Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!
|
 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc: 
|
 Scientists oppose a proposed state law banning salvia divinorum [MD] 
#9776962 - 02/11/09 04:53 AM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Illegalize It?
February 11, 2009 - City Paper
Scientists Oppose Legislation That Potentially Disrupts Medical Research
Making legal stuff illegal is pretty much what legislating is all about, and so it was probably inevitable that the Maryland legislature would take up something like SB 9, "An Act concerning Criminal Law %u2013 Salvia Divinorum %u2013 Controlled Dangerous Substances."
Salvia, also called "diviner's sage," is a plant that, when smoked or chewed, causes altered perceptions. It is available over the internet and in places like the Karmic Connection on South Broadway in Baltimore City. If you type the name into YouTube's search box you'll get numerous videos of teenagers laughing uproariously and saying stupid stuff--same as if you type almost anything else into YouTube's search box.
There are two other important things to know about Salvia. First, which dominates many people's thinking about it, is that 17-year-old Brett Chidester, a Delaware honors student, killed himself in 2006, and the Delaware Medical Examiner added Salvia as a "contributing factor" in his death after the report was first filed, for reasons never explained. The result has been a series of state laws mostly banning the sale or possession of Salvia. In Delaware, it's called "Brett's Law." Last year, Baltimore City Councilwoman Belinda Conaway introduced a bill to ban Salvia sales and possession in Baltimore City (Councilmania, Mobtown Beat, Feb. 6, 2008). The bill did not pass.
The second thing to know is that, in the human brain, Salvia does not bind to any of the neuroreceptors formerly associated with hallucinogens. That's a fact most people do not know or understand, according to Matthew W. Johnson.
With his research partner, Roland R. Griffiths, Johnson studies the effects of drugs on people's experiences and on behavior, looking for clues about how the brain works--and how it changes when a person, say, becomes addicted to heroin. Griffiths is a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, and Johnson is an instructor, at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; the pair have worked with otherwise-illegal drugs before ("Sacred Intentions," Feature, Oct. 8, 2008). As with their work with psilocybin, aka "magic mushrooms," the researchers say Salvia offers promise.
"This is a really exciting compound," Johnson says of Salvia. "A derivative might be used as a medication--maybe as a cocaine abuse inhibitor."
Hearing "at the last minute" about the bill introduction by state Sen. Richard F. Colburn (R-Eastern Shore), the Hopkins researchers e-mailed a technical paper to the legislators in which they noted that the bill as drafted, allowing for research use of the substance only with a waiver from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, put them in a Catch-22. "Salvia Divinorum is not listed as a Federal Schedule I substance, and therefore it is not possible for a provider to be registered under federal law to conduct research with Salvia Divinorum," the paper explains.
A senate staffer says the researchers needn't worry. "Everyone was so concerned about research," says Katrina Owens, Colburn's senate aid. "The bottom line is that medical research will always go forward. The senator said he encouraged an amendment so that research could proceed."
During a Jan. 27 hearing, the bill received a lukewarm reception from Sen. Brian Frosh (D-Montgomery County), who chairs the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Several senators spoke skeptically of it, and the Maryland Office of the Public Defender sent a statement arguing against the bill. Kathleen E. Chidester, Brett's mother, sent an impassioned letter in favor, and Robert Bokinsky, an Ocean City police captain, told the lawmakers that much of the disorderly conduct he sees on the boardwalk is linked to Salvia use by teenagers who buy it in the shops there.
"I wish they would have been here," Owens says of the Hopkins researchers. "It would have been great to hear from them." But she sounds keen to push the law forward in some form, citing "one homicide in Houston that they're attributing Salvia to," plus a load of You Tube videos. "You don't have to be a teen, you could be a young adult. It could be a gateway drug to cocaine," Owens says.
That's the attitude the Hopkins researchers are trying to combat. They're fine with an age ban or even a sales ban, Johnson says, but lawmakers need to maintain some perspective, since making Salvia a "schedule 1" drug such as heroin, even with research provisions, would stop most research.
"The DEA wants you to put it in a bank vault," Johnson says of schedule 1 drugs. He's equipped to do that, but he says researchers in states where Salvia is banned have had to stop studying it. The ban contemplated by the state legislature would also outlaw derivative compounds of Salvia, potentially killing their commercial viability, he says.
"Not to discount the fact that there can be dangers" with Salvia use, Johnson says, "but from a public-health perspective this is very small on the radar screen. At state level, and previously at city level, it seems we have well-intentioned legislators perhaps basing their concern on You Tube videos and Google searches."
|
 CosmicFunGuy
ॐconsciousnessॐ
 
Registered: 06/08/06
Posts: 2,120
Loc: ∞
Last seen: 14 hours, 15 minutes
|
Re: Scientists oppose a proposed state law banning salvia divinorum [MD] [Re: veggie]
#9777012 - 02/11/09 05:35 AM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
"You don't have to be a teen, you could be a young adult. It could be a gateway drug to cocaine," Owens says.
 that's the funniest, most fucking retarded thing i've heard in a minute...
--------------------
♫ ♪ In the garden of many fields, there is no me or you. There is no right or wrong. There is no up or down. There is no black or white. Everyone is the plow man. Everyone is the seed. Everyone harvests and everyone yields. In the garden of many fields, everyone is one with one love and one love is one with everyone. ♪ ♫
lyrics from: Transglobal Underground - Eyeway Souljah (from Psychic Karaoke)
|
Phishe
Lysergic Bliss
Registered: 01/21/06
Posts: 2,905
Loc: Planet Earth
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
|
Re: Scientists oppose a proposed state law banning salvia divinorum [MD] [Re: CosmicFunGuy]
#9777571 - 02/11/09 09:43 AM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
This seems like it was written by a 14 year old.
|
Drizzt396
Stranger
Registered: 10/12/08
Posts: 82
Last seen: 2 years, 3 months
|
Re: Scientists oppose a proposed state law banning salvia divinorum [MD] [Re: Phishe]
#9777767 - 02/11/09 10:31 AM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
"But she sounds keen to push the law forward in some form, citing "one homicide in Houston that they're attributing Salvia to," plus a load of You Tube videos. "You don't have to be a teen, you could be a young adult. It could be a gateway drug to cocaine," Owens says."
A murder?! Guess they're now using the same shock stories (see: black people provoked to superhuman feats of strength by police) they've used to demonize pcp, which in pcp's case has left the major, long-term mental health issues largely ignored. Awesome. I also love seeing that the gateway drug argument never goes away. But she's even dumber than normal--obviously salvia use would lead to experimenting with other hallucinogens than anything else, I think coke use would be the last thing on a kid's mind if all they'd ever had was salvia.
|
Funguymon
Stranger
Registered: 01/27/09
Posts: 185
|
Re: Scientists oppose a proposed state law banning salvia divinorum [MD] [Re: CosmicFunGuy]
#9777942 - 02/11/09 11:23 AM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
that's the funniest, most fucking retarded thing i've heard in a minute...
haha!
Edited by Funguymon (02/11/09 11:24 AM)
|
creekfreek
Just being me
Registered: 01/26/08
Posts: 3,367
Loc: Right about here
Last seen: 1 month, 9 days
|
Re: Scientists oppose a proposed state law banning salvia divinorum [MD] [Re: veggie]
#9778056 - 02/11/09 11:57 AM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
veggie said:
Illegalize It?
February 11, 2009 - City Paper
During a Jan. 27 hearing, the bill received a lukewarm reception from Sen. Brian Frosh (D-Montgomery County), who chairs the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Several senators spoke skeptically of it, and the Maryland Office of the Public Defender sent a statement arguing against the bill. Kathleen E. Chidester, Brett's mother, sent an impassioned letter in favor, and Robert Bokinsky, an Ocean City police captain, told the lawmakers that much of the disorderly conduct he sees on the boardwalk is linked to Salvia use by teenagers who buy it in the shops there.
Your fucking kidding me right?
That is the most retarded thing I have heard in years.
I remember 20+ years ago, there was a lot of disorderly conduct all over the place and there was no salvia divinorum to blame it on.
These fucking people just need something to blame for things that happen normally with no other "drug".
Ya know I saw some kids acting all wierd the other day, Oh shit, they MUST have been using that salvia stuff that I heard about on the news last week. They said its use was spreading. WTF?????
The media and government need to really get a life and stop worrying about petty things like this and get with the real problems, like how the hell are we all suppose to get back to work and keep our homes.
--------------------
 
"Recite it all back to me at the end of the story and we'll see if we know what we mean" - Scott Murawski.
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance...it is the illusion of knowledge."
My music archive: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/9283719/an/0/page/0
|
Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist
Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 24,722
Last seen: 2 days, 10 hours
|
Re: Scientists oppose a proposed state law banning salvia divinorum [MD] [Re: creekfreek]
#9778731 - 02/11/09 01:47 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
I agree, its a bold faced lie.
|
Green_T
Getting to the chopper
Registered: 10/02/08
Posts: 4,024
|
Re: Scientists oppose a proposed state law banning salvia divinorum [MD] [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#9778885 - 02/11/09 02:15 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Not trying to be a dick, but I honestly think Brett's mom is trying to scapegoat her son's death. It is a way to cope with grief to try to want to blame it on something, and she puts it on salvia.
Open letter to bretts parents
--------------------
"I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man" - Thomas Jefferson
Legalize Meth | Drug War Victims
Their vial of acid, which is on the table over there, tastes vile because they're incompetent chemists.
|
Dementous
Journeyman
Registered: 01/15/09
Posts: 197
Loc: Subconscious
Last seen: 8 months, 6 days
|
Re: Scientists oppose a proposed state law banning salvia divinorum [MD] [Re: Green_T]
#9780403 - 02/11/09 06:18 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
It's only a matter of time. I've done all I can. 
--------------------
|
badchad
Mad Scientist
Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 7,896
|
Re: Scientists oppose a proposed state law banning salvia divinorum [MD] [Re: Dementous]
#9783187 - 02/12/09 03:52 AM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
The hearing is going to be Wednesday. Go show your support.
--------------------
...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did.
Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27.
...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely.
Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
|
nimpkish
oh.. it's stephen harper
Registered: 12/14/08
Posts: 26
Loc: Canada 
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
|
Re: Scientists oppose a proposed state law banning salvia divinorum [MD] [Re: badchad]
#9788211 - 02/12/09 09:58 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Kathleen E. Chidester
116 Dufferin Drive
Newark, DE 19702-4061
As a participant in what we might call the 'Salvia Community' I would like to extend my sympathies over the loss of your son. I would like to assure you that most of us are deeply saddened by it.
I am interested in doing what I can, and this includes finding out as much as possible about the facts of the case. You'll appreciate that this is not easy from reading one-sided and sensationalist reports in the media.
One of the starting points for me has been to find out more about the general phenomena of suicide, particularly amongst the young. I was surprised to learn for example that suicide is now the third leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds. And that the suicide rate for white males in that age group has tripled since 1950 (source: the National Center for Health Statistics).
Each one of these cases will have its own story I know, but it does suggest a much wider issue for society than can be simply related to Salvia divinorum.
Speaking as someone who has been working with Salvia for over seven years it is concerning for me to see many now pressing for the strictest possible 'Schedule I' classification, particularly when such proponents also display such limited knowledge of the herb and its effects.
In your home state of Delaware as I understand it Salvia divinorum has been made illegal without any distinction being made between the plant in its natural form and the much stronger manufactured extracts.
It is not that the majority of us wouldn't agree with some form of regulation; in particular with regard to the sale and supply of Salvia divinorum to minors (even though most vendors already voluntarily restrain themselves this way). We do not think Salvia's realms necessarily appropriate for all.
It is just that many of us feel that our relationship with Salvia has been of great creative and positive benefit in our lives, especially illuminating with regard to our spiritual development.
Speaking as someone who only deals with the live plants I'm very concerned about laws being enacted that would suggest the best place for us mature, responsible, happy and otherwise productive adults would be in jail for periods up to and even exceeding 20 years.
Remember that there is another side to the story. And that other side will be well documented if not in the traditional press then with the more democratic Internet - where a lot of people prefer to get their information. Enquiring minds will always come to their own conclusions.
I completely understand should you wish to continue campaigning for greater awareness and better education on these issues.
All I would ask is that you consider all the factors and that you don't let the media and politicians use your son's death simply to further their own narrow agendas.
Yours respectfully...
--------------------
| |
|
|
 |
|
Georgia Law Bans Retailers From Selling 'Pot Candy' To Minors |
 DonkeyShell |
1,011 |
11 |
05/07/08 07:48 PM
by OrgoneConclusion | |
|
No laws ban possession of marijuana, court rules |
 motaman |
1,021 |
1 |
05/17/03 02:20 PM
by Hans_Moleman | |
|
Pro-pot group aims at state law in '06 [CO] |
 veggie |
895 |
4 |
12/29/05 11:07 PM
by baraka | |
|
Massachusetts marijuana law comes with challenges |
 b0red5tiff |
738 |
4 |
12/18/08 09:09 PM
by negrodamus | |
|
6 states considering banning Salvia D |
veggie |
1,119 |
4 |
05/05/06 06:46 PM
by Maverick | |
|
EU asks member states to ban sale, use of recreational drug BZP, claiming health risks |
 blackout |
685 |
1 |
07/18/07 03:44 PM
by Visionary Tools | |
|
A Drug Lures Teens, Legislators, Scientists |
 mikebart101 |
2,244 |
15 |
06/05/07 03:30 AM
by fastfred | |
|
State still hashing out medical marijuana rules [CA] |
veggie |
1,530 |
0 |
09/30/07 03:58 PM
by veggie |
|
|
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: veggie
1,627 topic views. 2 members, 24 guests and 0 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Toggle Favorite | Print Topic ]
| | |
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Shop for: 
Edit 
Reply 
