NEW YORK STATE States cast wary eye on salvia Legal herb is hallucinogenic BY SARA FOSS Gazette Reporter
Two years ago, the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services put an informational item about a littleknown hallucinogenic herb called Salvia divinorum on its Web site. Salvia is unregulated and can be purchased in head or smoke shops or on the Internet by anyone with a credit card, and it isn’t illegal. Now, a growing number of states are considering banning or regulating salvia, which is said to trigger intense but relatively brief hallucinations. Earlier this year, the New York State Senate passed a bill that would have made it illegal to sell salvia in New York, but a similar measure died in the state Assembly. In Massachusetts, legislators are considering a bill that would ban salvia, and the Drug Enforcement Agency lists salvia as a “drug of concern.” Twelve states, including Maine and California, have already moved to ban or regulate it. Though salvia use is far from prevalent in the Capital Region, it’s something drug-prevention experts are aware of. “We haven’t seen a lot of use,” said Patty Kilgore, clinical director at the Saratoga Partnership for Prevention. “We’ve seen a lot of kids who are aware of it. … More kids know about it than are actually using it. It’s not classified, but it probably should be.” Kilgore said she’s talked to a few teens who have used salvia. She said there are several reasons teens are less likely to use salvia than other drugs. For one thing, they may not have a credit card, which would make it more difficult to purchase salvia online. Some kids have also complained that salvia is not a “good high” — that because the drug is unregulated, it doesn’t always produce the desired effect. And addicts, she noted, are less likely to use hallucinogenics because you develop a tolerance to them more quickly. “Salvia isn’t a daily use type of drug,” she said. Nancy Johnson, coordinator of the Schenectady County Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership, said staff first learned about salvia about a year and a half ago, when a parent reported that a child’s friend had used the drug. “We were all on the Internet researching it, but then things died down,” she said. “We haven’t heard anyone talk about salvia since.” The Schenectady County Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership sent information about salvia to parents, Johnson said, to make them aware of it. But in terms of teenage substance abuse, alcohol and marijuana remain the biggest problems, and officials are concerned about illicit prescription drug use, she said. Some kids have started holding “rainbow parties,” where they throw different pills into a bowl, mix them up and then take one or two of them, she said. Dianne Henk, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, said OASAS decided to post the item on salvia on the agency’s Web site after the agency’s medical director read several articles about the drug. Henk said that it’s important that parents know about the drug, and how easy it is to obtain over the Internet. “Because it’s so easy to obtain and not regulated, it’s something the medical community is talking about,” she said. “Because we know the Internet spreads the word, and because we know there’s a great deal of information on the Internet, the sense was that it was important to address it.” Right now, the state has no plans to regulate salvia, Henk said. “Our focus is ‘let’s educate as much as possible,’” she said. The legislation to outlaw salvia in New York was proposed by state Sen. John Flanagan, R-Smithtown. “Parents are unaware of this,” said Robert Caroppoli, a spokesman for Flanagan. “[Flanagan] sees it as a gateway drug to harsher drugs. He decided that if the federal government wasn’t going to do anything, he would try to do something here.” Determining how many people in New York have used salvia is tricky. “It’s not a substance which we track,” Henk said. A National Survey of Drug Use and Health report released in February found that more people are using salvia. “There is evidence suggesting the emergence of new hallucinogens, such as Salvia divinorum, which has been marketed as an ‘herbal high,’” the report noted. About 1.8 million people aged 12 and older have used salvia in their lifetime, and approximately 750,000 did so in 2006. In comparison, approximately 23 million people aged 12 and older have used LSD in their lifetime, but fewer than 700,000 people used LSD in 2006. Salvia, which is also known as diviner’s sage, is a psychoactive drug that is typically smoked, but can also be absorbed by chewing, tea infusions or inhaling the vapors of the burning leaves. It is a perennial herb in the mint family, native to Mexico, where the Mazaetc Indians use it in healing ceremonies. But little is known about its longterm effects. The OASAS item on salvia states, “Currently, there is a lack of information regarding plants or weeds commonly found in our environment that can cause serious legal harm when ingested, smoked or rubbed into the skin. Most of these substances are not illegal. … Research suggests that teen misuse of these weeds and plants increases when they are in bloom in the spring and summer months, though they can be used year round and could possibly be purchased over the Internet.”
I was talking to a 19 year old that told me about this Salvia. First, it is legal and I was told that it is sold in head shops. The reason why it is legal is that it is sold as incense. But the directions that come with this, (the teen let me read the insert), explains how and what reactions to expect if smoked.
This teen along with friends did smoke it. There "high" lasted for about 5 very intense minutes. It is a hallucinogenic. Their experiences reminded me of everything I ever read about LSD. From brilliant colors, to out of body experiences to even trying to choke someone to death. Yes, these are just a few of the "wonderful" experiences you can expect from this new found "high".
When asked if this teen would try it again, I was told, "probably not". But they would try using it just as incense and see what reaction they would get from that.
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