Mike Tyson Says Psychedelic Toad Venom Helped Him Lose 100 Lbs. and Taught Him That ‘Death Is Beautiful’

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Former world champion heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson dropped 100 pounds, returned to the boxing ring, and has a new understanding of life and death — and he credits psychedelic toad venom for these positive developments.

In an interview with The New York Post, Tyson described his experiences with the Sonoran Desert Toad, or Bufo alvarius, an amphibian native to Mexico. The toad “spends seven months of the year living underground, but when it’s active, its venom can be smoked to produce a short psychoactive trip,” according the Post, and it’s been getting renewed attention along with other psychedelic substances like LSD that have shown promise in treating depression, anxiety, and addiction.

Tyson first tried “the toad” four years ago, when he was 100 pounds overweight, abusing drugs and alcohol, and feeling “sluggish and unhappy.” He told the Post that he tried toad venom “as a dare,” figuring that he was already doing “heavy drugs like cocaine, so why not?”

“I ‘died’ during my first trip,” he said. “In my trips I’ve seen that death is beautiful. Life and death both have to be beautiful, but death has a bad rep. The toad has taught me that I’m not going to be here forever. There’s an expiration date.”

“It’s another dimension,” said Tyson. “Before I did the toad, I was a wreck. The toughest opponent I ever faced was myself. I had low self-esteem. People with big egos often have low self-esteem. We use our ego to subsidize that. The toad strips the ego.”

He’s currently keeping “a whole nursery” of the toads at his ranch home in Desert Hot Springs, California, reports the Post, so he can have “venom on demand,” and has invested in a cannabis line inspired by his experiences with the toad venom, which he credits for not just helping him lose weight and get in good enough physical shape to start boxing again, but also reconnect with his family, become “more creative” and be more successful as a businessman.

Tyson has been advocating for the legalization and expanded use of psychedelics, not just toad venom, hoping to see more of them available as over the counter medicines.