Some websites promoting salvia warn users to take the drug in the presence of a sober person who can help if a user loses body control or behaves erratically. Numerous users have placed clips on YouTube of themselves or others laughing hysterically or staggering around while high on salvia, such as one YouTube clip that has logged more than 240,000 views. Known by the street names magic mint or Sally-D, it's sold in various concentrations for about $25 a gram and isn't hard to find. One tobacco shop in Santa Ana sports a poster saying "Salvia divinorum sold here" near its front door, next to a sign saying "support local cops."
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Effects little known
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 44 words Type of Material: Correction
Salvia divinorum: An article in Monday's Health section about the hallucinogenic herb Salvia divinorum referred to a slogan for the use of psychedelic drugs as "Turn on and tune out." The slogan, coined by Timothy Leary, is "Turn on, tune in and drop out."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday, May 05, 2008 Home Edition Health Part F Page 5 Features Desk 1 inches; 46 words Type of Material: Correction
Salvia divinorum: An April 28 Health section article about the hallucinogenic herb Salvia divinorum incorrectly referred to a slogan for the use of psychedelic drugs as "Turn on and tune out." The correct slogan, coined by Timothy Leary, is "Turn on, tune in and drop out."
No studies exist to show that the drug causes any lasting neurological damage, is addictive or is harmful in any way other than the loss of body control that may lead to accidents. Some first-time salvia users report that the effects are unnerving and never take it again. Other salvia connoisseurs, writing on Internet sites, say the experience offers a pathway to self-enlightenment and can provide a fulfilling mystical or meditative experience.
Drug abuse expert Howard C. Samuels isn't buying that. As executive director of the Wonderland Center, a substance abuse treatment center in Los Angeles, Samuels says he is seeing more young addicts using salvia in addition to marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy.
"That this drug is legal is shocking," he says. "I find it especially disgusting that kids can leave high school on their lunch hour and go to a head shop and get it."
Samuels says that even though the high is brief, hallucinations can leave users upset and contribute to preexisting emotional problems. He supports AB259, a bill that would make the sale or distribution of Salvia divinorum to any person under age 18 a misdemeanor in California. The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Anthony Adams (R-Hesperia) after Adams learned from local deputy sheriffs that salvia use was growing among youths.
"The use of salvia is akin to the use of LSD," Adams says. "It completely distorts one's sense of reality . . . . There are instances where people are alleged to have harmed themselves or others while using salvia."
No standardized lab test exists to assess the presence of salvia in the bloodstream or measure the degree of intoxication. But by making the drug illegal for sale, distribution or use among minors, Adams hopes to crush the salvia fad before it expands while alerting parents "that this is out there."
