'Please stop licking toads': US National Park Service tells visitors seeking a high

Licking a Sonoran desert toad cause hallucinations so potent it is often compared to a religious experience. (Image credit: @RibbitDaily/Twitter)

The US National Park Service has recently appealed to visitors to protect the Sonoran desert toad -- by not licking it.

The toad secretes a rare toxin that can make people sick and can even be deadly but, it can also cause hallucinations so potent it is often compared to a religious experience, the New York Times reported. That's probably why the deadly poison is also called the “God molecule”.

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!!!

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The Sonoran desert toad (Bufo alvarius) is one of the largest toads found in North America, measuring nearly 7 inches (18 cm). Will it hypnotize you with its large oscillating multicolored eyes? That’s just silly….MUST SHARE TOAD FACTS!!! pic.twitter.com/78GIcco7rm

— National Park Service (@NatlParkService) November 1, 2022

In a cheeky tweet, the Park Service said: “As we say with most things you come across in a national park, whether it be a banana slug, unfamiliar mushroom, or a large toad with glowing eyes in the dead of night, please refrain from licking. Thank you.” With the post, the Park Service added a creepy night-vision photo of the toad.

As we say with most things you come across in a national park, whether it be a banana slug, unfamiliar mushroom, or a large toad with glowing eyes in the dead of night, please refrain from licking.

Thank you. Oops. Toot!

— National Park Service (@NatlParkService) November 1, 2022

Toad-licking has become a way to get high, The Guardian reported, and is also considered life-threatening. But, not all toads can induce a high, and for those that can, the potency varies from one toad to another.

Users often get high by either licking the back of a toad directly or by storing toxins secreted by it to use later, the publication added.

The Sonoran desert toad, which is also referred to as the Colorado river toad, is about seven inches long, and it secretes toxins from glands near its eyes and jaw. People are also known to collect the substance by stroking under the toad’s chin, initiating a defensive response. It then releases a substance that can be scraped, dried and smoked.

This is a Sonoran Desert Toad found in Arizona. Licking the toad will give you wild hallucinations. So many people are licking or milking the toad it is now threatened with extinction. So. Please. Stop licking the toad or buying drugs mage from them. Extinction is forever pic.twitter.com/QspgFlj19N

— Daniel Schneider (@BiologistDan) February 12, 2021

A substance in the toxins that the toad excretes when threatened, 5-MeO-DMT, can be dried into crystals and then smoked, the New York Times stated. It is illegal in the US, but is legal in Mexico.

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