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motaman
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Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny
#11169524 - 10/02/09 12:05 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny
DEA considers salvia to be a 'drug of concern' in United States By J. FREEDOM DuLAC Washington Post Sept. 30, 2009, 1:18PM
photo NICK UT AP
Botanist Daniel Siebert poses with a Salvia divinorum plant outside his California home.
What salvia is, what it does
Effects of salvia may include: uncontrollable laughter; flashbacks, such as revisiting memories from childhood; sensations of motion, or being pulled or twisted; perceived merging with or transforming into objects; pverlapping realities, such as the perception of being in several locations at once.
• In Oaxaca, "diviner's sage" is used in ceremonies by indigenous healers to enter a visionary state, which they say allows them to more clearly detect the cause of disease.
• Salvia divinorum is becoming more widely known and used in secular culture. An estimated 1.8 million people age 12 or older in the United States have used it.
• Modern methods of ingestion include smoking or chewing the leaf.
• Salvia does not appear to be addictive, but taking larger doses will yield more intense effects. Effects usually last between five and 10 minutes.
(Sources: Daniel Siebert; National Survey on Drug Use and Health; University of California and California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute.)
WASHINGTON — In the funky Adams Morgan neighborhood of the nation's capital, just past the yellow "Drug Free Zone" sign, the B&K News Stand sells hookahs, rolling papers and "Purple Sticky Salvia."
The psychedelic Purple Sticky label warns that the contents of the cylindrical package — dried leaves of the hallucinogenic herb Salvia divinorum and a chemical extract of the drug — are to be used as incense only. But at $30 for a pillbox the size of a small jar of lip balm, that's some awfully expensive fragrant foliage.
It's legal to sell, possess and ingest salvia in the District of Columbia. But the same stuff, long used for medicinal and mystical purposes by Mazatec Indians in Mexico, will get you arrested in Virginia, where a ban on salvia passed last year.
Last month, the Ocean City Council passed emergency legislation to ban salvia products, which were being sold at almost 20 shops on the resort town's boardwalk. An identical ban followed suit in Worcester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and state Del. Jim Mathias, the former mayor of Ocean City, plans to push for a statewide ban when the General Assembly meets in Annapolis this winter.
Salvia has been gaining popularity over the past decade as a smokable drug whose psychotropic extract provides a short-lived but potent hallucinogenic trip. The 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimated that 1.8 million people in the United States had tried salvia, "and it's probably even more now," said Matthew Johnson, a psychopharmacologist at the Johns Hopkins University medical school, where he studies salvia and its active ingredient, salvinorin A. "It's really hit a critical mass in the last couple of years."
There's ample evidence online: Salvia, which is widely available for purchase on the Internet, has become a popular theme on YouTube, where countless bong-smokers in their teens and 20s have posted videos of themselves stumbling, laughing uncontrollably, talking nonsensically and just plain freaking out.
"It's an unpredictable drug that clearly alters rational behavior and alters your psyche," Mathias said. Watching YouTube videos of kids flying high on salvia, "you see how panicky and paranoid and fearful they become. But if somebody for whatever reason decides this drug is something they want to partake in, they can buy it like they're buying a comic book or chewing gum. You don't even have to be 18. ... I just don't think you should be able to buy salvia like you'd buy a Mounds bar."
Researchers worry that a rush to regulate the drug could interfere with efforts to learn whether salvinorin A can be used to treat cocaine addiction and Alzheimer's disease, among other conditions. But total or partial salvia bans have been imposed in 16 states; North Carolina will make it illegal in December. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has labeled salvia "a drug of concern" and is considering adding it to the list of drugs banned under the Controlled Substances Act. (It's illegal in at least a dozen countries; here is the DEA fact sheet on salvia; legislation to regulate the plant has been proposed in Texas.) Good in the garden
But fret not, gardeners: Salvia divinorum is not the same as the ornamental species of salvia you've been planting all these years. "Salvia, the flowering plants, are backbones of the garden," said Ginny Rosenkranz, a commercial horticulture educator at the Maryland Cooperative Extension. "Salvia divinorum is a different species entirely. It's not know for its flowers; it's not considered ornamental."
The genus salvia is part of the mint family and is commonly called sage, hence the trippy nicknames for "Sally D": Magic Mint, Diviner's Sage, Sage of the Seers.
Although its hallucinogenic qualities were known by ethnobotanists and in psychedelic drug circles for many years, salvia had a low profile in this country until the late 1990s, when word spread that concentrating the active compound, salvinorin A, and smoking it was like a legal ticket to a magic carpet ride.
"That's when things started changing, around 1998, 1999, and you started seeing mail-order companies offering it," said Daniel Siebert, creator of the Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center, a salvia Web site. Siebert has experimented with the drug himself, "though I haven't done it in a couple of years," he said.
He describes his experience as a journey to another place. "If you take a high dose, you get immersed in this dreamlike trance state," he said. "You're seeing this narrative scene unfold, like you do when you're asleep, and you're not aware of your body or the room you're in. You think you're someplace else."
Siebert said traditional Indian use of salvia was reserved for occasions "when they have a real reason to consult with their inner selves or with divine beings ... usually a problem they're trying to gain insight into. It's a solemn, sacred thing."
Today, however, "more and more people are smoking excessively high doses and being careless," Siebert said. They "are experimenting with it in a party atmosphere while drinking with a lot of friends around, and they're finding it confusing and disorienting."
But is it dangerous? Johnson, the psychopharmacologist, said emergency rooms aren't reporting an increase in salvia overdoses or other issues related to the drug — in part because "it's very short-acting, lasting five to 10 minutes."
Salvia doesn't appear to be addictive, nor is it particularly toxic, Johnson said. "The science is pretty clear. ... Salvia is not the next methamphetamine or the next cocaine or heroin."
But, he warned, "this is a powerful drug. If someone were to drive on it, that would be a very bad thing."
In Delaware, Brett Chidester, 17, committed suicide in 2006 after becoming a salvia smoker. There was no evidence that Chidester was under the influence of salvia when he killed himself, but within four months, state legislators passed "Brett's Law," making salvia a controlled substance.
A dozen states have put salvia on Schedule I, the most restrictive class of drugs, including heroin, LSD and marijuana. 'Rush to regulate'
That has made research into the drug's possible therapeutic uses more difficult, said Thomas Prisinzano, a University of Kansas researcher who has been studying modifying salvinorin A to treat drug addiction.
"I'm concerned about the rush to regulate," Johnson said. Putting a substance on Schedule I "disincentivizes pharmaceutical companies that might pour millions of dollars into the development of a potential medication for cocaine dependence or Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/health/6644948.html
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gnarfbuckle
Above The Ignorance
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Loc: Michigan
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: motaman]
#11169801 - 10/02/09 12:56 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Nature Boy
Stranger than most
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: motaman]
#11169947 - 10/02/09 01:29 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Hate to say "I told you so"...but...
N.B.
-------------------- All submitted posts under this user name are works of pure fiction or outright lies. Any information, statement, or assertion contained therein should be considered pure unadulterated bullshit. Note well: Sorry, but I do not answer PM's unless you are a long-time trusted friend. If you have a question, ask it in the appropriate thread.
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xTJx
Registered: 08/25/09
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: Nature Boy]
#11170115 - 10/02/09 02:07 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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guess I better get my hands on some salvia cuttings while I still can
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PoopSoap
Genetically Modified Organism
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: xTJx]
#11170475 - 10/02/09 03:11 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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everyone is just ready to jump on the bandwagon. even though i dont care for salvia im completely sick of this ban happy fucking nation i live in. do we not learn ANYTHING??? banning it is stupid but why must we make it a schedule 1 when it may have medical benefits? fucking idiots
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PoopSoap
Genetically Modified Organism
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: PoopSoap]
#11170540 - 10/02/09 03:28 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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and another thing linking that kids suicide to his salvia use is such bullshit i can smell it
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Satival
Stranger
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: PoopSoap]
#11170895 - 10/02/09 04:49 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Who died? Oh i forgot it was ZERO. Just like that evil cannabis. Did you know it makes black men rape white women? Good heavens!
Time to read a fucking book DEA. Do you have to be retarded to join your organization, or is it just the image you strive for.
Gee, If it was MY job to protect people from evil drugs, I think I would be focusing on THE EXPLODING CRYSTAL METH EPIDEMIC, rather than salvia. Just an idea.
Durr durr you fucking idiot douchbags.
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Waking_Eyes
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: Satival]
#11170928 - 10/02/09 04:55 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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I know a guy who jumped in front of a train after getting dumped by his girlfriend.
Why didn't they ban girlfriends? or break-ups? or trains?
Saying he smoked Salvia and trying to link that to his suicide is retarded.
Plus, how many alcoholics commit suicide.
I'm sick of this fucking corrupt ass propaganda pushing spin doctor infested filtered through the ass till only shit comes out media.
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Dr_Z
Orangutang, M.D.
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: xTJx]
#11171085 - 10/02/09 05:23 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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It's going to be a great tragedy to all of us if Salvia is truly destined to become federally scheduled & outlawed in the United States nationally. As has happened before, it's only right to assume that if the U.S. bans Salvia, many more countries will blindly follow-suit in doing the same. However, I've been optimistic when it comes to the future of Salvia & it's active component, Salvinorian-A. I've seen numerous articles talking about the addition of Salvia to the list of controlled substances, but other than a few backward states banning it, there has still been no real action taken to control it federally in the U.S.
Who knows what will actually happen in the distant future. All in all, there is only one thing that I believe can be definitively said about the future of Salvia, if it is indeed headed to become like so many other greatly misunderstood substances that are currently scheduled today, as it is rumored. This possible fate would affect Salvia in such a way that it is likely to see the extinction of the plant entirely.
To those that have shared the experience with Salvia Divinorum when it comes to the cultivation aspects of the plant, it is no secret that this plant is quite difficult to grow, and must be placed in a near-identical enviroment that would be seen in it's natural habitat. Salvia Divinorum will rarely survive for an extended period of time, let alone flourish and thrive, unless kept under very specific and unvarying conditions. The plant can only be grown in levels of high humidity, with only a couple hours of direct light allowed to itself daily. Also, it is rare to ever see anything come from the seeds of Salvia, with live cuttings being the only realistic and particularly successful way to propagate this particular plant.
With these facts in mind, it is clear that one should only begin to expect a sharp decrease in the numbers of Salvia Divinorum plants not only in the U.S., but worldwide as well. In my opinion, it is only a matter of time before the plant is made extinct to us all. I do not see a future for the genus if it is ever to be outlawed downright, being treated the same way as other illicit plants are in the present world. There is little to no serious recreational value to Salvia that would result in significant numbers of the plant being grown illegally in any form other than that which exists already for the plant in it's natural habitat. With it's unusual requirements for sustained growth that it requires, I see few that would be willing to meet it's specific needs and in return profit so little with a plant that would be not only illegal to cultivate/possess/etc. and aggressively perused by law enforcement, but would also be only seen as a novelty drug that is overwhelming unpleasant to the majority of it's illicit users seeking it's powerful enlightenment. There would be little to no actual street value to compensate for it's many negative aspects.
This, my friends, is just my belief for the future, the future in which Salvia is illegalized. There will be no counter-culture for Salvia that exists in the present with similar illicit plants, such as Cannabis today, with it's vast numbers of underground grow operations world-wide. There is little to suggest that the existence of Salvia Divinorum can be safely assured, either existing in the sophisticated artificial grow-rooms of the world but even within the remote rural areas of Mexico, it's natural habitat, in which this misunderstood herb was initially discovered existing in by the modern-world only a few decades ago.
I can tell you this, if made illegal in the U.S., I would use whatever means availible to me at that said time to acquire cuttings of Salvia in order to ensure some measure of propagation of the species, keeping the herb from ever realizing such a grim fate as I have just proposed. It has already happened to a dozen or so unique strains of cannabis already, robbing the world of their rare smoking pleasures and unusual characteristics produced from their rare genetics from ever being seen by those who were to ever had appreciation for.
Or, maybe I should just smoke more Salvia and/or cut down on my posting whilst under the influence of certain illicit stimulants that cause such a volume of rediculous nonsense to exist as is currently recognized with posts such as this one in particular. WTFE, I just feel strongly against Salvia being controlled, that's really what I'm trying to convey here.
-------------------- "Never forget - the free ape is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought."
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Nature Boy
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: Waking_Eyes]
#11171846 - 10/02/09 08:34 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Waking_Eyes said: I know a guy who jumped in front of a train after getting dumped by his girlfriend.
Why didn't they ban girlfriends? or break-ups? or trains?
Saying he smoked Salvia and trying to link that to his suicide is retarded.
Plus, how many alcoholics commit suicide.
I'm sick of this fucking corrupt ass propaganda pushing spin doctor infested filtered through the ass till only shit comes out media.
QFT! We should ban tall buildings, so people can't jump off, razor blades so they can't slit their wrists, and ropes, so they can't hang themselves...and knives, and...
You get the idea.
N.B.
-------------------- All submitted posts under this user name are works of pure fiction or outright lies. Any information, statement, or assertion contained therein should be considered pure unadulterated bullshit. Note well: Sorry, but I do not answer PM's unless you are a long-time trusted friend. If you have a question, ask it in the appropriate thread.
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orison
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: Nature Boy]
#11173442 - 10/03/09 03:10 AM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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im so high... pttf.. War on drugs is a joke..
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Coaster
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: orison]
#11176459 - 10/03/09 05:54 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Brett Chidester the newb every1 hates
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Dr.Myco87
Im a "Reader"
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: Waking_Eyes]
#11176492 - 10/03/09 06:00 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Waking_Eyes said: I know a guy who jumped in front of a train after getting dumped by his girlfriend.
Why didn't they ban girlfriends? or break-ups? or trains?
Saying he smoked Salvia and trying to link that to his suicide is retarded.
Plus, how many alcoholics commit suicide.
I'm sick of this fucking corrupt ass propaganda pushing spin doctor infested filtered through the ass till only shit comes out media.
Yup yup yup. And it was only 1 kid, out of how many 100's of thousads that have tried salvia? Boo the war on drugs and it's hypocrisy. 400,000 dead a year from cigarettes and over 150,000 from alcohol, all health effects I might add, not suicides Shit if we added suicides while drunk (maybe even after smoking a cig, oooohhh) it might be 10x that number.
-------------------- "I don’t do drugs. I am drugs." -Salvador Dali "I’ve never had a problem with drugs. I’ve had problems with the police." -Keith Richards "Reality is a crutch for people who can’t cope with drugs." -Lily Tomlin
Edited by Dr.Myco87 (10/03/09 06:02 PM)
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ShroomProphet
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: Dr.Myco87]
#11176569 - 10/03/09 06:14 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Don't you love how they said that this Brett guy wasn't even on Salvia when he killed himself, yet all these schmucks wanna pass "The Brett's Law" and say if he wouldn't have been on Salvia he wouldn't have killed himself. They always wanna pass these laws and hang the kids name on it! It's just plain old goofy bullshit plain and simple, its always the same! They need to put the blame in the persons hands that's responsible. They never will, I guess its easier that way.
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Humility
Working on it
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Re: Hallucinogenic herb from Mexico under scrutiny [Re: ShroomProphet]
#11176695 - 10/03/09 06:41 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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DR. Z, I've never used salvia and thus never experienced anything that's compelled me to save, rescue, or propagate the plant.
It seems that you however, have. Why not find a state or country (Mexico?) that seems particularly kind to salvia usage and cultivate a large garden there? You'll learn as much as you've ever wanted to and you'll be doing something fun and interesting, not to mention historically significant.
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