A natural painkiller scraped from the back of an Amazonian tree frog is becoming popular. Fans claim it’s good for anything – except maybe the frog …

Name: Kambo.

Age: Ancient in the Amazon basin. Less ancient elsewhere.

What is it? The secretion of Phyllomedusa bicolor, also known as the giant monkey frog.

And what’s in it? A natural opioid, also called dermophin, which is 40 times stronger than morphine.

Sounds dangerous … best avoided, I imagine. Indigenous people in Brazil and Peru – mates of Sting, most probably – have used it as traditional medicine. Now westerners are getting into it.

What, like a fashionable Amazonian drug? Kambo is the new ayahuasca? Yes. But they also say it has healing powers.

Who do – not scientists? No, not scientists. Alternative medicine people.

How do you take it? You are burned with a smouldering vine, then the poison is applied to your flesh.

Ouch, sounds painful. Then what happens? You vomit. And, if you believe advocates of kambo, it can cleanse you and relieve pain.

Anything specific I should be taking kambo for? Despite a lack of evidence, advocates claim it is good for pretty much anything, with depression and impotence often cited.

Not just the new ayahuasca, but a nice natural alternative to Prozac and Viagra as well. Perhaps.

Presumably I have to machete my way deep into the rainforest in order to find a medicine man? No longer. There are people in the UK and elsewhere conducting kambo ceremonies. They learned their craft in South America or have been trained by the International Association of Kambo Practitioners. You too can do a training course. The basic one takes two weeks.

It certainly sounds better than six years of medical school. And even if it’s unproven, no one loses, right? Except maybe the Phyllomedusa bicolor. One way to obtain the secretion is by tying the frogs to sticks with their legs splayed out

Arms akambo? It’s not really a joking matter. The skin secretion – which it uses to deter predators – is produced when the creature believes it is in danger, so one way of getting it is to stress it out. Sometimes, it is placed near fire and sometimes bashed on the head.

No! They’re not killed, are they? No, they get released afterwards.

I’ve gone off kambo. You could always give them some kambo – literally a taste of their own medicine – afterwards, to destress them.

Do say: Actually, don’t. Chant instead, and let the spirit of the frog take hold of you, until you projectile vomit.

Don’t say: “Hey, Kermit … interested in earning a bit of extra cash?”