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By Diana Galban
Those old urban legends about LSD use, like the girl who stabbed herself thinking spiders were crawling on her or the guy who peeled himself like an orange, may be making a comeback with the recent widespread use of Salvia.
Though Salvia trips, which closely resemble the hallucinogenic effect of LSD, are said to only last five to 10 minutes when smoked, users can experience an intense state of discomfort and vivid frightening hallucinations.
Young kids who have experimented with the drug have filmed themselves and friends during the experience and added the videos on YouTube, making it more agreeable that the use, possession and sale of the drug should be banned or controlled.
Salvia divinorum is a plant native to Mexico and originally used by tribes in order to enhance consciousness and provide a greater experience during healing sessions, both spiritually and physically. Salvinorin A is the active psychoactive component of the plant, allowing for its hallucinogenic effect and close resemblance to LSD.
But researchers say Salvia’s effects are different from other hallucinogens.
"Salvia doesn’t cause the typical euphoric state associated with other hallucinogens like LSD," said chemist Jacob Hooker in an article for The Science Daily. "The drug targets a receptor that is known to modulate pain and could be important for therapies as far reaching as mood disorders."
The receptor targeted by Salvia is also responsible for our "perception of reality," making a alvia trip potentially scary for some, but "eye opening" for others.
These eye opening experiences, however, might also be overwhelming, as evident in the suicide of Brett Chidester, a 17-year-old from Delaware whose parents blame his recent use of Salvia for his suicide.
USA Today reported the contents of his suicide note, saying: "How can I go on living after I learned the secrets of life? 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."
But the question stands, if Salvia can be so dangerous why isn’t it being banned?
"Criminalizing salvia and its derivatives would make it ‘almost impossible’ to get salvia-related compounds approved for human use," said Bryan Roth, director of the Psychoactive Drug Screening Program for the National Institute of Mental Health, in a USA Today article.
Florida took a stand regardless, creating the Hallucinogenic Herb Law (HB 1363) putting Salvia in the same class as controlled substances marijuana and LSD. The law went into effect on July 1 and punishes the possession of the drug with up to five years in prison.
In addition, 12 states have passed laws placing regulatory controls on Salvia as of June 2008, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The "fun" is over kids.
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