Salvia: It's Legal, But Some Say Dangerous

A powerful drug is popping up on college campuses across the country, a natural herb that users and researchers say is as potent as LSD.

[James Krugel]

This is great just what we need more media help for the young people.Where to buy drugs that will kill you or cause you to kill your shelf but, you will need not to worry their is no law
that we know of that you will be breaking.more info at 11:00

[Kento]

It's not dangerous it's legal only because for the same reason LSD and Pot was legal back then.. until some idiot does something completely stupid on salvia it will remain legal. People forget the real idea and reason for salvia, and thats meditatiion

[Jayson]

I hate to use this retort, as it has been used over and over, but it still stands - aloohol kills and kills and kills. I feel sorry for that mom, but you can't blame such few incidents (or acts of stupidity) on salvia. And this article was so quick to criminalize it, that they couldn't even use proper grammar in places. So, James, let me tell you this. Drive around the corner, go buy you a fifth of J.D., chug it, and hit the interstate. And while that fifth (well, more) can actually kill you, or cause you to kill yourself, smoking salvia won't kill you, and unless you're a moron, won't cause you to kill yourself. Besides, any substantial mind-altering effects will be well gone within 10 minutes, where alcohol will leave you messed up for a considerably longer duration.

[Jayson]

Great, now I have a typo too...

[Andrew Tijerina]

There is a diference between me and the millions of other users who know how to use Salvia in a responsible way.

We use Salvia as a way of connecting with our inner self, seeing through our third eye at the world.

Her son was probably looking for a cheap high and that's not what he got, he had an experience that scared him and he couldn't handle it.

Peace & Salvia!

[Andrew Tijerina]

Kento wrote:

It's not dangerous it's legal only because for the same reason LSD and Pot was legal back then.. until some idiot does something completely stupid on salvia it will remain legal. People forget the real idea and reason for salvia, and thats meditatiion

The reason pot is illegal is in order to stop immigration of Mexicans across the border (sound fimilar?) the government decided to ban it. That and black jazz singers were smoking it too, and whats worse than Mexicans? oh the Blacks! We hated them ever since we brought them over here to do all our work because we were too lazy to get off are own asses and do it ourselves! And then we have the balls to stand up and talk of EQUALITY! It's a pity that I'm white, they and their hypocrite, lazy, poor white trash ways make me want to throw up!

[Kitty]

As far as I'm concerned Salvia is dangerous just like any other drug you can abuse. I seriously doubt that the majority of people who will use it will only use it for "meditation". I've been doing alot research on Salvia ever since my friends started using it and when looking at the effects on my friends I've noticed that each one acts differently to it. Thats why its unsafe over dosing on Salvia can be easy and deadly and if you dont seem to get the effect you want its very possible you'll simply smoke to much. Also it raises your heart rate to a very high level making it increasingly harmful to people with weight issues or a heart murmer. I'm not saying some people aren't responsible enough to use it and I'm not saying we should make it illegal cause in all honesty what good would that do, I am saying that people need to be more informed my friends didn't know anything but what they heard from their buddies about salvia. I just hope everyone looks into what there doing.

Be safe kids

[walker]

salvia is some insane shit. It's the most powerful hallucinogen known to man.

WHen you smoke it, you get the strange feeling of being outside dimension itself. If you smoke a lot, you regress into a reality that is almos t dream-like and some people can hav e vidual hallucinations, like seeing mirrors or reflective and shiny surfaces.

I haven't heard of anyone dying from it, but it needs to be scientifically studied before we class it to be as harmless as marijuana.

[John]

Would anyone know where I can find this in Miami?

Kento wrote:

It's not dangerous it's legal only because for the same reason LSD and Pot was legal back then.. until some idiot does something completely stupid on salvia it will remain legal. People forget the real idea and reason for salvia, and thats meditatiion

[nick]

salvia is very safe. Read up on it. The only bad effects from it are that from smoking it (therefore no worse than cigarettes which are legal). Someone posted on here that an overdose on salvia is easy... get your facts straight. Salvia is almost impossible to overdose on.... it would require smoking hundreds of pounds of it before you would od..... smoke a hundred pounds of anything and you will die. As far as killing yourself or w/e.... that is not from the salvia, it is from having an unknown mental disorder... salvia will help bring that out, which is why nobody with a disorder should smoke it. It is unfortunate that one moron makes something illegal... the fact is, alcohol and cigarettes which kill millions are legal, while salvia, and marijuana, which have 0 reported deaths are illegal. crazy world huh?

[TCG]

Brett's mom, Kathy Chidester, needs a psychologist. They are 5 steps to the Grief. Denial (this isn't happening to me!); Anger (why is this happening to me?); Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...); Depression (I don't care anymore); Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes. She is stuck in 1, 2 and 3 and has never dealt with the real reason her son took his life. Salvia is an anti-depressant it did not contribute to her son's death.. I worked with at risk students for over 10 years and Brett clearly had issues. He was from a broken home, did alcohol (which is a depressant), he was taking minocycline for acne which can have side effects that may impair thinking or reactions, he suffered from depression and of course he was dealing with issues teens deal with everyday. Salvia in no way contributed to this young man's death. In fact, three months after Chidester's suicide, with no evidence of any trace of salvinorin being found in his system, Delaware’s deputy chief medical examiner, Dr. Adrienne Sekula-Perlman, altered his death certificate to include Salvia divinorum use as a contributing cause of his death. She has subsequently refused to comment on her decision. This medical examiner lack of ethics in this case, along with Kathy Chidester reckless accusations against salvia, will cost the medical industry and countless patients the benefits salvia promises in treating psychological disorders such a Alzheimer's disease, severe depression, bipolar disorders, and today uses to relieve rheumatism and joint pain, to aid others overcome additions, and to ease depression related to PMS and new cutting edge research of biosynthesis and medical applications of rosmarinic acid has been held promising. All this is at risk, because they could not accept the truth of Brett's death. Salvia is also considered sacred to many cultures, social groups, shaman's and non mainstream alternative religious groups. Kathy Chidester is not along in burden to blame of the loss of Salvia not to mention civil liberties for those of us over 18, legislators and reporters are also to blame for feeding into this woman's rage and denial by making it a juicy news story and a jumping off point for re-election campaigns without any scientific proof other using grieving parents as their icon of shame. Well, shame, shame on all of you. Outlawing salvia will only make legal sells of it go away and criminals of regular citizens (just look at how successful policing marijuana has been--oh by the way, medical research has now proven that marijuana slows the growth of cancerous tumor and can even completely stops the growth). Had that research been allowed to happen in the US, more women would be alive today. Lastly, Tax moneys and revenue generated from the legal sell of this product will be lost, communities will loose the tax benefits (and we are talking $100,000's of dollars a year per state), stores will be forced to close their doors or lay off employees, and then their is the added cost of policing Salvia (sage). This herb does not even stand up to the ATF own definition of a drug, Under the Federal Analogue Act, salvia fails to meet the "chemically similar" criteria and thus is not subject to the analogue act provisions. Salvia has never caused anyone harm and does not have 1/10 the negative side affects of cigarettes, tobacco, alcohol or many, many prescription drugs (we know why no one bans them, money and lobbyist). Thousands upon thousands die from addictions of tobacco and alcohol every year, including cancer from 2nd hand cigarettes, and I am not even going to get into the child abuse factor of alcoholics--yet not one tries to band these because it is big business.

[TCG]

I am requesting all those who support salvia, help keep salvia legal in my state, help me keep my business and my employees employed, help medical research and all those who would benefit from salvia, support alternative spirituality. Simply go to: http://thecountrygoddess.com , You will find under the product info, info to email and fax the governor of Illinois to line item veto the part of the bill that would make Salvia illegal. Hopefully he will listen and be a guiding light to other states. Thank you.

[Jakester]

TCG-Thanks for the link. I wrote the governor and asked that he back the bill that's been introduced to ban Salvia in your state. It's obvious from your website that your business would be affected if Salvia was outlawed in Il. I bleed for you, man.

Bottom line is no one under 25 should be smoking Salvia. It alters brain chemistry and it affects each person differently. It obviously drove Brett Chidester to some crazy beliefs, then suicide. From what I have read he wasn't an alcoholic, he was a pretty smart popular kid that was well adjusted. Too bad he wasn't smart enough to stay away from this crap. I found on the web the note that he wrote about Salvia (see below). Do we want people running around doing this stuff when it makes them think like this???? I know I don't.

Brett C. wrote "One bleak point remains to be established: Once we give up our senses and regard them as useless, we must also give up other things and regard them as meaningless. Time, in general and our system of using it, has no meaning and is completely pointless in the grand scheme of things. Also, and this is probably hard for most to accept, our existence in general is pointless when compared with everything else there is in existence.
Final point: Us earthly humans are nothing. There are probably countless planets inhabited by creatures like us. Earth is but a grain of sand in reality's beach."

RIP Brett and why don't the rest of you ying yangs give his mom and dad a break???

[Chris]

Pure and simple, salvia makes you dream... while you are still awake! Once you understand this it becomes less frightening. All the descriptions are people trying to describe what a dream exerience it like - and for everyone it is different. This is not a party high and I predict that salvia wil be no more pervasive than forced hyperventilation.

[Antifa]

John wrote:

Would anyone know where I can find this in Miami?
<quoted text>

Any head shop.

[yellowngreen]

I've stopped doing drugs for my own reasons, but I've tried salvia more that once and I had to smoke a lot just to get the same sense of euphoria I attained smoking pot. No big deal if you ask me. But perhaps there are more potent strains out there.

[Antifa]

yellowngreen wrote:

I've stopped doing drugs for my own reasons, but I've tried salvia more that once and I had to smoke a lot just to get the same sense of euphoria I attained smoking pot. No big deal if you ask me. But perhaps there are more potent strains out there.

The head shops have started to sell it at 50x it's potency.

[Billy]

Jakester, that just proves Brett was depressed. There are many, many suicides of young people that appear well-adjusted and just fine on the outside, but are already dying on the inside. Take it from someone who has been able to hide it. People here are disseminating a lot of misinformation and false conclusions. The fact is, none of us know why Brett killed himself, and the scientific evidence we have so far does NOT support salvia as a depressant or to increase suicidality.

TCG, just because salvinorin doesn't fall under the analogue act doesn't mean it can't be classified as a novel drug, and it probably will be, and then scheduled thanks to all these idiots posting their experiences on the net and drawing attention to it.

Antifa, "50X" is just a sales gimmick ... at about 25X all you have is the extracted salvinorin goo and it can't be concentrated any further. 10X seems to be concentrated enough while still being somewhat burnable.

To get unbiased drug info (not influenced by either paternalistic governments or politcal groups on either side), I recommend www (dot) erowid (dot) org.

[Jakester]

Billy, Let me tell you about depression. Whenever someone is severely depressed (as you would be if you are contemplating suicide) some portion of their life begins to fall thru the cracks, whether it's their grades in school, their job, their personal relationships, their family relationships. A kid of 16 could NOT juggle all those balls in the air and be planning suicide. Sorry, not possible. This is a profession psych opinion, not just my own.
Articles about this Brett say he was using 10X salvia. Again, not something a 16 year old should be doing. The fact that it's able to be bought online is absolutely ludicrous!!

[Antifa]

Billy wrote:

Jakester, that just proves Brett was depressed. There are many, many suicides of young people that appear well-adjusted and just fine on the outside, but are already dying on the inside. Take it from someone who has been able to hide it. People here are disseminating a lot of misinformation and false conclusions. The fact is, none of us know why Brett killed himself, and the scientific evidence we have so far does NOT support salvia as a depressant or to increase suicidality.
TCG, just because salvinorin doesn't fall under the analogue act doesn't mean it can't be classified as a novel drug, and it probably will be, and then scheduled thanks to all these idiots posting their experiences on the net and drawing attention to it.
Antifa, "50X" is just a sales gimmick ... at about 25X all you have is the extracted salvinorin goo and it can't be concentrated any further. 10X seems to be concentrated enough while still being somewhat burnable.
To get unbiased drug info (not influenced by either paternalistic governments or politcal groups on either side), I recommend www (dot) erowid (dot) org.

Huh, I never knew that. I haven' done it since college a good 3 years ago anyhow.