Wisconsin Assembly Bill would ban sale of hallucinogenic Salvia divinorum

Posted by Gary Storck
Monday, June 18, 2007

The Wisconsin State Journal ran a front page article about a proposal to make salvia illegal in the Badger State. The article was accompanied by two color pictures, one of a pipe being stuffed with salvia and another of a local outlet.

There is no salvia “crisis” and this legislation is a needless curtailment of the rights of Wisconsinites. One can purchase an unlimited amount of alcohol or tobacco products, both of which are far more dangerous as well as addictive. Salvia seems more like something people try and move on. It represents no threat. More laws mean more people arrested, in court and in jail or under supervision. Does Wisconsin want to make more kids into criminals and spend even more money on a drug war that is a proven failure? No wonder young people are leaving Wisconsin!

Source: Wisconsin State Journal
Page: A1
Pubdate: June 18, 2007
Author: Chris Martell

BILL WOULD BAN SALE OF HALLUCINOGENIC SALVIA DIVINORUM

A big yellow sign on State Street reads: “Salvia sold here. Get it while you can.”

Many who pass by are perplexed. To the middle-aged and older, salvia is a perennial flowering plant found in many local gardens. But a growing number of young people, even middle schoolers, know salvia as an unregulated drug that delivers a powerful high.

Salvia divinorum, related to but different from the backyard salvia, is a perennial herb of the mint family native to the Sierra Mazateca region of Oaxaca, Mexico. It contains a powerful hallucinogen considered by some to be as potent as LSD, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“We’re hearing this is the new pot, so we should be aware of it,” said Stephanie Barchus, alcohol and drug coordinator at La Follette High School. “Kids always find out about all that stuff before we do.”

The DEA says adolescents and young adults are buying the herb to chew, smoke or drink. It’s sold at two Downtown Madison shops: Amsterdam, 447 W. Gilman St., and Knuckleheads, 550 State St. And one of many Internet sellers of salvia has a Madison post office box address.

Federal authorities consider salvia a “drug of concern,” but it’s not outlawed. In Wisconsin, as in other states, that could soon change. Democratic Reps. Sheldon Wasserman and David Cullen of Milwaukee last week began seeking sponsors for a bill that would ban the manufacture and sale of Salvia divinorum for consumption in Wisconsin, with a penalty of up to $10,000.

Authorities and users debate just how dangerous Salvia divinorum can be. It has been blamed for a death in Delaware, but Lindsay White, 22, of Madison, who has bought salvia extract at Amsterdam and Knuckleheads, said she doesn’t plan to stop using it even if Wisconsin bans it.

“It is still legal in most places so, whatever, I’ll just buy it on the Internet if I can’t get it here anymore,” White said.

How widely used?

Madison Police Officer Lester Moore, a member of the Dane County Narcotics and Gangs Task Force, said his group has received bulletins about salvia from other agencies. But salvia isn’t yet on the radar of many local law enforcement officials and parents. It’s not considered a party drug because it typically makes users introverted, and its use is not easily identified.

“I have no doubt its being used here,” Moore said.

“We’re worried about the impact salvia could have on someone driving a vehicle,” added Sgt. Gordy Disch of the Dane County Sheriff’s Department. “If someone is impaired, we don’t know what they’re on unless they tell us. If there’s a blood test, they only check for what we ask them to test.”

At Madison high schools, drug assessments also overlook salvia.

“We ask about alcohol and marijuana specifically because they’re so common, but there are too many other drugs out there to ask specifically about salvia during assessments,” LaFollette’s Barchus said. “It’s not showing up on our radar, either, but maybe it’s just that we’re not asking about it. A lot of kids don’t consider it a drug because it’s natural and it’s legal.”

But not everywhere. Four states have banned Salvia divinorum or salvinorin A, the ingredient responsible for the plant’s psychoactive effects. In addition, as of January, legislative bills proposing regulatory controls on salvinorin A or Salvia divinorum were pending in Alaska, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota and Virginia.

Internationally, a variety of regulatory controls have been enacted in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Spain and Sweden.

How addictive?

Online videos and blogs on salvia describe a wide range of possible experiences among users of the drug, which is also called Diviner’s Sage, Sage of the Seers, Magic Mint, Sally D and Maria Pastora.

Some users feel they’ve merged with another object, or that they’re in another time or place. Some think they’ve found the wisdom of the universe, or they might see giant insects in their heads.

The intensity of intoxication varies because of how salvia is ingested. Smoking dried salvia gives a relatively weak, short-lived high, while drinking a powerful extract is much more intense. Bloggers urge people who plan to go on a full-blown trip to have a “trip sitter” with them so they won’t get hurt. At Knuckleheads, first-timer users are advised to use salvia in a safe, calm place, while listening to classical music.

Salvia has not been proven to be toxic or addictive, though its long-term physical and mental effects on humans haven’t been studied. Dr. Michael Miller, medical director at Meriter Hospital’s NewStart chemical dependency rehab program, strongly disagrees with those who consider salvia a harmless high.

“Salvia is a really fascinating drug because it’s not really the same as other hallucinogens like LSD, mescaline or peyote,” he said. “It has got to be addictive because it works directly on the chemical pathway to the opiate system of the brain.

“Even the Web sites on salvia that are promoting its use warn that you can’t mix this with other chemicals or you could die,” Miller said.

“Another problem is that most doctors don’t know about salvia; mostly, it’s only scientists (who) do. So doctors don’t know what they’re dealing with when there’s a problem.

“There is always drug use,” Miller said, “but patterns change. Marijuana is down, cocaine is down, it waxes and wanes, but people are always looking for what is being marketed as the new thing. I haven’t seen that many people (at NewStart) who are using salvia. I think most users are young adults — high school dropouts without insurance — so we are missing them.”

‘New and different’

Salvia would join the list of banned substances only after a long trip through the legislative process that starts with the introduction of the bill and its referral to an Assembly committees.

“This bill is all about protecting our children,” Wasserman said. “I want to stop the Salvia divinorum dealers who are pushing young people to experiment with a potentially dangerous substance.”

Word of the proposed ban on salvia sales in Wisconsin has caused buzz at Madison’s two State Street purveyors. Matt Behm, who works at Knuckleheads, said one customer plans to hoard salvia before it becomes illegal.

“Dude uses it three times a day, and he wants to buy it in bulk,” Behm said. “The government wants to get involved with what people want to do with their own bodies, and I can’t understand that.”

Source: Wisconsin State Journal
Pubdate: June 18, 2007

HERB IS AS POTENT AS LSD

A member of the sage family, Salvia divinorum is a cousin of the popular flowering salvia found in many American gardens.

Salvia divinorum is native to dark, damp, shady areas in Oaxaca, Mexico, where it has been used for centuries by Mazatec Indians during mystical rituals, and to treat headaches and diarrhea.

It was first described in 1939 in a report on Mazatec shamans, and wasn’t identified as a psychoactive drug until the 1990s.

But, unlike its benign cousins, Salvia divinorum contains a powerful hallucinogenic called salvinorin A, which is described as being as potent as LSD, and “essentially the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogenic drug,” according to Dr. Bryan Roth, a biochemist and neuroscientist who directs the National Institute of Mental Health’s Psychoactive Drug Screening Program.

Roth says research on salvinorin A has shown it to be unique among naturally occurring drugs that are abused because it homes in on a single receptor site in the brain, the same place in the brain that responds to morphine and opioids.

So far, most studies of Salvia’s effect on the brain have been done using rodents, and nobody knows whether the research can be duplicated in humans.

Other medical, biochemical and pharmacological scientists have printed research that suggests Salvia divinorum and salvinorin A might eventually lead to treating diseases such as schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s.

Experienced hallucinogen users describe its effects as being very different than any other hallucinogen they’d taken.

Scientists call it a “spacio-temporal dislocation” that takes users to what seems to them to be a different time and place. Many first-time users describe it as intense, disturbing or frightening, but usually without a stimulating or euphoric effect. Motor control is lowered, and users don’t enjoy socializing.

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