ShareThisBy ERIN ALLADAY
San Francisco Chronicle
Salvia divinorum is a bright, leafy green plant from Mexico that when chewed or smoked causes intense hallucinations comparable to LSD or "magic mushrooms."
And it's legal in most of America.
For $15 to $50 a hit, users get a high that sends them into a dream-like state for anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or two.
Unlike well-known illicit drugs such as marijuana or cocaine, salvia is not in widespread use. It hasn't caught the attention of state or local health departments.
But the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has taken notice, and the drug has been outlawed in at least five states: Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Delaware.
The fear is that salvia seems to be appealing to a growing group of young people, drawn to the drug by the fact that it's legal and natural.
"My friend told me he did cocaine, and salvia was more intense than that. And it's legal, so I figured it wasn't as dangerous," said Phuong, a 23-year-old from San Jose, Calif. who has tried salvia twice.
Phuong asked that her last name not be published because she didn't want people to know she had used the drug.
"Salvia could just be a flash in the pan, or it could turn into an important trend," said John Mendelson, a senior scientist at the Research Institute at California Pacific Medical Center, where he is studying potential health benefits of salvia. "This seems to be an aficionado drug right now, but the trajectory with things like that is it starts with a small group of adherents and spreads to larger groups with less controlled use.
"From my perspective, we have an incredibly unique opportunity to learn something before it hits widespread use."
But Mendelson might have to move fast to keep ahead of looming government restrictions of salvia.
The DEA is monitoring salvia to decide whether it should be regulated or banned outright. Not a lot is known about salvia and its long-term effects, but most medical researchers agree that there don't seem to be any immediate negative side effects of the drug, and they say it is highly unlikely that it is addictive.
The main concern of opponents to the drug is what people might do while they're hallucinating -- get in a car, for example, or react violently to their surroundings. A Rhode Island teenager claimed to be on salvia when he stabbed a friend, and the parents of a Louisiana teenager have said they believe their son killed himself because he was smoking salvia. But neither incident has been definitely linked to the drug.
In the meantime, some researchers say salvia could have beneficial effects -- including uses treating depression or bipolar disorder -- and they worry that a federal ban of the drug would make it difficult to study its effect on human subjects. Mendelson at California Pacific Medical Center is starting the first clinical trial of salvia next month, testing seven or eight people to see how much of the drug they must take before they start hallucinating. Nearly all medical researchers say there isn't enough evidence to determine whether salvia is safe or not.
"Certainly it sounds like it could have potential for harm," said Cathi Dennehy, a professor in the department of clinical pharmacy at UCSF. "If you have something that's causing people to have very intense, out-of-body experiences, that's pretty concerning."
But Jodie Trafton, an addiction specialist at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, said because the effects of salvia are brief -- often lasting just a few minutes, compared with LSD, which can cause hallucinations for many hours -- and because the drug is almost definitely nonaddictive, she doubts regulation will be necessary.
"People who use this aren't going to continue using it," Trafton said. "You're never going to get more than low-level use. And the effect is too short, so by the time somebody starts freaking out over the effects, it's over. It's not something that's going to bombard emergency rooms."
Salvia divinorum is a species of sage, but is the only plant in the salvia family to cause hallucinations. As a drug, it's usually just known as salvia but goes by a variety of other names, including "Sally D" and "magic mint."
The drug didn't reach the United States until the late 1980s or early 1990s, and even then it wasn't widely available until five or six years ago. It's now also grown in California and other states, but is mostly imported from Mexico and Central and South America, and it comes in the form of fresh or dried leaves, whole plants, seeds or sometimes just a salvia extract.
In a 2004 study out of UCSF, Salvia divinorum was the second most-popular ingredient in legal recreational drugs sold on the Internet, behind only ephedra, a stimulant and dietary supplement that has since been outlawed. Salvia is often sold on the Internet as the main ingredient in products that promise hallucinogenic effects, but it is more commonly used by itself.
A chemical found in salvia called salvinorin A causes hallucinations. It is considered the most potent known natural hallucinogenic and is unique in how it reacts with the brain's chemical receptors -- unlike most psychotropic drugs, salvinorin A does not react to serotonin receptors.
In fact, salvia's similarity with LSD and mushrooms ends with hallucinations. Even the hallucinogenic effect is different. Rather than interacting with their environment -- LSD is known to intensify colors, smells and sounds, for example -- salvia users often report out-of-body experiences, during which they feel as though they are in a different place or time.
E-mail Erin Allday at eallday(at)sfchronicle.com.
Too bad there is so much
Too bad there is so much misinformation and rhetoric here. Sad that you are forcefeeding folks the lies you have been told to... Better they should try it for themselves and see the BS for what it is.
Salvia concepts and misconceptions
It really IS a sad state of affairs when people trust and/or believe second-hand (and biased) accounts of what someone reports concerning Salvia. Misconceptions, lies, and wild exaggerations are accepted as "the real truth" by those who read articles like this and the result is a blindsided hysteria that does no one any good. To demonize a plant that has caused NO documented deaths, is NOT causing people to miss work, destroy relationships, cause financial ruin, and filling emergency and psyche wards with wrecked human beings due to its use is simply downright IRRESPONSIBLE!
Like it or not, Salvia isn't going to just "go away", even if it IS made illegal. The plant has been used tradionally for thousands of years by Shaman for purposes of divination and enlightenment. It's not something manufactured you have to go to a "dealer" to get for your "fix" -- Governmentally sactioned or not -- like booze, Marlboro's, crack cocaine, LSD, or heroin... no, it's just a naturally occuring plant here on Earth that oftentimes happens to have a special effect on people who try it.
What's there to fear? In a word, IGNORANCE. Those who are intimately familiar with Salvia know it's NOT something appropriate for minors to experiment with just for kicks at a party. Most adults who have tried Salvia probably have a pretty healthy respect for the intense effects it can produce -- and I would suspect that most people who've tried it haven't done so more than a few times. Why? Bottom line is that Salvia's NOT what's generally recognized as a "recreational drug".
Some people who read this are sure to be wondering "Then why use it?" There's a number of answers to that question and they all involve a measure of exercising PERSONAL FREEDOM. Freedom of thought... freedom to explore the unexplored reaches of the mind, freedom of expression and so on. Anyone who scours the Internet for REAL information on Salvia will discover its proponents urge (and caution) curious potential users to treat it with a healthy dose of RESPECT, to have a "straight" sitter present, and will offer advice on how to use it safely for best results. You won't often see the words "Oh wow, Man", "Groovy", and "Far out, dude!" when people describe their Salvia experiences. More often than not it's just the opposite... people are humbled by what this sacred entheogen has taught them, and they come away from their journey with a renewed appreciation for the mysteries of life.
But of course the media doesn't see things like that -- WHY do some honest in-depth research when you can sensationalize Salvia and cause a panic to drum up circulation? One thing the article DID get right is when they brought up the fact that Salvia IS NOT addictive. If this is indeed true, my questions are: Why accept what someone else thinks about it? Why not try it YOURSELF so you'll know for SURE? Heaven forbid you JUST MIGHT LEARN SOMETHING new about yourself, your reasons for being on the planet, the nature of reality, and what lies just on the other side of our everyday existance. I mean, WHY question your comfy little notions of mortality, religion, time/space and yes, even Peace And Love -- when you can hide behind your ignorance and go "Tsk, tsk... those crazy damn dopers are at it again. Best nip this one in the bud since we're not taxing it... this Salvia stuff may make the masses less fearful of the terrorists and cause Joe Average to question all the stuff we WANT them to think in order to keep them droned out in the tidy little boxes they belong in. Best thing to do is feed all the sheep a bunch of BS and keep them in the dark so we can spin things OUR WAY".
Baahhh, baahhh. -I-, for one, ain't buyin' it. Just Say ONCE To Salvia!
If Alcohol and Tobacco are Legal: Then Why Not Salvia?
Yes, salvia is a hallucinogen that is, currently, legal. Yes, it can be dangerous to the user if one reckless. But, as this article pointed out, those dangers are often NOT realized, if ever.
For argument sake, let us say that ten people have died from an incident involving Salvia divinorum intoxication. As Dr. Dennehy points out, such use should be frighting, but does not provide any other reason for that reasoning -other then the inference that people will alter their consciousness which MAY lead to an accident of some sort that MAY lead to death.
Looking at the data provided by the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Emergency Department Summary to what people are being admitted for one can see alcohol is a much larger threat. Yes, alcohol, the drug that is currently legal in all fifty states, with many people ingesting it weekly, if not daily. Tobacco is also of a large concern as well.
How can we see alcohol is a larger problem? Well, 669,000 people were told before leaving the hospital were told to get some type of help due to their problematic usage. This is just counting the people that were able to walk out: That number does not reflect the people who had died in some way, due to alcohol consumption.
Further, 40% of all traffic deaths are attributed to alcohol by the National Institute of Health- "Alcohol Related Deaths Fact Sheet (2). What does that amount of people equal, using data collected form the year 2000, 16,653 people had died due to an accident involving drunk driving (2). Now looking at how many people had died due to alcohol consumption, as a whole; 85,000 people had died. That number does not include domestic violence cases (that have not resulted in death), nor deaths that occurred due to the actions of a drunk person wielding a weapon, nor suicides involving alcohol. But that figure does include the 16,653 people who died by drunk drivers.
Yet, alcohol is considered to be fine many individuals. In fact, when people tried to outlaw its use due to such potential threats as physical/bodily harm, such as in an automobile accident in the 1920s. However, the Eighteenth Amendment was reversed in a little over ten years (13 years). Therefore, we ought to question the assumptions and reasons of people who feel the need to outlaw this plant. There can be many potential benefits due to this plant, unlike alcohol (and tobacco).
Why is Tobacco a problem? If one wishes to look at the total deaths attributed to tobacco in 2000 nationally in America (from that same report): 435,000 people had died (2). Now, that is controversial because it was due to something like cancer. But if any doctor wishes to tell their patients to start smoking because such statistics do not mean much, then that doctor would be questioned by not only the medical community, but the patients that he or she is responsible for.
The point is, there are many negative potential affects from the use of tobacco, least of all death. Yet this product, like alcohol, is legal for adults to consume as well, with very few people calling for its' prohibition.
So to sum the total of deaths, again. We have our ten, hypothetical people who will have died from Salvia Divinorium this year.
Then you have 520,000 deaths due to both ALCOHOL and TOBACCO that will happen this year (That is a low estimate, due to population increases).
If you think that we should outlaw Salvia due to the potential problems that people may face, then we should also outlaw tobacco and alcohol on the same grounds. But we do not, and the reason is because we recognize something called responsibility. People just need to be responsible with Salvia, too. And everything will be, for the majority of cases, OK.
References:
1. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad372.pdf)
2. Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan. 19, 2005, Vol. 293, No. 3, p. 298.
If Alcohol and Tobacco are Legal: Then Why Not Salvia?
Yes, salvia is a hallucinogen that is, currently, legal. Yes, it can be dangerous to the user if one reckless. But, as this article pointed out, those dangers are often NOT realized, if ever.
For argument sake, let us say that ten people have died from an incident involving Salvia divinorum intoxication. As Dr. Dennehy points out, such use should be frighting, but does not provide any other reason for that reasoning -other then the inference that people will alter their consciousness which MAY lead to an accident of some sort that MAY lead to death.
Looking at the data provided by the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Emergency Department Summary to what people are being admitted for one can see alcohol is a much larger threat. Yes, alcohol, the drug that is currently legal in all fifty states, with many people ingesting it weekly, if not daily. Tobacco is also of a large concern as well.
How can we see alcohol is a larger problem? Well, 669,000 people were told before leaving the hospital were told to get some type of help due to their problematic usage. This is just counting the people that were able to walk out: That number does not reflect the people who had died in some way, due to alcohol consumption.
Further, 40% of all traffic deaths are attributed to alcohol by the National Institute of Health- "Alcohol Related Deaths Fact Sheet (2). What does that amount of people equal, using data collected form the year 2000, 16,653 people had died due to an accident involving drunk driving (2). Now looking at how many people had died due to alcohol consumption, as a whole; 85,000 people had died. That number does not include domestic violence cases (that have not resulted in death), nor deaths that occurred due to the actions of a drunk person wielding a weapon, nor suicides involving alcohol. But that figure does include the 16,653 people who died by drunk drivers.
Yet, alcohol is considered to be fine many individuals. In fact, when people tried to outlaw its use due to such potential threats as physical/bodily harm, such as in an automobile accident in the 1920s. However, the Eighteenth Amendment was reversed in a little over ten years (13 years). Therefore, we ought to question the assumptions and reasons of people who feel the need to outlaw this plant. There can be many potential benefits due to this plant, unlike alcohol (and tobacco).
Why is Tobacco a problem? If one wishes to look at the total deaths attributed to tobacco in 2000 nationally in America (from that same report): 435,000 people had died (2). Now, that is controversial because it was due to something like cancer. But if any doctor wishes to tell their patients to start smoking because such statistics do not mean much, then that doctor would be questioned by not only the medical community, but the patients that he or she is responsible for.
The point is, there are many negative potential affects from the use of tobacco, least of all death. Yet this product, like alcohol, is legal for adults to consume as well, with very few people calling for its' prohibition.
So to sum the total of deaths, again. We have our ten, hypothetical people who will have died from Salvia Divinorium this year.
Then you have 520,000 deaths due to both ALCOHOL and TOBACCO that will happen this year (That is a low estimate, due to population increases).
If you think that we should outlaw Salvia due to the potential problems that people may face, then we should also outlaw tobacco and alcohol on the same grounds. But we do not, and the reason is because we recognize something called responsibility. People just need to be responsible with Salvia, too. And everything will be, for the majority of cases, OK.
References:
1. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad372.pdf)
2. Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan. 19, 2005, Vol. 293, No. 3, p. 298.
If Tobacco and Alcohol are Legal: Why Not Salvia?
Yes, salvia is a hallucinogen that is, currently, legal. Yes, it can be dangerous to the user if one reckless. But, as this article pointed out, those dangers are often NOT realized, if ever.
For argument sake, let us say that ten people have died from an incident involving Salvia divinorum intoxication. As Dr. Dennehy points out, such use should be frighting, but does not provide any other reason for that reasoning -other then the inference that people will alter their consciousness which MAY lead to an accident of some sort that MAY lead to death.
Looking at the data provided by the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Emergency Department Summary to what people are being admitted for one can see alcohol is a much larger threat. Yes, alcohol, the drug that is currently legal in all fifty states, with many people ingesting it weekly, if not daily. Tobacco is also of a large concern as well.
How can we see alcohol is a larger problem? Well, 669,000 people were told before leaving the hospital were told to get some type of help due to their problematic usage. This is just counting the people that were able to walk out: That number does not reflect the people who had died in some way, due to alcohol consumption.
Further, 40% of all traffic deaths are attributed to alcohol by the National Institute of Health- "Alcohol Related Deaths Fact Sheet (2). What does that amount of people equal, using data collected form the year 2000, 16,653 people had died due to an accident involving drunk driving (2). Now looking at how many people had died due to alcohol consumption, as a whole; 85,000 people had died. That number does not include domestic violence cases (that have not resulted in death), nor deaths that occurred due to the actions of a drunk person wielding a weapon, nor suicides involving alcohol. But that figure does include the 16,653 people who died by drunk drivers.
Yet, alcohol is considered to be fine many individuals. In fact, when people tried to outlaw its use due to such potential threats as physical/bodily harm, such as in an automobile accident in the 1920s. However, the Eighteenth Amendment was reversed in a little over ten years (13 years). Therefore, we ought to question the assumptions and reasons of people who feel the need to outlaw this plant. There can be many potential benefits due to this plant, unlike alcohol (and tobacco).
Why is Tobacco a problem? If one wishes to look at the total deaths attributed to tobacco in 2000 nationally in America (from that same report): 435,000 people had died (2). Now, that is controversial because it was due to something like cancer. But if any doctor wishes to tell their patients to start smoking because such statistics do not mean much, then that doctor would be questioned by not only the medical community, but the patients that he or she is responsible for.
The point is, there are many negative potential affects from the use of tobacco, least of all death. Yet this product, like alcohol, is legal for adults to consume as well, with very few people calling for its' prohibition.
So to sum the total of deaths, again. We have our ten, hypothetical people who will have died from Salvia Divinorium this year. Then you have 520,000 deaths due to both ALCOHOL and TOBACCO that will happen this year (That is a low estimate, due to population increases).
If you think that we should outlaw Salvia due to the potential problems that people may face, then we should also outlaw tobacco and alcohol on the same grounds. But we do not, and the reason is because we recognize something called responsibility. People just need to be responsible with Salvia, too. And everything will be, for the majority of cases, OK.
References:
1. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad372.pdf)
2. Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan. 19, 2005, Vol. 293, No. 3, p. 298.
Yes, salvia is a
Yes, salvia is a hallucinogen that is, currently, legal. Yes, it can be dangerous to the user if one reckless. But, as this article pointed out, those dangers are often NOT realized, if ever.
For argument sake, let us say that ten people have died from an incident involving Salvia divinorum intoxication. As Dr. Dennehy points out, such use should be frighting, but does not provide any other reason for that reasoning -other then the inference that people will alter their consciousness which MAY lead to an accident of some sort that MAY lead to death.
Looking at the data provided by the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Emergency Department Summary to what people are being admitted for one can see alcohol is a much larger threat. Yes, alcohol, the drug that is currently legal in all fifty states, with many people ingesting it weekly, if not daily. Tobacco is also of a large concern as well. How can we see alcohol is a larger problem? Well, 669,000 people were told before leaving the hospital were told to get some type of help due to their problematic usage. This is just counting the people that were able to walk out: That number does not reflect the people who had died in some way, due to alcohol consumption.
Further, 40% of all traffic deaths are attributed to alcohol by the National Institute of Health- "Alcohol Related Deaths Fact Sheet (2). What does that amount of people equal, using data collected form the year 2000, 16,653 people had died due to an accident involving drunk driving (2). Now looking at how many people had died due to alcohol consumption, as a whole; 85,000 people had died. That number does not include domestic violence cases (that have not resulted in death), nor deaths that occurred due to the actions of a drunk person wielding a weapon, nor suicides involving alcohol. But that figure does include the 16,653 people who died by drunk drivers.
Why is Tobacco a problem? If one wishes to look at the total deaths attributed to tobacco in 2000 nationally in America (from that same report): 435,000 people had died (2). Now, that is controversial because it was due to something like cancer. But if any doctor wishes to tell their patients to start smoking because such statistics do not mean much, then that doctor would be questioned by not only the medical community, but the patients that he or she is responsible for.
The point is, there are many negative potential affects from the use of tobacco, least of all death. Yet this product, like alcohol, is legal for adults to consume as well, with very few people calling for its' prohibition.
So to sum the total of deaths, again. We have our ten, hypothetical people who will have died from Salvia Divinorium this year. Then you have 520,000 deaths due to both ALCOHOL and TOBACCO that will happen this year (That is a low estimate, due to population increases).
If you think that we should outlaw Salvia due to the potential problems that people may face, then we should also outlaw tobacco and alcohol on the same grounds. But we do not, and the reason is because we recognize something called responsibility. People just need to be responsible with Salvia, too. And everything will be, for the majority of cases, OK.
References: 1. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad372.pdf)
2. Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan. 19, 2005, Vol. 293, No. 3, p. 298.