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Bridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.




Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
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Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son
#7452673 - 09/25/07 05:26 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/25/earlyshow/contributors/tracysmith/main3295276.shtml?source=RSSattr=TheEarlyShow_3295276
(CBS) Of all the crazy videos posted on YouTube, those depicting teenagers smoking an herb called salvia divinorum, then seemingly losing control, are among the most disturbing.
Salvia is legal in most of the country and it seems to be a fad among teenagers, said Dr. Bryan Roth who studies the herb.
"It causes a very intense hallucinogenic experience," Roth told The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith. "People are more or less instantaneously transported into an alternate universe."
It may look like the kids in the YouTube videos are having fun, but Kathy Chidester is convinced salvia killed her only child. Sixteen-year-old Brett Chidester was a whiz on a skateboard, a straight-A student and the joy of his divorced parents lives. Then he started smoking salvia.
"He got withdrawn within the last couple of months," said his father, Denis Chidester. "And he wouldn't open up like he used to. I figured it was a teenage thing. Boys don't like to talk to their dads."
But Brett's mom did a little digging on his computer and found out he was buying salvia online and smoking it.
"He'd say, 'Mom, it's legal. There's nothing wrong with it. If it was bad it wouldn't be legal,' " Kathy Chidester said.
Brett's mood grew darker and on a cold Monday in January, at his dad's Delaware home, Brett Chidester did what his parents believe salvia drove him to do: he killed himself.
"My life as I knew was over," Kathy Chidester said. "It'll never be the same. He was our light and our life and it's gone."
While Brett's is the only known case that could link salvia to suicide, some fear there could be others out there. The journal Addiction says salvia is becoming increasingly popular among teenagers, which alarmed Delaware Sen. Karen Peterson.
"I thought this is not something that I would want people using driving around the streets of Delaware," she said.
Three months after Brett committed suicide, Delaware passed a law that banned salvia for recreational use. Delaware is one of five states to classify salvia as a controlled substance.
Since salvia is still legal in the rest of the country, you can order it off the Internet or buy it in a smoke shop. Smith went undercover in New York, where it's legal, to see how easy it is to get.
In less than an hour, she was able to buy it in leaf form, powder, and even an extract that comes in flavors. But don't let it fool you. Experts say this is the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogen.
"It should be regulated," Roth said. "It is more difficult for people to buy alcohol or cigarettes than this extremely potent hallucinogen."
The DEA is considering classifying salvia as a schedule one drug, which means it has no medicinal use and a high abuse potential like heroin or LSD. That would make it illegal to buy, sell or use in all 50 states.
"Because people are buying this through the mail it certainly would be a lot more effective if the federal government dealt with it," Peterson said. "And then we wouldn't have to deal with it state by state."
Still, salvia experts are conflicted. While most agree that it should be regulated, they also say it could help treat diseases like Alzheimer's and HIV and worry that a strict DEA ban will stop that promising research.
But Kathy Chidester is convinced that without a federal ban other kids will suffer the same fate as her son.
"I want the DEA to take action and I want it to be outlawed and regulated across the United States," she said. "I don't want anyone else to ever have this happen. I mean, I wouldn't wish this on our worst enemy."
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Alion



Registered: 08/14/07
Posts: 462
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7452689 - 09/25/07 05:30 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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time to stock up
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Drewwyann
Slayer of ticks



Registered: 10/30/06
Posts: 4,077
Loc: Atlantis
Last seen: 10 years, 3 months
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7452760 - 09/25/07 05:49 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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theres absolutely no room for the possibility that something was going on in this kids life that drove him to kill himself? It was a drug that did it?
The fact that he didnt open up to his dad was salvia's fault? Maybe the fact that he didnt open up to his dad have something to do with his taking his own life, and not the salvia. This article seems to make it seem like its a fact that the kid took his own life due to salvia.
Maybe he ordered it as a means to prevent himself from doing that. Its possible that he heard about people overcoming addictions and depression with the help of salvia. Maybe he was cutting himself, and wanted to stop. But no, its damn dirty salvia's fault. The drug with hundred of years of human usage with no known ill side effects. Not the kids.
I've had a friend die, and their parents were looking to blame anything but their own son for the fact that he died. (it was the choking game a long while back). So i dont blame the parents for making hasty accusations, but i do blame the media for demonizing salvia, and publishing the opinions of the parents as fact.
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 Anyone need a glass pipe? : http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002435158931 Love powerfully  
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Brainiac
Rogue Scientist



Registered: 04/29/06
Posts: 13,259
Loc: 與您的女朋
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Drewwyann]
#7452773 - 09/25/07 05:52 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with, having divorced parents..
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Fair is Fair
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Brainiac]
#7452922 - 09/25/07 06:34 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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> theres absolutely no room for the possibility that something was going on in this kids life that drove him to kill himself?
Perhaps the same thing that drove him to look for escape in a drug. Nah, couldn't be.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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Kreuzkopf
Uncivil Thug


Registered: 08/25/07
Posts: 31
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Brainiac]
#7452971 - 09/25/07 06:48 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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I have a hard time seeing someone drive on salvia.
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar



Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 3,926
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7452982 - 09/25/07 06:53 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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---
Edited by EntheogenicPeace (01/01/18 07:32 PM)
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MrKite1
Cosmo

Registered: 03/02/04
Posts: 1,384
Loc: AK
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Perhaps he said that, perhaps not but regardless it is a perfect quote aimed at persuading the reader or viewer of the 'need' for legislation. Funny though, cigarettes are perfectly legal but no one ever uses that same logic to defend it.
I think it is somewhat disturbing that this woman has tried so hard to come to grips with her son's suicide by embarking on a political campaign. I can understand her rationale but I don't agree with it.
Anyhow, the whole Brett suicide has been gone over again and again. She just managed to get on a different news outlet this time.
I honestly thought they would give it a rest after 'Brett's Law' passed but I guess not.
The kid had a whole host of risk factors for suicide. This much is known and any attempts to establish such direct causality between his salvia use and his suicide is a fool's errand. But I guess it is good enough logic to pass laws on, right?
-------------------- When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar



Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 3,926
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: MrKite1]
#7453452 - 09/25/07 09:06 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Edited by EntheogenicPeace (01/01/18 07:33 PM)
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Brainiac
Rogue Scientist



Registered: 04/29/06
Posts: 13,259
Loc: 與您的女朋
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Fair is Fair
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elcharrosays
Stranger



Registered: 08/25/07
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Brainiac]
#7453700 - 09/25/07 10:18 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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I do believe it IS regulated. Everywhere I've ever been or seen you had to be 18 or older in order to buy salvia. You're damn right its not a thing for children. Aren't you supposed to be 18 to buy anything on-line anyway? The article states he was 16. Chances are the kid was using his own parents credit card to buy it the whole time. So where does the responsibility go?
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pokermush
Waterboardingmyself toprotect America!


Registered: 09/17/06
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: elcharrosays]
#7453789 - 09/25/07 10:43 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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This is a really old story rehashed. The kid who committed suicide was also on a prescription medicine that is associated with a significantly increased risk of suicide.
This is a classic case of parents who, in their grief, need someone or something to blame and fight against.
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SunshineDaydream
Journeyman



Registered: 06/03/06
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Brainiac]
#7453977 - 09/25/07 11:34 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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i love how articles always put heroin and lsd in the same sentence
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MikeRamos9
shrooms make mehappy


Registered: 09/15/07
Posts: 56
Loc: Here and There
Last seen: 15 years, 10 months
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WOW all i have to say is WOW. its dumb ass people like that kid who give a bad name to drugs. the mother just wants something other to blame then her. let me thnk, if i had a kid who got reclusive, depressed and secluded, hmm i think id get some help for him. nope dumb ass lets him smoke a drug that make you see things and blames that on him killing him self? wat a dumb b itch. stupid kid wanted attention and wanted his parents to feel bad for him. hes dumb thats what they make booze for.
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TurricaN
Grasshopper
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: MikeRamos9]
#7455190 - 09/26/07 10:33 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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The drug didn't kill him. He killed him self. 'Nuff said.
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Robo
R Series 66Y
Registered: 05/08/07
Posts: 14,861
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7455533 - 09/26/07 12:09 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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More salvia propaganda
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Dave Bowman
Albert Hoffmans Apprentice




Registered: 08/30/07
Posts: 2,104
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Robo]
#7455762 - 09/26/07 01:27 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Say goodbye to buying Salvia legally.
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Robo
R Series 66Y
Registered: 05/08/07
Posts: 14,861
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Dave Bowman]
#7455783 - 09/26/07 01:33 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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^^^ what he said.
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DNKYD
Turtle!

Registered: 09/23/04
Posts: 12,326
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7455817 - 09/26/07 01:43 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Mrs. Chidester is a poor excuse for a human being that, now realizing her lack of parenting ability, is blaming a plant for her depressed son's death. The world has no use for ignorant cunts like her. She deserves nothing less than the cold hands of death for advocating the oppression of more of our natural rights.
I could only hope that her son's death is the worst thing that has ever happened to her. If she had a bit more of a sense of personal responsibility perhaps she would be beating herself up over this instead of attacking a garden-variety herb. Let us hope she takes her own life in a fit of depression 100 times more intense than her son's.
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Organic
Lloyd


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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7458878 - 09/27/07 05:25 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Nail + coffin right here guys.
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MK Ultra
Stranger

Registered: 09/15/07
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: Organic]
#7460461 - 09/27/07 01:57 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Blame drugs, blame musicians or other pop culture icons, blame everyone but your goddamned selves.
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wps
Well-PaidScientist


Registered: 09/22/07
Posts: 579
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Re: Mom Says Legal Herb Killed Son [Re: MK Ultra]
#7460755 - 09/27/07 03:03 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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crying mother: "My son flipped out and killed himself so now you can't buy salvia."
-------------------- "America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you've lost all control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced. And in the end, the product doesn't belong to you. The only way you can avoid bosses and jobs is if you don't care about making a living. Which leads to the second freedom: the freedom to starve." - Tom Morello
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