Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
From: [catalyst remailer] at [netcom.com]
Subject: Media has shifted :-) ! Toads.
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 12:36:31 -0800

[1] The New LSD: Psychedelic Toads
Copyright: 1994 by The Associated Press, R
Date: Wed Feb 16 13:50:16 EST 1994

        ANGELS CAMP, Calif. (AP) -- The war on drugs has moved into Mark
Twain's frog-jumping territory, and it's not pretty.
        These drug suppliers are green, squat and lumpy, with big
bulging eyes.
        That's not a description of some comic strip villain. These are
toads -- Bufo alvarius.
        And forget that old myth that handling toads causes warts. These
critters secrete a venom from glands on their backs.
        Drying the venom produces a hallucinogenic drug, bufotenine,
that can be smoked, and users and researchers say it produces a
high that eclipses the psychedelic properties of LSD. (Just imagine
the effect that toad jokes would have had on the culture of the
'60s.)
        And yes, it's illegal. ``Toke a toad, go to jail,'' suggest some
wags.
        ``What is the human race going to do next? Grind up clarinets
and smoke them?'' asked Calaveras County narcotics agent Greg Elam.
        After the arrest of a couple on charges of possessing bufotenine
from four toads, state and local narcotics agents worried that
there was a cult of toad abusers in the region.
        They've determined that's not the case.
        But literature confiscated from the couple's house indicates
there is an underground of enthusiasts for the drug, agents said.
        ``It's a bizarre case,'' said Matt Campoy, commander of the drug
task force in Calaveras County 110 miles east of San Francisco.
        Scientific journals trace use of the drug to ancient times. In
the 1950s, the Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency supported
research on bufotenine as part of efforts to develop brainwashing
agents, according to the August 1990 Scientific American.
        Laws against its use in the United States date to the late
1960s. But the task force was unable to find records that anyone
else had actually been arrested for possessing it.
        Unrelated laws bar possession of the toads themselves, since
their numbers are dwindling.
        Ironically, the arrests came in a region known not for toads but
for frogs. A short story by Twain, ``The Celebrated Jumping Frog of
Calaveras County,'' inspired the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping
Frog Jubilee, which marked its 65th year in 1993 and draws
participants from throughout the nation.
        Bob and Connie Shepard are scheduled for arraignment next month
on charges of possessing the drug.
        Shepard, 41, a former teacher and Explorer Scout leader, and his
37-year-old wife said they did not wish to talk to a reporter.
        But Shepard, also a former volunteer with the Calaveras County
sheriff's search-and-rescue squad, told agents that he captured the
four toads in southern Arizona.
        Agents quoted him as saying he got so high from the drug he
could ``hear electrons jumping orbitals in his molecules.''
        Authorities moved in when they heard Sheppard had taken the
toads to a school district learning center, where he was an
instructor. Agents feared children might be affected.
        Some criticize authorities for pursuing the case.
        ``Here we've got murderers in the streets and we've got police
going after people catching toads,'' said Dale Gieringer of the
California Drug Policy Reform Coalition.
        ``This is victimless consensual crime. This is personal
exploration of consciousness. It's something that should be a basic
constitutional right.''