Psychedelic Toads
A Psychedelic Oddity
-by Lon Allen-
This handsome devil is
Bufo alvarius-(also known
as the Colorado River Toad
or the Sonoran Desert Toad)
indigenous to certain areas
of the American Southwest.
I think one of the more interesting phenomenon to come out of psychedelic culture in recent years is the notion of licking certain toads to get high. The term 'toad-licking' is a slander perpetuated by the popular media to sell newspapers. (Even the Simpsons did an episode that had Homer walking around with a toad in his hand-occasionally taking a lick with eyeballs appropriately morphing into hypnotic spirals and Family Guy devoted an entire episode to toad-licking'.).
Actually, licking toads is ill-advised, and probably a good recipe for an unpleasant experience. The toads secrete a venom containing bufotenine to discourage predation and has been known to kill dogs who have the misfortune of swallowing one.
Another component of the venom, though, is 5-MeO-DMT (5-Methoxy-N,N,Dimethyltryptamine) a near-cousin of DMT-the most potent hallucinogen on the planet, and one, curiously, that is present in human metabolism. Since orally-ingested DMT is normally destroyed in the gut by monoamine oxidase, another route is needed.
People interested in 'Doing Kermit', do so by milking the venom-containing glands located behind the eyes and legs of the toad onto the windshield of their 4x4. When the venom has baked dry in the sun; it is scraped together, loaded into a pipe, and smoked.
The toxic elements are eliminated through burning, leaving just the 5-Me-O to inhale.
Apparently, milking the venom glands of the toad leave it none the worse-for-wear and it will be ready to go again the next time you are-just like milking a cow! Cool!-a renewable psychedelic resource.
Apparently, the effects of 5-Me-O are intense but without much content-one person described it as being in an empty skyscraper-lots of office space but not much in it. More information on 5-Me-O can be found here.
As always, psychedelics should be treated with respect-a good psychedelic trip always begins with a trip to the library. So, if you're determined to traumatize a toad, do your homework first!
Discuss here...
Liberty & LSD
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