Compiled By Staff Reporter

Mike Tyson, has said he is not afraid of dying after he saw &death& while taking a psychedelic toad venom drug.

The 55-year-old former professional boxer, who returned to the ring last November in a high-profile fight against Roy Jones Jr., told the New York Post that after he began smoking the venom from a Sonoran Desert Toad, he had a life-changing experience.

Tyson who said he began smoking the toad venom four years ago and has since taken it more than 50 times.

He revealed that he tripped out after taking the psychedelic drug – which is collected from the Bufo Alvarius amphibian species and then dried before being turned into a crystal that is able to be smoked – for the first time, and he credits the substance for teaching him that he isn’t going to live &forever&.

He said: &I ‘died’ during my first trip. 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.&

Prior to the first time he ever took the drug, Tyson insists he was &a wreck&, and so he puffed away on the venom for a dare.

He said: “I did it as a dare. 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 subsidise that. The toad strips the ego.&

But toad has helped the former fighter-turned-businessman – who is working on two brands of cannabis – to turn his life around, and it has enabled him to &focus& a lot better after he used it 53 times in the last four years, during which time he has also shed 45 kilograms.

Speaking to the New York Post newspaper at Wonderland – a Miami conference dedicated to psychedelics, microdosing and medicine – he added: &It has made me more creative and helps me focus.

&I’m more present as a businessman and entrepreneur. 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 has been open about his drug use and admitted in 2019 that he spent $40,000 a month on marijuana. He also said he smoked marijuana before his fight against Jones Jr., which he won by decision.

According to the Tucson Herpetological Society, in the US, the Sonoran Desert Toad — scientific name, Incilius alvarius — is &unmistakably large,& and can reach over eight-inches in length and weigh as much as 900 grams.

It can be found in the Sonoran Desert of California, Arizona and Mexico.

The group said the toad has gained an &unfortunate notoriety& due to the hallucinogenic properties of its parotid glands.