Book excerpt explores 5-MeO-DMT from Sonoran Desert toad secretion in the US and Mexico
Daily Maverick has published an excerpt from Kimon de Greef’s book The Ego Trip about the spread of the practice of using 5-MeO-DMT, a psychoactive substance secreted by the Sonoran Desert toad in border areas of the United States and Mexico. The author describes how a previously little-known practice became part of a broader revival of interest in psychedelics.
According to the book’s description, the effects of 5-MeO-DMT can begin within a few seconds and usually pass within 20 minutes. People who used the substance described losing their sense of time and personal identity, mystical experiences, or a sensation of bright white light. The author also notes that the toad’s secretions are toxic and that swallowing them can be dangerous.
Sonoran Desert toad
The Sonoran Desert toad, whose scientific name is Incilius alvarius, lives along the Mexico-US border. Adult specimens can reach nearly 20 centimetres in length. They have large glands on their necks and limbs that secrete defensive chemicals.
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The excerpt states that among toads, this species produces 5-MeO-DMT, although the evolutionary mechanism behind the emergence of this substance has still not been fully explained. When threatened, the animals lower their heads and raise the rear part of their bodies, shielding themselves with their glands.
Seasonal activity and demand
The toads spend up to nine months a year underground, escaping the heat and drought of the Sonoran Desert. After the summer monsoons, they emerge, breed and feed. Tadpoles have only a few weeks to develop before temporary bodies of water dry up; as stated in the book, up to four out of five such bodies of water may dry up too quickly.
De Greef writes that the desert landscape has been altered by cities, farms, transport corridors, border fences and other consequences of human activity. At the same time, the toad became a source of a popular psychedelic product: collectors extracted its secretion for the black market, tourists came to the desert for rituals, and biotechnology companies developed 5-MeO-DMT for use in psychiatric treatment.
