Since kissing frogs has officially been discounted as a method of obtaining princes (sorry ladies), why would anyone want to lick a toad? Toad cartoonThe urban legend is that licking a toad can get you high. Indeed, Homer Simpson is seen licking toads and going on bizarre trips, as well as the infamous stories of hippies in the 70s who kept 'toad farms.' These stories are based on the fact that certain types of toad can produce psychoactive compounds in their skins and venoms, which can then be licked off. These toads are known as 'psychoactive toads', and they produce a chemical which causes hallucinations when ingested.
So, is licking a toad a good idea? Definitely not. Not only would it taste disgusting, it would be illegal and extremely
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Taken orally, 5-MeO-DMT is actually inactive, and so licking a toad will expose you only to the highly dangerous cardiotoxic chemicals on its skin that are orally active. In fact, the only way to avoid the toxicity is to dry the venom and smoke it. And in an hilarious show of scientific bravado, two researchers actually used themselves as 'test subjects' and got high in the name of science (reference 1). Today they are both extremely well respected scientists in their respective fields. But before you try it yourself, even in the name of career progression, smoking the venom is now highly illegal (in Queensland, Australia, for example possession of toad slime is illegal under the Drug Misuse act).
More importantly, though, your chances of getting a good toad are slim. Because only a few toads actually produce these psychoactive compounds while the vast majority don't yet are nonetheless highly poisonous. Even a small amount of their venom can kill or permanently paralyse the licker. So which ones should the determined licker go for? Well the choice isn�t large since just one species of toad, Bufo alvarins, is known to produce the correct