page_title: Colorado River toad
section_title: State laws
hierarchical_section_title: Colorado River toad / Psychotropic uses / State laws
caption_attribution_description: English: Toad I took a picture of in my backyard. About as big as a man's fist.
context_page_description: The Colorado River toad, also known as the Sonoran Desert toad, is found in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. Its toxin, as an exudate of glands within the skin, contains 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin.
context_section_description: The toads received national attention in 1994 after The New York Times Magazine published an article about a California teacher who became the first person to be arrested for possessing secretion of the toads. The substance concerned, bufotenin, had been outlawed in California since 1970.
  In November 2007, a man in Kansas City, Missouri was discovered with an I. alvarius toad in his possession, and charged with possession of a controlled substance after they determined he intended to use its secretions for recreational purposes. In Arizona, one may legally bag up to 10 toads with a fishing license, but it could constitute a criminal violation if it can be shown that one is in possession of this toad with the intent to smoke its secretions.
  None of the U.S. states in which I. alvarius is or was indigenous – California, Arizona, and New Mexico – legally allows a person to remove the toad from the state. For example, the Arizona Game and Fish Department is clear about the law in Arizona: "An individual shall not...export any live wildlife from the state; 3. Transport, possess, offer for sale, sell, sell as live bait, trade, give away, purchase, rent, lease, display, exhibit, propagate...within the state."
  In California, I. alvarius has been designated as "endangered" and possession of this toad is illegal. "It is unlawful to capture, collect, intentionally kill or injure, possess, purchase, propagate, sell, transport, import or export any native reptile or amphibian, or part thereof..."
  In New Mexico, this toad is listed as "threatened" and taking I. alvarius is unlawful in that state.
caption: Toad at night in Tucson
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