Interest in shamanism and its rituals steadily increases since 1980. Healing rituals are often sought by people who wish to cure certain diseases, to cleanse, transform and re-establish a balance between body, emotions and spiritual aspects. Since some decades, amphibian secretions, referred to as the ‘frog medicine (Kambo) and toad medicine’ are used during such rituals. Kambo is secreted by an Amazonian frog, the Phyllomedusa bicolor, and the other secretion is by a North-American toad, the Bufo Alvarius. Kambo consists of a number of bioactive peptides, and the toads’ secretion consists of a number of psychoactive tryptamines. The pharmacological insights in both these secretions are mainly based on the work of the Italian professor Vittorio Erspamer. Kambo was original used by Amazonian tribes to improve hunting skills, and the secretion of the toad has been discovered as a powerful transformer of consciousness in the early 60s. Since some decades, healing rituals have been developed, mainly in Brazil, Europe and the USA, based on perceived cleansing and healing properties of both secretions. These rituals are now gaining popularity, and the medical community should be aware of the relevance of these rituals for the users, as well as of contraindications,potential side-effects and interactions.

Without a doubt, the worst single violation of civil rights of American citizens and abuse of the Constitution was the detention of Japanese-Americans during World War II