a pamphlet from the 1980s — a cult favorite titled “Bufo Alvarius: The Psychedelic Toad of the Sonoran Desert” — that provides information on a synthetic substitute. The treatise was originally written and produced by Ken Nelson, an Army vet, environmentalist, and independent researcher, who is believed to be the first person to have ever sampled toad venom and record the experience. Proceeds from the reprinting of the pamphlet, which has been expanded and updated by Morris, are being donated to toad conservation efforts, as well as the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s, complications of which Nelson died from in 2020. Villa says funds have already surpassed $100,000.
There’s a belief in some psychedelic circles that synthetic versions of 5-MeO-DMT are inferior to natural toad venom. The idea that the toad’s spirit or essence changes the experience is not one that Morris, Villa, or most scientists give much credibility. An advocate and facilitator of 5-MeO-DMT, who is also a research scientist, that I spoke with in a previous toad venom story I wrote for Forbes, said, “There is scant research on 5-MeO-DMT, but to date, research indicates brain effects are the same whether the molecule comes from toad or is lab-made. If lab-made is caustic, blame the lab.”
Continuing to exploit toads for their secretions, says Villa, when it’s clear such actions are driving them to extinction, is actually pretty disrespectful.
“On a philosophical level,” says Villa, “collecting secretions from the toad is no different to the toad than being endangered by a predator. This practice speaks to the lack of spirituality or concept of the power of intention in our society.”
As for interest in toad preservation from the public, the psychedelic toad pamphlet has entered its 3rd printing and is back ordered until May of this year. There’s hope yet that Nelson’s lasting contribution to science will aid in the continued survival of the Sonoran Desert Toad.
