Pubdate: Thu, 27 Dec 2007
Source: Evening Sun (Hanover, PA)
Copyright: 2007 Evening Sun
Contact:  http://www.eveningsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3512
Author: Rick Lee, For The Evening Sun
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hallucinogens.htm (Hallucinogens)

DRUG CZAR: JUST SAY NO TO TOAD LICKING

After he stopped laughing, York County drug czar Bill Graff got on 
the phone with the Pennsylvania State Police crime lab.

"You can lick all the toads you want," had been Graff's initial 
response. "I don't think it's a crime. There's nothing in the (state) 
crimes code banning the licking of toads."

Graff didn't believe it, but the question of toad licking came up 
after a man was arrested in November in Missouri, accused of 
possession of a Colorado River toad with the intent to lick it to get high.

But the chemists at the crime lab informed Graff, the county's first 
assistant district attorney and head of the county drug task force, 
that certain members of the bufo toad family - specifically the 
Colorado River toad and the cane toad - secrete bufotenine, a 
hallucinogenic alkaloid and a Schedule I controlled substance under 
both federal and state drug laws.

The chemists told Graff the question of toad licking to get high does 
not come up very often. They said they vaguely remembered a toad 
licking case "a long time Advertisement ago." The toads in question 
are native to western and southwestern states.

"I stand corrected," Graff said. "It's not just an urban legend.

"So, I guess if you caught someone with a Colorado River toad, you 
could charge them with a Schedule I violation. It's no different from 
mushrooms or LSD. You would have to prove they intended to use them 
to lick. I mean not having them as pets.

"It would be delivery of a controlled substance, and the package is 
the frog, I mean the toad."

Pennsylvania State law does not specifically address bufo toads or 
any other non-endangered amphibians.

The closest the state's game laws come is noting "there is no 
requirement for a person possessing ... reptiles."

After he stopped laughing, Dan Tredinnick, press secretary for the 
Pennsylvania State Fish and Boat Commission, said, "Well, comparing 
it to soaking a rag with gasoline and huffing it, toad licking 
doesn't sound that strange."

Tredinnick said there are no regulations governing the possession of 
hallucinogenic toads "under our small section of the law, so we don't 
care if you possess one."

State game law does limit the taking of native bufo toads - the 
eastern American toad and the Fowler's toad - to two a day, he said. 
But Pennsylvania bufos, while they do have venom sacs that secrete a 
defensive irritant, don't have the hallucinogenic feature of their 
southwestern cousins, he said.

Tredinick said the fish and boat commission is more concerned with 
the release of non-native species into the wild. He recalled the 
northern snakehead scare that grabbed headlines in 2003 when the 
predatory fish native to China were found in Maryland waterways. 
Since then, the state has outlawed the possession, sale and 
transportation of live snakeheads, he said.

He could recall no such similar discussion about bufo toads.

After she stopped laughing, Diana Weaver, of the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Commission's External Affairs Department, contacted one of 
her law enforcement agents.

She said "if a critter is taken or possessed in violation of a state 
law" and then transported across state lines, it could be a violation 
of the federal Lacey Act.

Similar to the Mann Act of 1910, which made it illegal take a woman 
across state lines for immoral purposes, the Lacey Act, which "makes 
it unlawful to import, export, transport, buy or sell fish, wildlife 
and plants taken or possessed in violation of federal, state or 
tribal law" and could come into play in interstate toad-licking cases.

The Arrest

Police in Kansas City, Mo., arrested a man in November and charged 
him with trying to get high by licking a toad.

The 21-year-old had a Colorado River toad, which produces a venom 
that works as a hallucinogenic on people, KMBC-TV in Kansas City reported.

Bufo toads are found in most of the United States. Native to the 
southwest, specifically California, Arizona and northern Mexico, is 
the Bufo alvarius, commonly known as the Sonoran Desert toad and the 
Colorado River toad.

Glands in the toad's neck and limbs contain bufotenin and 
dimethyltryptamine, hallucinogens that are listed as federal and 
Pennsylvania controlled substances and subject to criminal prosecution.

There are a plethora of articles on the Internet dedicated on how to 
use the venom for hallucinogenic effects. Most suggest "milking" the 
toad's glands and drying and smoking the venom. Other vaguely worded 
Web sites about the care and keeping of bufo toads also allude to 
their psychedelic properties.

Some sites offer toads for sale with prices around $150 for an adult 
male and $275 for an adult male and female.

Along with the Bufo alvarius, the Bufo marinus or cane toad also 
produces a mind-altering venom, according to scientific articles. 
Cane toads are native to Mexico and Central America and were 
introduced to Australia in the 1930s to control insects.

In Pennsylvania, the most common bufo family member is the Bufo 
americanus or American toad. Although it too secretes a venom, it 
will only irritate human skin but can be dangerous if ingested by 
small animals.

Locally, the York County District Attorney's Office could not recall 
prosecuting anyone for the possession of a bufo toad or for ingesting 
the venom. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake