Mike Tyson told the New York Post that he "died" the first time he smoked Sonoran Desert toad venom.
The 55-year-old former world heavyweight champion made the revelation at Wonderland, a Miami conference dedicated to psychedelics...
He added that since his 'death' experience, he's gone on to take Sonoran Desert toad venom 53 times and even set up a toad nursery at his South Carolina Ranch.
Known for its psychoactive venom, the Sonoran Desert toad is a Mexican amphibian that spends much of its life living underground. When smoked, the venom produces a short trip comparable to LSD or ayahuasca.
Tyson first smoked "toad" four years ago. He recalled being unhappy and 100 pounds overweight when a friend suggested he try the drug.
"Before I did the toad, I was a wreck," he said. "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.
"In my trips I’ve seen that death is beautiful," he added. "The toad has taught me that I’m not going to be here forever. There’s an expiration date."
Tyson credits 'tripping toad' with changing his life for the better, saying he lost 100 pounds in three months, started boxing again, and reconnected with his family all thanks to that first dose.
Since then, he's become a regular user of the psychedelic drug and even created a nursery for Sonoran Desert toads at his ranch in Desert Hot Springs, South Carolina.
He's also started advocating across the country to decriminalize psychedelics, and invested in Wesana Health, a biotech company using psilocybin to treat brain injuries.
And it's not just the psychedelics Tyson's championing. The former boxer is also working with marijuana heavyweight Columbia Care to produce an eponymous cannabis line: 'Tyson 2.0'.
He told Yahoo Finance last month that smoking marijuana since retiring has helped him turn his life around, and that he wishes he'd used it throughout his career.
"I should have smoked when I was fighting because it put me in this different state of mind. I'm more relaxed and the more relaxed you are, the better fighter you are at least in my case," Tyson said.
