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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Loc: 
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 Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny 
#5472519 - 04/02/06 08:54 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny
By Oren Dorell
April 2, 2006 - USA Today
A little-known hallucinogenic leaf that is legal in most of the USA is the target of new calls for a ban after the suicide of a teenager who smoked it.
Salvia, a relative of flowering sages enjoyed by many gardeners, is the most powerful natural hallucinogen known ? almost as strong as LSD, experts say.
Known as "diviner's sage," salvia has been used for centuries by the Mazatec Indians in Mexico. In the USA it is sold in leaf and liquid form by websites and head shops and is available to anyone at any age.
"Kids fall into a false sense of security because it's legal," says state Sen. Karen Peterson, a Delaware Democrat. "We control LSD, and we should control this."
Peterson has filed a bill to make Delaware the third state to designate Salvia divinorum a banned substance like marijuana and heroin. Louisiana and Missouri have already taken such action.
Her action came in response to the suicide of Brett Chidester, 17, of Wilmington, Del., whose family blames the drug.
Brett was a straight-A student who ranked top in his state in Spanish and was making plans for college and to buy his girlfriend roses for Valentine's Day, his family says. On Jan. 23 he put a charcoal grill inside a tent in his father's garage, lit the grill and crawled inside the tent.
A suicide note described revelations that echoed descriptions of salvia experiences posted by users to various salvia-related websites. "How can I go on living after I learned the secrets of life," he wrote. "It took me 17 years, but I finally figured it out. I can't tell you that here because that kind of information can cause chaos."
His mother, Kathleen Chidester, says her son bought salvia on a website. His father, Dennis, says police took salvia from his room. Kathleen Chidester says she believes Brett was depressed and used salvia because it was legal. His suicide note left no doubt in her mind that salvia had something to do with his death.
Despite salvia's powerful nature, the Drug Enforcement Administration has not recommended that it be banned as a dangerous drug. The DEA has been collecting information for years on the leaf, says Rogene Waite, a spokeswoman for DEA. The process involves measuring its availability, potential for abuse and medical uses.
"It is a concern and we're looking at it, but just because it hasn't been scheduled doesn't mean it's safe or healthy," Waite says. "It's dangerous from what you can see from anecdotal material."
Research on salvia has found that it causes depressive symptoms in rats and monkeys and dysphoria ? similar to depression ? in people. However, some see the potential for beneficial uses.
Daniel Siebert, who sold his T-shirt business years ago to study medicinal plants, has a website where he offers cautionary information about salvia and sells the leaves and their extracts. Siebert says moderate doses help people meditate and gain insight about their inner selves.
The first time Siebert chewed some of the leaves, he says, he had pleasant visions of "fairy-like beings hovering around the hillside" of his home in Malibu, Calif. When he first smoked the more potent extract, however, he experienced an "extreme disembodied state in another universe" that he says was frightening and unpleasant.
He says he favors "some reasonable controls" but opposes a ban.
So does Bryan Roth, director of the Psychoactive Drug Screening Program for the National Institute of Mental Health. The federally funded program looks for new treatments for mental illnesses.
Roth calls Salvia "the world's most potent natural occurring hallucinogen." He is among several researchers who say salvia may prove helpful in treating disease. The plant produces large amounts of salvinorin A, an "extremely potent hallucinogen," nearly as strong as LSD, that targets a single chemical receptor in brain cells, Roth says. The receptor is involved in "consciousness and our perception of reality," and it is located in neurons that have a role in depression, drug abuse and schizophrenia.
"Many teams of chemists around the world are making salvinorin A for research," Roth says.
Criminalizing salvia and its derivatives would make it "almost impossible" to get salvia-related compounds approved for human use, Roth says.
Nevertheless, Ross says, there should be some regulation. "It probably shouldn't be sold over the Internet to unsuspecting teenagers," he says.
Kathleen Chidester would agree.
In an essay she found on Brett's computer after his death, he wrote that the meaning of the universe "is nothing."
"When I read that I thought, 'That's not him talking, that's salvia," Chidester says.
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DepthToTheCore
JeeBuzz
 
Registered: 05/05/04
Posts: 3,649
Loc: Australia brah
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: veggie]
#5472580 - 04/02/06 09:22 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Was only a matter of time....
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"Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music." - George Carlin
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 wilshire
free radical
Registered: 05/11/05
Posts: 2,421
Loc: SE PA
Last seen: 2 years, 3 months
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: veggie]
#5472605 - 04/02/06 09:29 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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A suicide note described revelations that echoed descriptions of salvia experiences posted by users to various salvia-related websites. "How can I go on living after I learned the secrets of life," he wrote. "It took me 17 years, but I finally figured it out. I can't tell you that here because that kind of information can cause chaos."
ridiculous. a drug changed the way he looked at life and he decided to die. was he even on salvia when he died? i doubt it. a drug might make you think in an unapproved way after experiencing it, so it should be banned? thought control.
what if he had these revelations after reading a book?
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shafty
fungus is urfriend
Registered: 05/05/05
Posts: 78
Last seen: 4 years, 8 months
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: wilshire]
#5473004 - 04/02/06 11:09 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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"and to buy his girlfriend roses for Valentine's Day"
what cute little addition, lol
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Mitchnast
Trial by Madness
Registered: 10/27/99
Posts: 8,377
Loc: Okanagan 
Last seen: 1 month, 14 days
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: shafty]
#5474359 - 04/03/06 11:09 AM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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straight-A in what, AMERICAN SCHOOLS? no wonder he killed himself. Probably couldn't live with being a golden boy of bullshit.
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DNKYD
Turtle!
Registered: 09/23/04
Posts: 12,197
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: veggie]
#5474487 - 04/03/06 11:41 AM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Blame the Salvia, not the depression he suffered from. Fucking assclowns. I hope his parents die in their sleep.
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wortiesbo
Registered: 03/18/06
Posts: 720
Loc: new vegas
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: DNKYD]
#5474503 - 04/03/06 11:47 AM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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salvia=good
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wietstocker
product ofevolution
Registered: 07/14/03
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: wortiesbo]
#5474665 - 04/03/06 12:43 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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I too would probably be trying to cling to any rational explanation I could if my son killed himself. Think of the family... suicide can be the most mysterious and perplexing thing to understand from any perspective but the sole individual involved. These parents aren't stupid, they're just ignorant to the effects. Perhaps if they knew firsthand the effects of psychedelics they might grow to understand their folly... perhaps even moving on to discover the true reason for their son's death rather than fixating on the first justification that takes responsibility away from their son whom they obviously didn't realize suffered from depression. This makes me wonder what kind of parents they were to begin with...
Although a horrible tragedy regardless, blaming a non-addictive substance like Salvia is blatantly desperate.
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Echoes
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Jim
Registered: 04/07/04
Posts: 20,888
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: veggie]
#5474701 - 04/03/06 12:59 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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that is it! I am giong to eat a ton of sugar and kill myslef in hopes it gets banned.
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Use the Fucking Reply To Feature You Lazy Pieces of Shit!
afoaf said:
Jim, if you were in my city, I would let you fuck my wife.
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Divided_Sky
Ten ThousandThings
Registered: 11/02/03
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: Jim]
#5476966 - 04/03/06 09:25 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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I don't think she would be feeling much better if her son were alive but serving a 20 year sentence in Federal Prison. The lady admits her son was depressed before using the drug, so why is the blaming Salvia for his suicide? For all we know it could be inevitable, or some other thing could have triggered it.
It's plainly obvious that psychedelics drugs can exacerbate mental problems, and if you are depressed you probobly shouldn't use them. Nor IMO should 17 year old kids. The solution is being wise, not criminalizing everybody else because somebody who was already depressed commited suicide.
I find it interesting that the DEA almost seems to be defending not scheduling the drug. Maybe they take the scheduling process seriously and realize that A) Salvia is not structuraly similar to other Schedule I drugs and does not fall under the Analogue Act, B) It is currently used in medical research, and C) it can be fairly unpleasant and thus has a low potential for abuse. If more people enjoyed it then I'm sure it would be outlawed. I hope the DEA is finally developing a sensible policy.
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1. "After an hour I wasn't feeling anything so I decided to take another..."
2. "We were feeling pretty good so we decided to smoke a few bowls..."
3. "I had to be real quiet because my parents were asleep upstairs..."
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rawtoxic
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: Divided_Sky]
#5478868 - 04/04/06 10:56 AM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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and where were these WONDERFUL parents when he DEPRESSED SITTING ALONE in his room smoking salvia he had shipped to THEIR house and WHAT seller sold to someone under 18. those are the apparent problems to me.
they are as much to blame as salvia but would like to put it on. i mean lets say the little fuck ate some datura and flipped and blew his brains out then what do they say then.
maybe they should just ban the internet and free speech then none of this would happen.
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Boom
Supervisor
Registered: 06/16/04
Posts: 11,240
Loc: Cypress Creek
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: DepthToTheCore]
#5478906 - 04/04/06 11:14 AM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
the_notorious said:
Was only a matter of time....
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TheWay
just some dude
Registered: 10/27/05
Posts: 163
Loc: free
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: Boom]
#5479853 - 04/04/06 04:01 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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they wont make it illegal, because in mild doses it's a good brainwashing drug, they want it to be the next flouride.
CONSUME, SLEEP, WATCH T.V., OBEY !!!!!!!!!
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Boom
Supervisor
Registered: 06/16/04
Posts: 11,240
Loc: Cypress Creek
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: TheWay]
#5480141 - 04/04/06 05:41 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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TheWay
just some dude
Registered: 10/27/05
Posts: 163
Loc: free
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: Boom]
#5486359 - 04/06/06 11:09 AM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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I was half kidding, but it is an ingredient in alot of diet pills and probably some other over-the-counter stuff. I am wondering if the drug companies may be putting pressure on the govt. not to regulate salvia.
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Darcho
PhysicallyDetermined
Registered: 07/26/04
Posts: 426
Last seen: 4 months, 3 days
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: veggie]
#5492393 - 04/08/06 09:40 AM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
veggie said:
In an essay she found on Brett's computer after his death, he wrote that the meaning of the universe "is nothing."
"When I read that I thought, 'That's not him talking, that's salvia," Chidester says.
Nah, thats just nihilism, and its not such a bad thing. Oh no, the meaning of the universe is nothing.... Since when is the realization that meaning is inherently linguistic and not a property of objective reality a reason to commit suicide, and since when is such a realization only caused by hallucinogens?
Edited by Darcho (04/08/06 09:19 PM)
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RemainRandom50
Do You Need ToKnow Me?
Registered: 01/15/06
Posts: 1,695
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: Darcho]
#5493123 - 04/08/06 12:44 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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bull fucking shit.
what a crock.
man these stupid kids and there bad judgements just fuck everything up.
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At times I get consumed by my everyday life and will leave the Shroomery. Yet, every time drugs come falling into my life for fun.....I always think about the Shroomery and then I'm back!
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EmpTyCLosEtSpAcE
yatahey
Registered: 03/22/06
Posts: 99
Last seen: 5 years, 2 months
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: veggie]
#5494393 - 04/08/06 07:00 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
"When I read that I thought, 'That's not him talking, that's salvia," Chidester says.
Plants don't talk...
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I can't imagine what the cops are going to think when they come in and see a couple hippies on some guy covered in puke and shit screaming i'm dying as we tell him it's ok he'll like it.-Chinacat72
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Microcosmatrix
Spiral staircasetechnician
Registered: 10/20/05
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Re: Powerful but legal, hallucinogenic under scrutiny [Re: veggie]
#5494900 - 04/08/06 09:30 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Well if the DEA says it's dangerous then it must be... 
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