Back in the 1960s, it was discovered that secretions from toads native to the Sonoran Desert have psychedelic properties. The information did not have much impact for over 40 years but about ten years ago, the story started having widespread exposure in U.S. media outlets and there was increasing publicity for the fact that the toad’s dried secretions could be smoked to produce a brief but intense high.
There was also a false narrative spreading around that this so-called toad medicine was part of an ancient practice of indigenous tribes in the Sonoran Desert. The active agent in the toad secretion is a compound called 5-MeO-DMT and it became an increasingly popular item being sold by self-described shamans, new-age healers, and other underground practitioners.
5-MeO-DMT is mostly banned as a controlled substance in the U.S., but many Mexican ranchers have been amassing the toads to sell to foreigners to take back home. Despite the fact that 5-MeO-DMT has been successfully synthesized, the mystique surrounding the toads makes potential users want to use the natural version.
Researchers have found that trapping the toads in Mexico has decimated several populations of the amphibians and has sent others into steep decline. The species currently has no protections in Mexico. These desert toads play key roles as both predators and prey and as their population declines, there are likely to be some serious ecological problems. There is already anecdotal evidence that in many places in the desert, crop-eating insect populations have surged in recent years.
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These Toads Have Psychedelic Powers, but They’d Prefer to Keep It Quiet
Photo, posted December 12, 2017, courtesy of K.S. Black via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
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