S5E27: Sonoran Toads and the Dirty Business of Ego Death

Journalist Kimon de Greef joins Chris Clarke to discuss his new book, The Ego Trip: Psychedelic Toads, a Trail of Deaths, and the Guru Who Peddled Transcendence. The Sonoran Desert toad (Incilius alvarius) spends most of the year underground, emerging to breed during summer rainstorms. It is also the only animal known to produce 5-MeO-DMT, an extraordinarily powerful psychedelic compound, in its defensive secretions. That biological curiosity has made the toad the center of a global psychedelic industry.&nbsp; Chris and Kimon discuss how Sonoran toad secretions changed from a little-known psychedelic tool into an international spiritual commodity; how outsiders profit from romanticized ideas about Indigenous tradition; and what the resulting trade means for the toads, the people hired to collect them, and communities living amid poverty and cartel violence. They also examine parallels with the commercial appropriation and poaching of white sage, and consider an uncomfortable contradiction: people seeking healing, transcendence and communion with nature may be supporting a supply chain built on wildlife exploitation, misinformation and harm. Content Note This episode contains discussion of drug use, addiction, death, animal mistreatment and abusive psychedelic practices. It is not intended as medical advice or encouragement to use 5-MeO-DMT or any other controlled substance. About Kimon de Greef Kimon de Greef is a South African journalist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, Guernica and other publications. He has a master&rsquo;s degree in conservation biology from the University of Cape Town and a master&rsquo;s degree in journalism from New York University. Much of his reporting concerns wildlife trafficking, illicit economies and the complicated relationships between human desire and the natural world. Kimon de Greef&rsquo;s website Kimon on Instagram Buy The Ego Trip through Bookshop.org Publisher&rsquo;s page for The Ego Trip In this episode The remarkable monsoon-dependent life of the Sonoran Desert toad What 5-MeO-DMT is, and why &ldquo;toad licking&rdquo; is both inaccurate and dangerous How Octavio Rettig helped popularize toad-derived 5-MeO-DMT Claims that toad smoking is an ancient Comc&aacute;ac/Seri tradition Psychedelic tourism, cultural appropriation and spiritual marketing The economic realities behind supposedly &ldquo;responsibly sourced&rdquo; toad secretions Toad collection, repeated &ldquo;milking,&rdquo; displacement and disease transmission Why synthetic 5-MeO-DMT removes the need to exploit wild toads Parallels between the toad trade and the international market for poached white sage <li data-section-id="1jm2qp1"