Mike Tyson has experienced death, he told The New York Post. And it’s ‘beautiful.’
The former heavyweight champ says he passed to the other side after smoking toxins from the Sonoran Desert toad, which produces about a 20-minute psychoactive experience or drug trip. “The toad” evidently is gaining in popularity.
Tyson said he tried it for the first time four years ago, when he was abusing alcohol and drugs and was unhappy.
“I died during my first trip,” Tyson told the newspaper. “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.”
A friend suggested he try the toad. He has now done it 53 times, which he says helped him lose weight and improved his personal relationships. He also has returned to boxing in his mid-50s.
He became so enamored with the experience that he now has a nursery filled with the creatures at his ranch in Desert Hot Springs, California.
“I did it as a dare,” Tyson said. “I was doing heavy drugs like cocaine, so why not? It’s another dimension. 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 went on: “People see the difference [in me]. It speaks for itself. If you knew me in 1989 you knew a different person. My mind isn’t sophisticated enough to fathom what happened, but life has improved. The toad’s whole purpose is to reach your highest potential. I look at the world differently. We’re all the same. Everything is love.”
Tyson spoke to The Post at Wonderland, a psychedelics conference in Miami. He has been in the cannabis business for years.
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