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Could psychedelic toads boost our brains?

Evening Standard

|

June 03, 2024

London trial into effects of drug from their skin on our consciousness

- Daniel Keane

Could psychedelic toads boost our brains?

SCIENTISTS have dosed the first participant in a London trial investigating the effects of a psychedelic substance found in toads on the human brain.

The substance, called 5-MeO-DMT, is produced by the Sonoran desert toad and causes powerful hallucinations, euphoria and disassociation. The toads are found in north-western Mexico and the south-western United States.

In 2022, the US national park service warned people to stop licking the back of the toads to induce a psychedelic trip, as the amphibians’ skin contains poisonous toxins.

Biopharmaceutical firm Beckley Psytech have created a synthetic version of 5-MeO-DMT, named BPL-003, as part of a trial looking into the drug’s effect on the brain.

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