Post: “The use of toad-sourced 5-MeO-DMT will always be there.”

Science The Promise — And Perils — Of 5-MeO-DMT

Found naturally in the Sonoran Desert toad, 5-MeO-DMT stands out for its quick, potent, and potentially life-altering psychedelic effects.

by Undark and Lourdes Medrano When Johannes Reckweg arrived in the Netherlands in 2016 to work on his master’s program in neuropsychology, he didn’t expect to learn about a psychedelic compound commonly found in a toad that lives half a world away. But his research on stimulants led him to another substance that quickly piqued his interest: 5-MeO-DMT.

“It sparked my fascination with this topic of pharmacological or psychopharmacological research and how drugs affect human behavior,” Reckweg said.

While the natural hallucinogen can be found in some plants and fungi, its best-known source is the Sonoran Desert toad, a greenish-gray amphibian that roams the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. To get the psychedelic, poachers squeeze the toad’s glands to secrete a milky toxin that contains 5-MeO-DMT, along with other molecules. Though the toad usually survives this process, conservationists warn that rising demand for the once obscure psychoactive compound has put pressure on the toad population. They call it yet another risk for an amphibian already threatened by dry weather, a shrinking habitat, and disease.

Now, amid a global renaissance in psychedelics as medicine, scientists are working to study and develop synthetic formulations of 5-MeO-DMT for hard-to-treat mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The laboratory formulations seem unlikely to curb recreational toad squeezers, but limited studies suggest that 5-MeO-DMT could have a real medicinal value — though further research needs to be done.

If it proves to be effective, the compound, which stands out for its quick and potent effects, could be a cheaper alternative to psilocybin and LSD, which are longer acting and, so, more expensive to administer.

“There’s a lot of excitement in the field,” said Anya Ragnhildstveit, the director of research at Pneuma Science’s Center for Psychedelic Research. “I think it has to be dialed back a little bit, just so we can really make sure we’re doing this with the right intentions and taking the time to really […]

“The use of toad-sourced 5-MeO-DMT will always be there.”