The Colorado River toad aka the Sonoran Desert toad, Bufo alvarius, at 3-7 inches, is the largest native toad in the United States. Nocturnal, it is recognized by two warts – parotid glands – on the corners of its mouth and large raised warts on its rear legs. If threatened, Bufo alvarius secretes a milky-white hallucinogenic toxin from the parotid glands under its jaw. If ingested, the toxin can induce nausea and death – always watch your dogs around these toads.
Bufo alvarius live in and around the Sonoran Desert and are found in habitats inside California, Arizona, and Mexico. An amphibian, Bufo alvarius is semi-aquatic and prefers large streams, although it can also be found near springs, canals and irrigation ditches. Before spring rains, Bufo alvarius gather at breeding pools and streams to mate, typically between May and July. After breeding season, Bufo alvarius retire to underground burrows through winter.
In an October 2018 article in Psychedelics Today, the ethical question (not health question) of inhaling Bufo alvarius toxin is considered against the rise of toad venom smoke inhalation as a neo-shamanic practice. Bufo alvarius venom contains concentrated 5-MeO-DMT, an iteration of DMT considered to be multiple times more powerful than more commonly known N,N-DMT.
Note: 5-MeO is not only found in the venom of Bufo alvarius. Like ayahuasca, there is ancient practice among indigenous South American peoples of 5-MeO-DMT consumption. Native peoples crush seeds of yopo (Adenanthera peregrina), an Amazonian rainforest tree, and snort the powder. The snuff is also known as rapé and is/was used as a purgative for the sick and by shamans as a divinatory tool to help diagnose disease.
Along with 5-MeO-DMT, Bufo alvarius venom contains 5-HO-DMT aka bufotenine. As complimentary tryptamines, the combination of these chemicals (and possibly others) has an entourage effect, making it possible for a toad venom trip to last upward of two hours. In the early 1980s, “Albert Most,” (a nom de guerre – Al most – get it?) founder of the Church of the Toad of Light, is credited with pioneering toad venom as a modern psychedelic. You can read about Most’s toad insights from the pamphlet he created on the toad in 1983. [Don’t send in money for a t-shirt, it is a dead address.]
Bufo alvarius is not on any list of controlled species. Likewise, neither 5-MeO-DMT nor bufotenine are on the psychotropic lists of the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971. In most countries these tryptamines are not controlled substances, unless there is separate legislation, such as exists in the United States – bufotenine and 5-MeO-DMT are classified as Schedule I.
While smoking toad venom may be ala mode amongst connoisseurs, use of toad venom is far from a contemporary practice, iconographic and mythological representations of toads in the Olmec, Mayan and Aztec cultures date back 4,000 years to 2000 BCE. The toad was well-regarded and a part of entheogenic practices in those cultures, practices their descendants engage today.
Toad venom is extracted by “milking” the toad’s parotid glands. The secretion is then collected, dried, and prepared for consumption. Milking does not require the death of the toad but involves disturbing and molesting the toad in its habitat. It is not recommended to seek out the toad. In New Mexico the toad is designated a “threatened” species and in California, as “endangered” – capturing or owning a toad in either state is illegal. In Arizona, it is legal to catch the toads, provided you have a fishing license. However, exporting toads is illegal, as is possession of the toads with intent to use the venom for recreational purposes. Essentially, toads are like bad Sting singles – if you love them, set them free.
Back to that October 2018 article in Psychedelics Today…the author, Malin Vedøy Uthaug, a PhD candidate at the department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology at Maastricht University, points out that psychedelics notwithstanding, amphibians have been taking a beating due to a variety of factors including climate change and the encroachment of man, “[a]s of 2010, 32% of the world’s nearly 6600 amphibian species are threatened with extinction, 43% are experiencing declines and for another 22%, there are insufficient data…This phenomenon represents the Earth’s sixth mass extinction…” Her article concludes with a plea to abandon “toad medicine” in favor of synthetic 5-MeO-DMT. Not only is switching to synthetics better for the toad, she argues, it is also better for people, as synthetic 5-MeO-DMT is isolated from other compounds. Likewise, it will be easier to re-schedule and legalize pure substances versus a cocktail like bufotoxin.
Bufo alvarius, a lumpy, tough desert toad, sits at crossroads of history, herpetology, religion, culture and medicine. Will fear of DMT prove to be a contributing factor to the toad’s potential slip into endangered status, or even into extinction? Will the application of animal rights institute veneration of the toad, even if not to the level of appreciation as expressed by ancient Mesoamericans? Will the psychedelic renaissance lead to labs being allowed once more to synthesize 5-MeO-DMT? As the toad might say, watching this all unfold is ribbiting.
Come check out my Bufo Alvarius episode on the Psychedelica Lex channel on Youtube.
Gary Michael Smith is an attorney and arbitrator and founding member of the Phoenix Arizona-based Guidant Law Firm. He is also a founding director and current president of the Arizona Cannabis Bar Association, board member of the Arizona Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, and contributing author to GreenEntrepreneur.