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.