Daily MOS: Hallucinogenic Amphibians

Humans have spent a lot of energy trying to escape reality from within it. Fermented potatoes, suspicious tablets with happy faces on them, and Gen Zers, ask your parents about a time called the 90s when we used to need “a weed guy.”

Somehow I still have not resorted to toad based tripping. Yet.

Today’s daily Moment of Science… the life changing magic of hallucinogenic amphibians.

A variety of plants and animals have evolved to produce toxins as protective traits against being eaten by predators. A substance called ‘myristicin’ in nutmeg will make you hallucinate. A species of ants can spray you with formic acid. Bombardier beetles shoot enemies with a boiling hot jet spray as the result of an explosion chamber in their butts. And though often indirectly applied, skunks have an incredibly effective chemical weapon.

But did you hear about the toad that made Mike Tyson find happiness and lose his ego?

There are several toad species that secrete toxins that give you a case of “why is the grass talking to me?” Let’s focus on the ones that produce bufotoxins.

From the Bufo genus, there are seventeen species that are all believed to produce varying types of bufotoxins. As is the case with so many wonder drugs produced in nature, it’s a mix of substances. Some of them have applications in cancer treatments. Some of them are cardiotoxic, causing abnormal heart rhythms. These toxins are secreted to protect the toad, and it works fairly well. A dog would make a poor decision for its longevity to make lunch out of the Colorado River Toad.

Humans saw that it could kill a dog, so we decided to lick the fucker for ourselves.

All because of undoubtedly the most delightful bufotoxin, 5-Meo-DMT. That shit’ll get you ready for your next appearance on Rogan.

There’s a pure synthetic version of the substance available. This is much to the delight of the Colorado River Toad that’s been threatened with extinction from a combination of environmental changes and, ahem, recreational toad lickers.

I have to admit, ‘licking toads to get high,’ was such a tempting story to take and run with, making a few jokes, and moving on to the next scientific disaster. But the hard part here is examining this critically and asking ‘what’s the business?’

The business here is that there’s possibly real medicine.

Mike Tyson’s experience wasn’t just a fun day of seeing colors. He described it as a death of his ego, and a long term change of his perspective and happiness. He’s also not alone in this experience. According to a study published in Psychopharmacology in 2019, patients showed increased satisfaction with life and improvement with depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms that was sustained for several weeks after being administered just one dose of 5-Meo-DMT. It was a small study, but this isn’t at all dissimilar from how people describe feeling from recreational use of the drug.

A drug that treats super hard to treat things but makes people feel super fucking fun for a few hours? Fetch me from my grave in a few millenia when it’s approved.

That said, approach toad tripping with caution. Last year an adult film actor was arrested for involvement in a fatality from a “toad venom ritual.” It’s not a drug that everyone who gets their hands on knows how to handle correctly, so if you really want to try managing depression and PTSD with it? The safest way is talking to your doctor about looking for a clinical trial.

Otherwise, you’re just like your parents back in the 90s, with a middle part, baggy jeans, looking for… “a toad guy.”

This has been your daily Moment of Science reminding you that if you lick it, it’s yours.

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