There is a complete Internet cult forming around what is called a “legal hallucinogen.” This plant is grown domestically and imported from Mexico and Central and South America. Its proper name is Salvia Divinorum. It can be grown in your own garden and, if your kids get hold of the seeds from various websites, it just might be without you knowing it.
The plant is native to the Sierra Mazateca, Mexico, and is called Diviner’s Sage or Divine Mint. Salvia Divinorum is one member of the approximately 1000 species of Salvia and is the only species with vision-inducing, hallucinogenic qualities. The Mazateca Indians, from the Mexican province of Oaxaca, have used it in religious ceremonies leading to healings and divine inspiration for hundreds of years.
Addiction to this hallucinogen does not seem to be on the same cellular level as other drugs, like heroin, cocaine, PCP, ecstasy, for example. But the addiction could very well come from the experience itself. Salvia Divinorum is chewed or smoked to induce illusions and hallucinations, much like those induced by ketamine, mescaline or psilocybin. It appears to be mostly popular with younger adults and adolescents, both heavily influenced by promotions of the drug on Internet sites.
If this drug isn’t in your neighborhood yet, or in the schools your kids attend, feel lucky. Take a quick check with Google, or any other search engine, and you will easily find 20 or more pages of sites offering Salvia Divinorum information or products for sale. This drug has already been found in several US cities and will be everywhere soon. In Miami, Florida, a supply of Salvia Divinorum was taken off a student. Some more was seized during a routine traffic stop and purchased at a local “head shop” in Rochester, Minnesota. It is creeping everywhere.
Salvia Divinorum is touted all over the Internet as a visionary herb and not a recreational drug. It is supposedly used for meditation and self-reflection. It has been called “legal pot” and “legal acid.” The people and groups touting the use of this plant put a lot of emphasis on spiritual experiences, divination (predicting the future) and magical time travel experiences.
Your kids will hear about those exciting results of Salvia use from their friends and will flock to sites that promote the experience and sell the products. What young person just experiencing the world wouldn’t be attracted by experiences never thought about before Salvia came on the scene? How do you think your child would perceive the anticipated experience of time travel?
Various Physical And Mental Effects:
Users smoking pure leaf while lying down, with their eyes closed in a dark room, can achieve a meditative state with slight visuals. If lights are turned on and the user stands up, reality returns. Those smoking the leaf extract along with a hallucinogen, such as mushrooms or mescaline, have experienced sensations on their skin, visions of past experiences, and possibly out-of-body experiences. Fear and panic may set in, as the user may not recall ever smoking anything, and may be unprepared for the intensity of the experience. All users, young or old, could develop strong addictions to those hallucinogenic experiences.
Subjective Effects:
Most users find that the effects of using Salvia do not promote socializing. Most people using Salvia tend to find any external stimuli distracting. Normally, users under the influence of Salvia will remain in one place during their “high,” although some users may actually move around. This might be dangerous as the user is in an altered state of awareness and is in real danger of hurting himself without knowing it.
Salvia’s effects considered by many to be highly spiritual. Some consider it an effective tool for meditation. Users usually retain consciousness until they ingest highest doses. Body control, awareness of externalities, and individual personality can disappear with even modest amounts. Experienced drug users may feel totally out of control and confused. Young users might not be able to shake off those feelings and will exhibit altered personalities, even if they stop experimenting with Salvia.
Spontaneous laughter, mild closed-eye visuals, stuttering or flashing visual effects, changes in depth perception, and a heightened sense of color and texture, may be experienced at lower doses.
Using moderate doses will cause a trance-like experience for the user. Time will be distorted and moving visuals will be seen by the user with open eyes. Confusing fractal patterns and geometric shapes can be visible with the eyes open. Many people experience sensations of falling, similar to what is occasionally felt at the onset of sleep. With eyes closed, the user may see visions of other places, people, and events.
At high doses, the effects become more powerful and may lead to addiction to the experience of altered reality…out-of-body experiences, perceptions of gravitational distortion, vertigo, sensations of wind or physical pressure, hearing voices, bursts of sound, significant open and closed-eye visuals, experiencing alternate realities, contact with beings or entities, dissolution of one’s ego, and a separation of emotions.
Typically, while under the effects of salvia, a person will not realize they have used the drug. The salvia experience is quite different from that of most other hallucinogenic drugs and may be overwhelming, especially to the young.
Many salvia users, during high-dose out-of-body experiences, may suddenly “merge” with objects. With the significant time distortion typical of salvia, users may live a lifetime as another person, or as an inanimate object, such as a wall or a piece of furniture. The experiences can be extremely pleasant, or very frightening and confusing.
Duration And After-Effects:
If inhaled, the effects do not last very long. The peak is usually reached within one minute then slowly descends back to normal after about five minutes. Within 15 to 20 minutes, the user is back to themselves. Chewing the leaf makes the effects come on more slowly and be experienced for longer. The first 5 minutes after smoking leaf extract are very intense, and should be experienced lying or sitting down, eyes closed.
Until the late 1980s, not many people knew about Salvia and its popularity has come via the Internet and numerous Internet mail-order sites. In 2002, Australia became the first country to ban Salvia and Salvinorin. That same year, a bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives to schedule Salvia as a controlled substance.
In Louisiana, 40 plants, including Salvia Divinorum, have become illegal if sold for human consumption. This plant was outlawed in Missouri in 2005. Delaware passed legislation in 2006, after a teen committed suicide after a Salvia experience. Tennessee has outlawed its use.
Unlike marijuana, salvia has a nondescript appearance (being in the same genus as cooking sage), can be grown in a small space, has no odor and requires no elaborate lighting set-up For most regular users growing the plant is considered to be an integral part of establishing a relationship with it. Eleven countries have laws forbidding or restricting use of Salvia: Australia, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Estonia and South Korea.
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Pat Graham is the author of the eBook: “Child Drug Addicts – Save Them While You Can”
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© 2011 by Pat Graham – All Rights Reserved
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