Kimon de Greef traces 5-MeO-DMT from Sonoran Desert toad use to pharmaceutical development, linking Indigenous knowledge, extraction pressures, and biotech commercialization

5-MeO-DMT sits at the center of a fast shift from Sonoran Desert toad secretion and underground spiritual use toward patents, drug development, and mainstream commercial interest. Kimon de Greef follows how a once-obscure compound became a target for biotech companies while remaining entangled with Indigenous knowledge, ecological pressure on toads, and disputes over who benefits from rising demand. Commercialization brings conflicting incentives. Pharmaceutical actors frame synthetic production and clinical pathways as safer and more scalable, while critics point to biopiracy concerns, extractive sourcing histories, and the risk of erasing cultural context. The toad itself became a symbol of both fascination and harm as collection pressure grew in northern Mexico and the US Southwest. The wider significance reaches beyond one molecule. 5-MeO-DMT shows how psychedelics can move from local ritual, niche experimentation, and animal-derived extraction into global wellness markets and drug pipelines, raising unresolved questions about conservation, consent, ownership, and ethical translation into medicine.