Demand for Psychedelic Toad Venom Leads to Fears for Species' Survival

[babylonsister]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/demand-for-sonoran-desert-toads-psychedelic-venom-leads-to-fears-for-species-survival?ref=home

Demand for Psychedelic Toad Venom Leads to Fears for Species’ Survival
SMOKING KILLS
AJ McDougall
Breaking News Reporter
Published Mar. 20, 2022 9:12PM ET

Sampling the venom of a desert toad has led users—including Mike Tyson and Hunter Biden—to report feelings of eternal bliss and ego death, but the explosion in its popularity has experts alarmed that the species won’t survive the demand. The Sonoran desert toad is believed to be the only amphibian that produces the hallucinogenic MeO-DMT venom, which is increasingly being touted as an effective treatment for mental disorders and addictions. The toad is listed as threatened in New Mexico, where it remains vulnerable to poachers and rustlers. It hasn’t been found in the wild in California in decades, according to The New York Times. “There’s a perception of abundance,” said Robert Villa, president of the Tucson Herpetological Society, “but when you begin to remove large numbers of a species, their numbers are going to collapse like a house of cards at some point.” Toad venom proponents are divided between those who insist that “milking” straight from the source is the only way to smoke up, and those who advocate for a synthetic version of the venom. “Synthetic 5-MeO-DMT is just as good,” said Ana Maria Ortiz, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin studying the species. “People need to leave the toads alone.”

[Thomas Hurt]

1. Stop the Toad Lickers!

[MontanaMama]

2. Jeebus. Can humans NOT

screw every single thing up?

[BigmanPigman]

3. Nope, everything we touch seems to die.

Aren't humans great?

[PlanetBev]

4. Oh, swell....

Now toads are going to pay for our emotional issues. I wish there was a psychedelic to make people go away.

[dweller]

5. Owsley would have nipped this shit in the bud

https://m.

✌🏻

[canetoad]

6. Thanks for that Sis!

I'll stick with my cannabis. Crop is about ready for harvest.

[usajumpedtheshark]

7. The whole species could croak!

[smirkymonkey]

8. Can't they just do 'shrooms or ketamine like a normal person?

[njhoneybadger]

11. Thai Pink Buffalo are just magical!

[Crunchy Frog]

9. They should shoot poachers on sight.

You don't have a right to drive a species to extinction just so you can feel some "bliss".

[Buns_of_Fire]

10. Mason Williams saw this coming...

How 'bout them toad suckers, ain't they clods?
Sittin' there suckin' them green toady frogs!

Suckin' them hop toads, suckin' them chunkers,
Suckin' them a leapy type, suckin' them flunkers.

Look at them toad suckers, ain't they snappy?
Suckin' them bog frogs sure make's 'em happy!

Them hugger mugger toad suckers, way down south,
Stickin' them sucky toads in they mouth!

How to be a toad sucker, no way to duck it,
Get yourself a toad frog, rear back, and suck it!

—Mason Williams

(For the record, he also warned us about Moose Goosers, but that's a subject for another day.)

[jmowreader]

12. And no one thought to breed these?

[RandiFan1290]

13. Hamilton Morris describes the history of 5-MeO-DMT