Why we should do more to protect frogs and toads

I WAS at university in the early 1990s, when toad licking was the latest drug-related panic. I remember many conversations about it, though I don’t remember anyone actually licking a toad, or indeed any other amphibian.

The nearest anyone got to real psychedelic experimentation was an architecture student called Mark, who tried to smoke banana skins. I don’t think it worked. But the toad thing hasn’t gone away. Only last year, the US National Park Service asked its visitors to stop licking toads because of the effect it was having (presumably on both the visitors and the toads).…