palmspringsbum

by **Midnight toker** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:59 am

The Globe and Mail wrote:Psychotropic plant has medical science abuzz

July 27, 2006
SHERYL UBELACKER
The Globe & Mail
Canadian Press

Hunter knows how to mellow out on marijuana. It's something he does all the time. But the first time he smoked the leaves of a plant dubbed the "magic mint," he felt as if he'd been slammed into another dimension.

As drug trips go, this one was more terror than pleasure.

"The first time I did it was with a lot of people," recalls Hunter, a Toronto university student who asked that his real name not be used. "That was probably a bad idea because I did it and before I even knew what was happening . . . Then someone was around me and they just tapped my shoulder, and . . . it felt like spikes going into my body. I felt like I was being stabbed, but obviously it was the Salvia."

Salvia divinorum, that is -- a member of the sage family that has been used for hundreds of years by the Mazatec indigenous people of southern Mexico as a medicinal herb and means of divination.

<table class=posttable align=right width=300><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg src=bin/bennett-chris_salvia-divinorum.jpg width=300></td></tr><tr><td class=postcap>Chris Bennett, co-owner of the Vancouver store Urban Shaman, weighs and packages bags of a legal hallucinogenic plant called Salvia divinorum, also known as the 'magic mint.'</td></tr></table>Today, it continues to be used in shamanistic rituals. But it has also become popular among the university and college crowd in Canada and the United States.

What may be surprising, given its powerful hallucinogenic effects, is that cultivating, selling or using Salvia divinorum are all perfectly legal in Canada and most of the U.S.

In Canada, neither Salvia divinorum nor its main active ingredient, salvinorin A, are regulated under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, says Health Canada spokeswoman Carolyn Sexauer. The substance can be imported and sold provided no health claim is made regarding its effects.

The Diviner's Sage, as it's sometimes called, is sold in specialty head shops across Canada and the U.S., and can be ordered on-line. Most of it comes from Mexico.

But the plant is not a substance to be smoked lightly, says Chris Bennett, co-owner with his wife, Renee Boje, of Urban Shaman in Vancouver, which specializes in plants used for shamanistic and religious purposes, including peyote and Salvia.

"We have a self-imposed age limit of 19 in our store," said Mr. Bennett, explaining that anyone under that age will not be sold psychoactive plants.

At Urban Shaman, about two grams of dried Salvia leaves sell for $8 and a 10-times-stronger extract goes for about $25.

Mr. Bennett says it takes about 10 deep inhalations of Salvia smoke to achieve its full effect, which is short-lived as drugs go, lasting anywhere from 10 minutes to a half hour.

Salvia-induced hallucinations are as individual as the people who partake of the plant.

When he first smoked it, Mr. Bennett says the world around him went flat, "like the second dimension." Others experience panic because they find the cosmic ride too intense.

"There's a real dissolvement of the ego . . . that sometimes can be quite frightening for people who have a hard time letting go. But for people who have an easy time letting go, it can be quite a blissful experience."

But it isn't only recreational users who are finding Salvia of interest. The plant is creating a real buzz among scientists in the pharmaceutical arena.

Bryan Roth, director of the psychoactive drug screening program at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, says the chemical structure of the plant's active ingredient is "totally unique."

Dr. Roth, whose lab at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland was the first to map its molecular makeup five years ago, says salvinorin A is a "kappa-opiate agonist" that binds to a single type of receptor in the brain.

"It's amazing that this drug targets that particular receptor," he said. "Most drugs are not so selective. LSD hits about 50 receptors."

While pure salvinorin A is unlikely to have any use as a medication, its derivatives could be useful, and about 200 have been isolated so far, Dr. Roth says. Compounds that could block the effects of Salvia may be candidates for treating depression, schizophrenia or Alzheimer's-induced dementia.

"It's a really, really hot area in medical chemistry right now," Dr. Roth said.

When it comes to recreational use, Dr. Roth is reluctant to pronounce Salvia divinorum "dangerous," although he doesn't encourage people to smoke the leaves or extract.

"The big problem with it from a safety standpoint is that people are pretty incapacitated when they take a hefty dose. They're pretty much disoriented in space and time and they could wander off a building or walk in front of a car and not know where they are."

That's why Mr. Bennett of Urban Shaman warns that anyone taking Salvia "should always have somebody there with them. That's a No. 1 rule.

"Because you enter into a waking kind of dream state in which you lose your critical judgment in a similar way you might in a dream. So you want to make sure a person remains sitting down or lying down."

by **budman** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:08 pm

Though many of Marc Emery's initial ibogaine patients were unable to kick their habits long-term...

The Tyee wrote:Psychedelics Could Treat Addiction Says Vancouver Official

<table class=posttable align=right width=160><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg src=bin/tabernanthe_iboga.png></td></tr><tr><td class=postcap>Tabernanthe iboga, source of ibogaine.</td></tr></table>City's drug policy honcho sees 'profound benefits'. A special report.

By Danielle Egan
Published: August 9, 2006
TheTyee.ca

Vancouver's top drug policy official and B.C. public health physicians believe addicts might be treated by giving them psychedelic drugs, and they hope the city will lead in exploring the controversial approach.

Powerful hallucinogens such as ayahuasca and peyote could offer addicts and other sick people "profound benefits," Donald MacPherson, Drug Policy Co-ordinator for the city of Vancouver, told The Tyee.

MacPherson is co-author of a report published by the city in November that puts ayahuasca and peyote in the category of "benefit," based on their traditional use by indigenous cultures and on documented studies by researchers.

Ayahuasca, an Amazonian, vine-based tea brew, is cited as "non-addictive" and as a "powerful therapeutic tool" used for centuries in Peruvian and Brazilian ceremonial settings. Peyote, the report notes, is "legally administered as a ritualistic sacrament by the members of the Native American Church as an antidote to alcoholism."

The report, titled Preventing Harm from Psychoactive Substance Use, recommends that the city forge ties across all levels of health care and communities and facilitate "exploration, study and application of traditional medicines and rituals and of evidence-based alternative approaches towards the prevention, healing and recovery from problematic substance use."

"Our report is certainly pushing the envelope, but these drugs could have profound therapeutic and spiritual benefits," MacPherson told The Tyee. "We think that demonizing these psychedelic drugs is totally bizarre, and their benefits should be explored."

The Vancouver city report followed a report published by The Health Officers Council of B.C. which recommends that restrictions be loosened on the use of psychedelics as therapeutics in controlled medical settings.

Return to Hollywood Hospital?

If Vancouver's officialdom were to follow such recommendations, it wouldn't be the first time the city found itself at the centre of a worldwide interest in the potential healing properties of hallucinogens.

In the late 1950s, New Westminster-based Hollywood Hospital was a leader in therapeutic psychedelics, almost a decade before Timothy Leary encouraged the masses to "turn on, tune in and drop out" on acid. Founded by eccentric American entrepreneur Al Hubbard, Hollywood Hospital catered to a mixed clientele of American celebrities and Canadian politicians given LSD to treat alcoholism, drug addiction and psychological burn-out. For almost a decade after LSD was criminalized in North America in the late 1960s, Hollywood Hospital served up therapeutic LSD before the provincial government pulled funding in 1975 and the hospital closed.

Pharmaceutical drugs soon became the government-sponsored substances of choice. But a number of academics refused to give up the fight for therapeutic psychedelics and today, LSD, MDMA ("ecstasy") psilocybin ("magic mushrooms") and ibogaine are being used to treat everything from cancer pain to addictions to anxiety disorders at prestigious universities and private research centres.

Ibogaine in Vancouver

In Vancouver, Prince of Pot Marc Emery opened up a therapy centre to treat dozens of downtown eastside drug addicts with ibogaine in 2003 before he ran out of funds. Now a group called The Iboga Therapy House has re-started the program and is looking for Health Canada funding.

Meantime, ayahuasca, another psychedelic plant brew said to treat addiction, can be purchased at The Urban Shaman on Hastings Street, and a Vancouver group called Traditional Amazonian Medicines Society (TAMS) organizes trips to Peru for locals looking to sample ayahuasca in the remote jungles with an Amazonian healer.

Unlike LSD and ecstasy, ibogaine and ayahuasca aren't criminalized in Canada, though they are in the States, so Vancouver is in a unique position to host start-up therapy programs.

Vancouver Drug Policy Co-ordinator MacPherson has no illusions that three levels of government will quickly and easily heed the calls to embrace the therapeutic potential of some hallucinogens. He told The Tyee that numerous clinical trials need to be carried out by researchers before the pros and cons can be weighed out and that will necessitate provincial and Health Canada approval and funding.

"Given the political climate around the NAOMI [heroin addiction treatment with heroin] trials, we're on rear-guard action in terms of gains we've already made, and don't want to jeopardize that work," said MacPherson.

"But I think you'll see more interest in therapeutic psychedelics in the coming year," MacPherson said, adding that "these types of programs are usually pushed by academics. The Ministry and groups like the Coastal Health Authority aren't research labs. They'll say, 'Show me the evidence that these drugs work' and the problem is that while there's a lot of anecdotal evidence, there's not much recent peer-reviewed research around psychedelics because of a completely wrong-headed approach to addiction and of course, the war on drugs."

BC health officers: loosen laws

Opponents of using therapeutic psychedelics are difficult to find among medical researchers. While there are a number of published medical papers around recreational users who took street ecstasy (which is often adulterated with other drugs or toxic chemicals), even toxicology experts are hesitant about writing off many of these drugs.

One Canadian Medical Association Journal paper written by University of Toronto professor Harold Kalant in 2001 discussed the varied potentially fatal risks of taking street ecstasy but he added that there was "no evidence" that taking the drug would lead to addiction and even said that the drug "may be of potential value as an aid in psychotherapy" though "similar claims were made earlier for MDA, LSD and other hallucinogens but...no lasting benefit was found in a 10-year follow-up study of patients treated with LSD" and "no comparable study has been conducted on patients treated with MDMA."

Kalant adds that a primary issue in doing clinical studies might be "difficulty obtaining the drug since its change in legal status."

The Health Officers Council of B.C. gives the nod to medical uses for a broadened range of psychedelic drugs in their report "A Public Health Approach to Drug Control in Canada" released last October.

The report lays down strategies for approving and regulating various criminalized psychedelic drugs for use in clinical settings. It points out that "drugs such as LSD and MDMA which have been shown to have potential psychotherapeutic benefits when used in controlled therapeutic environments, could be used with registered and trained psychiatrists and psychologists."

The report concludes, "there is a growing consensus in Canada that there should be an exploration of other drug control mechanisms, with possible adoption of strict regulatory approaches to what are currently illegal drugs."

The group calls for "a new balance point in the drug control policy spectrum, occupying the middle ground" that minimizes "the multi-faceted negative effects of harmful substance use, while also minimizing the harms caused by drug laws themselves."

'So much potential'

Advocates realize that research groups interested in pursuing psychedelic treatment programs, particularly the criminalized substances, could have trouble convincing Health Canada to get on-side with endorsement and funding. "But, there's so much potential with these substances that as a society we're missing the boat by not incorporating them into addiction treatment and psychiatric programs," said Ken Tupper, a 36-year-old UBC PhD student who consulted on both reports. Tupper has been studying the cultural benefits of various psychedelic "plant teachers" for over a decade and co-founded TAMS in 2004.

Like many academics in this field, Tupper's interest in psychedelics started as a teen. "Curiosity led me to experiment and I found value through taking LSD and psilocybin," he said over mint tea at Blenz. "I started to see the cultural hypocrisy of our drug laws while caffeine, alcohol and tobacco were legal." Tupper went on to SFU to do a philosophy BA, then a master's degree in education where he researched "the value of psychedelic drugs. I thought I'd be laughed out of the room but they gave me a $5,000 fellowship to travel to Brazil and study ayahuasca."

Tupper took ayahuasca in ceremonial settings and said the experience changed his life. "Taking this difficult and unforgiving plant teacher has made me a more complete person," he said. "I compare it to rebooting your brain, and think our culture seriously needs that right now. We're at a crisis point and these substances could be used as cultural tools to shift consciousness and to bring people a greater connection to the earth, to animals, plants, the land. The war on drugs has intimidated academics for a couple of decades but we're seeing a re-emerged interest everywhere."

Interest in U.S.

The recommendations in the reports by the city of Vancouver and the Health Officers Council of B.C. have also turned on American researchers. "Those reports touch on the vanguard of treatment efforts with substance abuse and are a common-sense approach to drug abuse treatment and harm reduction," said Dennis McKenna, an ethnopharmacologist and psychedelic drug researcher based in Minnesota who plans to return to Vancouver to research Amazonian plants this September at BCIT. McKenna, a "child of the 60s," started sampling psychedelics in the Haight-Ashbury, area of San Francisco, then split for the Amazon to sample psilocybin with his brother Terrence, who detailed their trips in the book True Hallucinations.

McKenna moved on to the academic side of research at UBC in the early 1980s doing his doctorate in Botanical Sciences under Neil Towers. They were studying the genetics of psilocybin biosynthesis when Towers asked him if he'd be interested in going to the Amazon to study medicinal plants, particularly ayahuasca. McKenna responded, "My bags are packed. When do I go?" When he returned, McKenna landed a four-year fellowship researching ayahuasca pharmacology, then went to Brazil with UCLA-based Charles Grob to do a biomedical study of the safety of ayahuasca for the Brazilian government.

"Most of the people we studied were very dysfunctional before joining the UDV church: drug abuse, domestic violence, crime. But when they started drinking the tea in the ceremonial setting, it was like holding up a mirror to their lives. They literally changed their lives."

The researchers also found an intriguing bio-chemical marker in long-term ayahuasca drinkers. "It suggested ayahuasca may have reversed a neurochemical condition involving lower abundance of serotonin transporters that had been linked to alcoholism by other researchers," said McKenna, who acknowledges that further research would be necessary to confirm this, and notes that the UDV's "supportive social environment" was a factor in improved health. But the Brazilian government was impressed enough to approve ayahuasca for ceremonial uses.

The American government has been harder to persuade, but recently McKenna and his colleagues at The Heffter Research Institute have started various projects with psychedelics. Harvard researchers, meanwhile, are hoping to use MDMA to treat anxiety and pain in cancer patients. It's the first time academics there have tested the bureaucrats around psychedelics since Timothy Leary's infamous LSD experiments were halted by the institution in the early 60s.

A similar program is already underway at UCLA Medical Center, with psilocybin. And Johns Hopkins University just released a randomized controlled trial of the spiritual mind-expanding impact of psilocybin; one third of volunteers rated it the "single most spiritually significant" event of their lives. In South Carolina, psychiatrist Dr. Michael Mithoefer is using MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

'No money to be made'

Florida-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is helping various projects get off the ground. MAPS founder, Rick Doblin, said open-minded government bureaucrats are also helping to shift the tide. "Some good people got into positions of authority at the FDA and NIDA [National Institute of Drug Awareness] and have made a decision to back science instead of the war on drugs," said Doblin, acknowledging that another primary issue stalling research in the field is lack of industry funding.

"There's no money to be made from psychedelic drugs, so the pharmaceutical companies aren't interested. They like drugs that you have to take for your whole life and with psychedelic drugs you only need a few sessions," said Doblin, who completed a PhD at Harvard focused on the medical uses of psychedelics and marijuana.

Doblin's not shy about saying he takes psychedelics periodically at critical life junctures, like his 50th birthday. "Sometimes these experiences are really hard and force you to look at things you don't want to analyse about yourself," said Doblin. "They can also give you a sense of unity with the world that our alienating western culture doesn't provide. You realize you're not just isolated atoms floating alone so it gives very basic life-force connections. And the medical studies of benefits stand on their own merit."

MAPS is assisting the Vancouver Iboga Therapy House group to re-start its program to treat drug and alcohol addiction with the African shrub bark psychedelic. Though many of Marc Emery's initial ibogaine patients were unable to kick their habits long-term, Doblin is hoping to get funds for a long-term study of 20 ibogaine-using patients.

He said ibogaine was one of the most profound trips of his life. "I threw up for 12 hours straight and then I saw all of my worst flaws and hated myself, then became exhausted and had a beautiful night of bliss and self-acceptance," said Doblin of the experience. Other anecdotal reports of physical purging and psychological self-recrimination make it the kind of substance few people would dabble with recreationally.

Ayahuasca, known as the "vine of the gods" is a difficult plant teacher as well. Vancouver-born ethnobotanist Wade Davis described his ayahuasca experiences this way in his book Shadows of the Sun: "It is not necessarily, and in fact is rarely, a pleasant or an easy journey. It is wondrous and it may be terrifying. But above all, it is culturally purposeful." Ayahuasca's spiritual and cultural benefits, particularly for addicts, has been well documented and Vancouver-based non-profit group TAMS is advocating educational exchanges between local aboriginals and Peruvian indigenous cultures and hoping to open a centre on B.C.'s west coast. Ken Tupper is also just back from the second TAMS-organized workshop in Peru along with eight local "travellers" who attended ceremonies with master healer Guillermo Arevalo in the remote jungles. Their next 13-day excursion is planned for this fall.

Saskatchewan roots

The term "psychedelic" was actually coined in Saskatchewan by Humphrey Osmond, one of the first doctors to use LSD in the early 1950s at Weyburn Psychiatric Hospital. Osmond and his colleague Abram Hoffer (who still works out of Victoria and has just published his biography) treated alcoholics with LSD and their trials showed that a majority of patients kicked the habits after LSD treatment. Studying the effects of the drug also allowed Osmond and Hoffer to make a critical connection between mental disorders and neurochemistry; Osmond also sampled LSD and mescaline himself and arranged Aldous Huxley's first psychedelic trip.

Artists, academics, doctors, students, accountants and housewives around the globe were soon sampling psychedelics and by 1962 more than 1,000 articles had been published in medical journals about LSD alone.

But New Westminster-based Hollywood Hospital was the first clinical setting to use a laid-back beanbag chair-style setting for addiction treatment and the place became popular with celebs like Cary Grant, Andy Williams and Ethel Kennedy. It was even endorsed by the local Catholic church until LSD was criminalized, thanks largely to public hysteria around a handful of negative media reports as well as inhumane psychedelics experiments done by the CIA-backed programs like MK-ULTRA which was linked with researchers in the U.S. and Canada, including psychiatrist Ewen Cameron's infamous LSD experiments at Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal.

Today's researchers and advocates are necessarily cautious about the various ways these powerful substances could be used and potentially abused by big business, government, the tourist industry and psychiatrists. While neither the old-school flower-power advocates or the younger generation raised in the coke-fueled 1980s are booting around in painted buses, there is concern about the psychedelic experience becoming too clinical or consumerized.

"I'd hate to see it pharmaceuticalized: take two tabs and call me in the morning," said McKenna. "It can't be used as a shortcut to enlightenment. You also need to have a supportive community."

<hr class=postrule>
<center>Danielle Egan is a regular contributor to The Tyee and writes for a variety of publications.</center>

Related Tyee stories: Jeffrey Helm is writing an occasional series on brain chemistry and addiction; David Berner interviewed Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan and question his resolve on funding addiction treatment; and Angus Reid surveyed global opinion on drug policy.

by **Midnight toker** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:37 pm

The Daily Item wrote:
Legal herb being used as mind-altering drug

By Eric Mayes
The Daily Item
August 16, 2006

<table class=posttable align=right width=300><tr><td class=postcell><img clas=postimg src=bin/salvia-divinorum.jpg></td></tr><td class=postcap>Salvia divinorum is being sold legally for its mind-altering qualities</td></tr></table>LEWISBURG — Everything old is new again — including an age-old herb, Salvia divinorum, that is now being packaged and sold for its mind-altering qualities.

The plant, a member of the sage family sometimes called magic mint, has been around for thousands of years. Historically, it is believed to have been used by members of the Mazatec Indian tribe in Mexico, who thought it gave users the ability to see the future. A new generation of users is using the herb to get a perfectly legal high.

"It will cause mild hallucinations," said Dean Parry, director of pharmacy services clinical programs at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville.

In small amounts, when used as a herbal supplement, hallucinations will not occur

"It's not a normal activity (but) it does have that potential," he said. "That's part of the problem."

That's exactly what has officials at Susquehanna Valley Women in Transition concerned.

"It makes you do things you wouldn't normally do," said Heather Shynder, outreach coordinator at SVWIT.

Staffers at the organization first heard of the herb because it was beginning to generate some buzz at local high schools and on the Internet. A Google search yields more than 7.8 million pages devoted to the topic.

A package, which can purchased for between $15 and $25 in a store in downtown Lewisburg, advertised the plant as a "tool for self-exploration."

Sold in a foil outer wrapper, a brown vial in the package contained a brownish-green, finely ground leaf, looking much like loose tobacco.

Directions said the material in the package was for use only as incense, but went on to add that the product would not show up in a drug test. The package also came with a sheet of instructions and warnings that contained, in bold letters, the claim that salvia would not show up in urine, hair or blood tests.

It was the possibility that the herb could be abused that concerned SVWIT officials.

"It seems to be the new craze. We were hearing how great it is because it's legal," said Ms. Shnyder. "(And) its effects are very, very close to marijuana. It seems to be coming up through as 'Here's another way to get high.'"

The sale of salvia, in at least at one local store, was prohibited to anyone under the age of 18.

However, Ms. Shnyder worried that it would provide curious youngsters just enough of a mind-altering experience to whet their appetite for more.

"What if you're a teenager who wants to explore a little bit, but marijuana is out of your reach?" she said. "My thing is it's advertised to appeal to these kids as it's legal but you're still doing something sneaky."

Mr. Parry warned that abusing anything was a bad idea.

"As with anything that can alter your level of perception of reality, it's probably not a good idea," he said.

The herb can lead to side effects like difficulty urinating, dry mouth, problems swallowing and in very large quantities convulsions. It can also cause problems for diabetics who may become hypoglycemic after using salvia.

"People get the idea that more is better — that has the risk of creating some of the more severe effects," he said.

While not physically addictive, Mr. Parry said, use of the herb could lead to psychological dependence where the user grew to rely on the plant.

"The potential exists," he said. "I don't know of a lot of reports of it, but people like it, so they can become dependent."

The Internet has helped the once obscure plant gain a foothold in the Susquehanna Valley, said Ms. Shnyder, with MySpace used a forum for many local kids who are experimenting, usually without their parents' knowledge.

"It's an awareness issue," she said. "Parents turn their backs and say my kid's on the computer, they're safe, they're in the home. It's just another confusing thing for parents."

It's also a bit confusing for police.

Lewisburg Police Chief Paul Yost said he was aware that the plant was being sold in Lewisburg and of its effects but that he was powerless to do anything about it.

"The problem for us is it's not a scheduled drug," he said. "It's not a police issue; it's a retail sales issue or maybe a moral issue."

He urged parents to contact their legislators.

"The step for people, if they're concerned, would be to contact their legislators," the chief said. "Beyond that, technically, there is not really much law enforcement can do."

E-mail comments to emayes@dailyitem.com

by **palmspringsbum** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:04 pm

WCAV News wrote:
The Dangers of Salvia

Reporter: Lindsey Ward
Email Address: lindsey.ward@wcav.tv
WCAV News - Charlottesville, Virginia
February 6, 2007

Marijuana, cocaine, even house hold products; these are things you think of when teen drug use come up, but right now the popular drug is not really a drug at all, in fact, it's legal.

"I saw a car go by and I was looking at the stars, but I really thought the car was going in the stars at the beat of the music," said Zac, a college student.

This may sound like a bad dream, but it’s what Zac saw after smoking the herb Salvia for the first time at a friend's party.

“A guy knew what would happen when I smoked it, so he tried to scare me, he said snakes were crawling on my legs and I was running around my house,” Zac said.

He added he was so scared; it was an experience he will never forget.

So what is it about salvia that's so frightening?

“You feel dissociated, you come away from you body. I smoked it and felt like I was going into the sky and looking down on my body,” explained Zac.

To find out more on Salvia and its affects on users, we talked to Doctor Chris Holstege from UVa Medical Center who has researched this emerging drug. Although there isn't much research on the herb as a drug, he said the best way to describe the affects of Salvia is to compare user's experiences.

“It’s similar somewhat to mushrooms or magic mushrooms, it’s similar somewhat to an LSD type high to some extent,” said Dr. Holstege.

But whatever user's feel, the bottom line is it can be dangerous.

“If you're at a party and you try to do Salvia and then drive your car, your perception's altered, there's no doubt on that. Falling from balconies, walking in front of cars, people do silly things when they're hallucinating,” Dr. Holstege said.

Whether its smoked like marijuana, or chewed like tobacco he warns, parents may never find out if their child is using it, because it doesn't show-up on drug screens. In fact, it's perfectly legal and the only way a parent can tell is closely monitoring their child’s activity.

If some one wants it, it out there and easy to get. With a credit card and a click of the mouse your child could have it delivered to your front door.

Even though its easily accessible Zac said in the end, it’s just not worth it.

“I don't want to do it anymore. I don't like the way it makes me feel. It makes you feel really weird,” said Zac

We couldn't find a store around Charlottesville that sold Salvia, but there is a tobacco store on the Corner and the owner said he does get a lot of requests for the herb.

If you think your child may have a drug problem, Dr. Holstege advises parents to consult with the child's pediatrician first.

by **palmspringsbum** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:26 pm

KIII TV3 wrote:A Legal Hallucinogenic: Salvia

KIII TV3
(January 31, 2008)

<table class=posttable align=right width=300><tr><td class=postcell><a class=postlink href="http://www.kiiitv.com/news/local/15094116.html?video=YHI&t=a" target=_blank><img class=postimg width=300 src=bin/salvia_corpus-christi-teen.jpg alt="click to view video"></a></td></tr></table>Salvia, its the subject of thousands of video's you can watch on you tube.com. Salvia user says, "Its no where near, like cigs, or marijuana. its a pretty intense drug."

This Corpus Christi teen who asked not be identified says within seconds of smoking the dried salvia leaves, he was hallucinating. It's a high which lasted several minutes.

The plant, which is grown in Mexico, is currently available over the Internet and in tobacco shops across the country, including the coastal bend. It comes in a variety of strengths. One gram sells for around $75.

Why is this plant legal? Some say, when ingested, is as strong as LSD. DEA Special Agent, William Grant said, "Salvia is still being tested by medical professionals, and the DEA is on hold until that testing is done."

While DEA agents consider salvia a "drug of interest," until its is classified as a controlled substance, anyone who uses it or possesses it cannot be prosecuted. Even in the medical community, doctors say the long term side effects are not yet known. Some published reports suggest salvia may help treat cocaine addition, even depression.

But after the suicide of a Delaware teenager whose parents blame salvia for their son's death, several states have passed laws banning its use. So far, Texas is not one of them. But lawmakers say that could change in the future.

by **palmspringsbum** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:52 pm

McClatchy Newspapers wrote:Crackdown may come for unregulated drug

Use of salvia divinorum causing concern

By Jim Sanders, McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
Article Created: 02/24/2008 02:41:13 AM PST

SACRAMENTO — California kids legally can tune in, turn on and freak out these days with a potent, mind-altering drug that is readily available but targeted for a crackdown by police and lawmakers.

Typically smoked or chewed, salvia divinorum has become increasingly known on the Internet the past few years through sales on eBay and through YouTube videos of users tripping with it.

The drug is produced from a Mexican plant used by Mazatec Indians for healing and ritual prophecy. Users in the United States have reported effects ranging from relaxation and sensual pleasure to out-of-body experiences and frightening hallucinations.

"This is the first really new illicit drug in a long time," said Dr. John Mendelson, a researcher at California Pacific Medical Center who is preparing to study how much salvia users must consume to become intoxicated.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Lt. Jerry Davis, who is pushing legislation to ban sales to minors, said one woman who used salvia — sometimes called "Sally D" or "magic mint" — claimed that her miniblinds suddenly began beating her.

"She had a burrito on the table," he said, reporting her hallucination. "It grew legs and teeth and started to attack her."

A Delaware woman, Kathy Chidester, is pushing to outlaw salvia nationwide after her 17-year-old son Brett Chidester committed suicide two years ago — a death that a medical examiner ruled stemmed, in part, from the teen's use of the drug.

Chidester said her son, a straight-A student, balked at her appeals to stop smoking salvia, which he purchased from a Web site. "He said, 'Mom, it's legal,'" Chidester recalled. "He said, 'If there was something really, really wrong with it, it would not be legal.'"

Daniel Siebert, a Malibu herbalist, counters that media coverage of salvia has been unfair. It is not a party drug, does not produce a euphoric high, is not addictive, and can be used responsibly for introspection, he said.

"It's kind of like a tool for gaining greater understanding," said Siebert, who said he has used the drug many times, sells it via the Internet, and has written a user's guide that describes its effects as "divine inebriation."

Siebert said users will experience varying degrees of impact, depending partly on dosage and how the drug is consumed. Salvia, whose active component is "salvinorin A," is an herb in the mint family.

"Salvia has much to offer: fascinating psychoactive effects, sensual enhancement, magical journeys, enchantment, apparent time travel, philosophical insights, spiritual experiences and perhaps even healing and divination," Siebert says in his user's guide.

The manual warns that salvia should be used only by adults in a "thoughtful, intelligent manner," and that a companion should be present if a user is taking doses high enough that he or she might "freak out, become confused, injure (himself), fall, or do anything that might harm others."

Siebert said salvia's visionary effects typically resemble a dream, with users not feeling like they are under the influence of a drug.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse characterizes salvia's effects as "intense but short-lived," beginning less than a minute after consumption and lasting less than 30 minutes.

Federal drug agencies note that salvia is not approved for medical use. But Mendelson said researchers are interested in studying its potential for treating bipolar mental conditions or slowing the transmission of HIV.

Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Spain and Sweden have restricted sale or use of the drug, as have a handful of U.S. states, including Delaware, Missouri and Louisiana, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

The DEA has listed salvia as a "drug of concern" and is evaluating it — addressing issues ranging from potential abuse to medicinal issues — to determine whether it should be banned like marijuana and LSD, spokeswoman Rogene Waite said.

"What we say, and cannot emphasize too much, is that just because something isn't currently a controlled substance doesn't mean it's not dangerous," Waite said. "It doesn't mean you should be experimenting with it."

Assemblyman Anthony Adams has proposed legislation, Assembly Bill 259, to make it a misdemeanor to sell salvia to minors. The bill passed the Assembly, 76-0, and is pending in the Senate.

Adams said public safety is endangered when teenagers can use salvia and hallucinate, perhaps behind the wheel of a car.

"You're encouraging people to be in a place in their mental state where they lose the capacity to make informed decisions," he said.

AB 259 is opposed by California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, representing defense lawyers, who argue that there is no evidence that salvia causes physical harm and that legislators know too little about the drug to take action.

"As a matter of public policy, we should not simply criminalize behavior without sufficient scientific information," the group wrote to lawmakers.

No statistics are kept on how widely salvia is used statewide. The drug is marketed in various sizes, shapes and containers as leaves, extracts and tinctures. It even comes in flavored varieties, such as cherry or peach.

At a Sacramento smoke shop, Twisted, a $40 package of salvia labels the substance as incense but describes it as "a tool for self exploration" and advises not to use it if pregnant, mentally ill or operating heavy machinery.

The downtown Twisted store does not sell to minors — a policy stated on salvia's packaging.

Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran said officers cannot recall any emergencies or misbehavior tied to salvia, suggesting its use locally might not be widespread.

But Howard C. Samuels, executive director of Wonderland Center, a Los Angeles drug and alcohol facility, said dozens of salvia users have sought help from his staff.

Samuels supports banning sales to minors.

"Unfortunately, we have a generation that wants to change their minds, that want to get high," he said. "It's part of our responsibility as professionals, fathers, mothers, parents, to protect our children."

by **palmspringsbum** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:36 pm

Yahoo News wrote:
Is salvia the next marijuana?

Yahoo News
By JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press Writer
Tue Mar 11, 7:26 PM ET

On Web sites touting the mind-blowing powers of Salvia divinorum, come-ons to buy the hallucinogenic herb are accompanied by warnings: "Time is running out!" and "stock up while you still can."

That's because salvia is being targeted by lawmakers concerned that the inexpensive and easy-to-obtain plant could become the next marijuana. Eight states have already placed restrictions on salvia, and 16 others, including Florida, are considering a ban or have previously.

"As soon as we make one drug illegal, kids start looking around for other drugs they can buy legally. This is just the next one," said Florida state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, who has introduced a bill to make possession of salvia a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Some say legislators are overreacting to a minor problem, but no one disputes that the plant impairs judgment and the ability to drive.

Native to Mexico and still grown there, Salvia divinorum is generally smoked but can also be chewed or made into a tea and drunk.

Called nicknames like Sally-D, Magic Mint and Diviner's Sage, salvia is a hallucinogen that gives users an out-of-body sense of traveling through time and space or merging with inanimate objects. Unlike hallucinogens like LSD or PCP, however, salvia's effects last for a shorter time, generally up to an hour.

Salvia divinorum is not one of the several varieties of common ornamental garden plants known as Salvia.

No known deaths have been attributed to salvia's use, but it was listed as a factor in one Delaware teen's suicide two years ago.

"Parents, I would say, are pretty clueless," said Jonathan Appel, an assistant professor of psychology and criminal justice at Tiffin University in Ohio who has studied the emergence of the substance. "It's much more powerful than marijuana."

Salvia's short-lasting effects and the fact that it is currently legal may make it seem more appealing to teens, lawmakers say. In the Delaware suicide, the boy's mother told reporters that salvia made his mood darker but he justified its use by citing its legality. According to reports, the autopsy found no traces of the drug in his system, but the medical examiner listed it as a contributing cause.

Mike Strain, Louisiana's Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner and former legislator, helped his state in 2005 become the first to make salvia illegal, along with a number of other plants. He said the response has been largely positive.

"I got some hostile e-mails from people who sold these products," Strain said. "You don't make everybody happy when you outlaw drugs. You save one child and it's worth it."

An ounce of salvia leaves sells for around $30 on the Internet. A liquid extract from the plant, salvinorin A, is also sold in various strengths labeled "5x" through "60x." A gram of the 5x strength, about the weight of a plastic pen cap, is about $12 while 60x strength is around $65. And in some cases the extract comes in flavors including apple, strawberry and spearmint.

Web sites such as Salviadragon.com tout the product with images like a waterfall and rainbow and include testimonials like "It might sound far fetched, but I experience immortality."

Among those who believe the commotion over the drug is overblown is Rick Doblin of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit group that does research on psychedelic drugs and whose goal is to develop psychedelics and marijuana into prescription medication.

"I think the move to criminalize is a misguided response to a very minimal problem," Doblin said.

Doblin said salvia isn't "a party drug," "tastes terrible" and is "not going to be extremely popular." He disputes the fact teens are its main users and says older users are more likely.

"It's a minor drug in the world of psychedelics," he said.

It's hard to say how widespread the use of salvia is. Because it is legal in most states, law enforcement officials don't compile statistics.

A study of released last month by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services found just under 2 percent of people age 18 to 25 surveyed in 2006 reported using salvia in the past year. A 2007 survey of more than 1,500 San Diego State University students found that 4 percent of participants reported using salvia in the past year.

Brandenburg's bill would make salvia and its extract controlled substances in the same class as marijuana and LSD.

Florida state Sen. Evelyn Lynn, whose committee unanimously passed the salvia bill on Tuesday, said the drug should be criminalized.

"I'd rather be at the front edge of preventing the dangers of the drug than waiting until we are the 40th or more," she said.

palmspringsbum

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