Drug war enemy of the month: Bill targets salvia for prohibition

A relatively unheard of plant is being targeted by Minnesota lawmakers for prohibition because of its psychoactive properties. Possession of Salvia divinorum would become a crime if a bill by Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, becomes law. Media reports have suggested the drug is comparable to LSD or other “hard” drugs, but user experiences and toxicology studies suggest the harms associated with salvia are fairly negligible.

Salvia is a plant from southern Mexico and is a member of the mint family. Closely related to the purple or red garden flowers, salvia has been cultivated by the Mazatec peoples of Mexico for centuries. Botanists haven’t located the original species — a sign, they say, that the human cultivation of salvia may date to Mexico’s prehistoric age.

Like Minnesota’s salvia users, the Mazatec chew, smoke or steep the plant’s leaves. The effects of use include visual disturbances, sudden and vivid remembrances of past memories, a sense of being “out of body” and laughter. The main effects last around five minutes and aftereffects include a sense of calm and mild sweating that can last up to an hour. One local man I spoke to, who tried salvia purchased at a “head shop” in Minneapolis, called the experience “like whippits, but with marijuana after-effects.” (“Whippits” are hits of nitrous oxide inhaled from canisters or whipped cream dispensers, another legal and generally safe psychoactive substance.) Another user said the foul taste of salvia’s dried leaves and smoke wasn’t worth the brief effects.

Nevertheless, many users report profound effects from smoking salvia.

Continued: Click “Read more.”The Erowid Vault, an online forum of users’ experiences with a number of substances, had this to say about salvia: “S. divinorum is not considered a ‘party drug’, as its effects are not particularly conducive to social interaction, tend towards the non-verbal, and can often be extremely disconcerting and frightening. Those experienced with Salvia divinorum generally use it in more quiet settings for introspective contemplation and meditation.” In Canada, where salvia is legal, some Christian groups have used it in their meditation rituals.

Salvia’s psychoactive properties are produced by Salvinorin A, a novel chemical that acts on the kappa opioid receptor. This pathway makes it distinct from most street drugs. Unlike LSD and psilocybin mushrooms, two substances that create powerful hallucinations and dissociative experiences, and cocaine and methamphetamine, two powerful stimulants, Salvinorin A does not affect the brain’s serotonin or dopamine receptors — making its impact relatively mild compared to more commonly abused street drugs.

Toxicological studies of salvia have thus far found little cause for concern. Mega-doses of the plant given to mice haven’t caused any harm. Further, a constant increase in use over the last decade in the 32 states where salvia is legal have not caused overdose deaths, drugged driving accidents or the addiction potential associated with other legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco. 

In fact, some media reports have suggested that the drug’s increasing popularity is due to media attention arising from efforts to create legal prohibitions of the plant. The Washington Post’s Offbeat blog wrote last week, “Since Nebraska introduced a bill to ban Salvia by this summer, sales of the drug have reportedly been booming.”

If Atkins’ bill becomes law, Salvia divinorum would be classified as a Schedule IV drug and possession could result in jail time of up to five years and a $10,000 fine. It would join drugs such as barbiturates, benzodiazepines (Xanax and Valium) and marijuana, although possession of small amounts of marijuana is not considered a crime in Minnesota.

Photo via Flickr user Ogal.