The National Park Service has advised tourists to stay away from licking the giant Sonoran Desert toad, as some allegedly do so to get a psychedelic high from the toxin the frogs exude.
The park service warned that handling the frog or putting the poison in your mouth could make you sick. Please don’t lick anything you find in a national park, including banana slugs, strange mushrooms, and big toads with luminous eyes in the middle of the night, it says on the sign.
According to The Washington Post, “there is no data to suggest that people are frequently trekking through national parks in search of toads, but the habit is well recognised in popular culture and among celebrities.”
The creatures, sometimes known as Colorado River toads, emit a milky-white material that is a natural hallucinogenic. According to Drug Science, a global scientific research organisation, it produces a brief, intense psychedelic experience for about 30 minutes when snorted, inhaled, or smoked.
However, the group claims that the “popular myth” that licking the toads will make you high is untrue. According to the organisation, it can be harmful and result in poisonings or even fatalities.
Toads grow to a length of around 7 inches. They have a lifespan of around ten years and can be found in various areas of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and occasionally California.
Regarding individuals kissing the animals in Asia and other countries outside of the United States, British scientist James Rucker was quoted by The Post.
The great majority of people, in his opinion, are probably searching for an inexpensive psychedelic experience, he speculated. “I’d
