Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
After more than five years of examination, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has yet to find that salvia divinorum is dangerous or addictive enough to merit placement as a scheduled drug under the Controlled Substances Act, but that isn't stopping legislators across the land from moving to criminalize it or restrict its sales despite the lack of any real evidence that it does anything more than take its users on a psychedelic journey of a no more than a few minutes duration.
salvia leaves (photo courtesy Erowid.org)
The Nebraska legislature voted 44-0 last Friday to add salvia and its active ingredient, Salvinorin A, to Schedule I of its controlled substance list, the same as LSD and psychedelic mushrooms. The state of Nebraska is going to save its youth from themselves by sending them to prison for up to five years for having some leaf or extract, and up to 20 years for selling it.
The man behind the campaign to ban the plant, Attorney General Jon Bruning, pronounced himself satisfied. "I'm pleased with the legislature's vote today to ban salvia," Bruning said. "I think it is important that salvia not be allowed to be used by members of the public."
Nebraska's northern neighbor, South Dakota, is on the verge of doing the same. A bill pronouncing the salvia "threat" an emergency easily passed the House two weeks ago and a Senate committee this week. Under the emergency legislation, a ban would go into effect immediately upon the governor's signature of the bill.
And the Kentucky House Tuesday voted 99-0 to make it illegal to possess, buy, sell, or cultivate salvia. The sponsor of that bill, Rep. Will Coursey (R-Benton) told his colleagues the plant was a safety risk.
Meanwhile, similar bills have been filed or proposed in Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas.
Thirteen states -- Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Virginia -- have classified salvia as Schedule I under state drug laws. Three more -- Louisiana, Maine, and Tennessee -- restrict the sale of the plant. Maine and California ban it only for minors.
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Comments
Salvia;
Salvia divinorum; looks intersting; thanks for the website; I have not tried this; I guess you smoke this like a cigarette; maybe you could put the extract on the cig. and then smoke that; I love natural herbs; any natural herb is good to me; if you drink natural teas like peppermint chammolie cinammon or spearmint; you get a better high with the herb(s);
for example; in 1932 Jethro Kloss mentions "Red Clover blossoms prevent cancer; today we know this is true because Red Clover blossoms contain a phyto estrogen which helps women w menopause; prevents breast disease
As a nation we should study Herbs for medicine and foods.
(Red Clover is available as a Tea or an extract or tincture; such as Pumpkin Seed Oil capsules are good for men.
this is bull
they are banning it with no actual evidence ov any harmful effects.
This is unconstitutional.
This is unconstitutional.
This is unconstitutional. The government is yet again overstepping its boundaries in order to list it as illegal substance in order make money off it through the DEA and Law enforcement. We should get other agencies involved and possibly a good attorney or two.
In reply to This is unconstitutional. by Anonymous (not verified)
This IS unconstitutional!
Many of the people in power (or all of them) have been given chance after chance to do what's right, but they constantly side with fear, with the self-righteous.
All they are doing is raising awareness that this plant is probably worth getting ahold of, growing it, and trying it yourself!
There are other troubles they are directly going to cause themselves, but I'm holding off on telling them for now.
Salvi
Just say Never Ever!! I wish i had.
STAMP OUT SALVIA NOW
Researchers across the world have found salvia to be the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogen in the world, even more so than LSD. It works on the part of the brain that controls schizophrenia, drug abuse and depression. It affects users in many different ways and its' effects become stronger over time, the more it's used. Recently a girl lost her entire tongue during a salvia induced hallucination. Another New York man shot himself after smoking salvia in front of his pregnant wife and friends. These are all examples of how salvia can cause complete psychosis in certain users within minutes. WHY is this crap still legal????
Thats ridiculous
I wonder if we can get together and hire a lawyer to protect our rights. If we had 1000 people donating just a dollar a month we could hire a good lawyer to protect our rights. The DEA investigated it for over 5 years and didn't think it was warranted to put it as a schedule 1 narcotics but these state officials think they know better, scientist, health professionals and many more are telling the state governments that its harmless and last no more than 5 to 15 minutes. The person above made claims above with no factual information to back them up. Beer does much more harm to americans than salvia ever will but there not banning that. Look at the DUI's, drunk and disorderlys, and many more incidents involving alchol. In fact you probably could put all the drugs together and alchol would have more incidents then all the drugs combined. Its time for us to fight back and rid this abuse of our freedoms, we should have the right to smoke what we want as long as were not hurting any body else. Lets fight back!!
america is not such a free country anymore
f**ck this goverment i'd rather live in canada!!! Those USA lawmakers are just a bunch of currupt a**holes who are out there for there $$$$$$$$. as for Mr. STAMP OUT SALVIA NOW posted by Anonymous on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 9:32pm you must be a f****cking lawmaker so f****ck out of this and all other drug posts because you are a disgrace to adults making there own choices in life.
Researchers across the world
Researchers across the world have found salvia to be the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogen in the world, even more so than LSD. It works on the part of the brain that controls schizophrenia(ok so we're all schizophrenic), drug abuse(Where's the proof?) and depression(Again, proof please?). It affects users in many different ways and its' effects become stronger over time the more it's used (Sounds like terrorism, are you trained by the media or you just do it for a living?) . Recently a girl lost her entire tongue during a salvia induced hallucination(were you there, or was it on the news? Do you believe everything you see?). Another New York man shot himself after smoking salvia in front of his pregnant wife and friends(Again, how do you know this is true?). These are all examples of how salvia can cause complete psychosis in certain users within minutes(no, i think people like you are just born that way and want to make everyone else afraid too). WHY is this crap still legal(don't fear, it will be made illegal soon)????
I think you need a few more question marks at the end of your paragraph, otherwise people may not agree. Try at least 8 or 9, and throw in a few exclamation points just to strengthen your argument. You worry about salvia? What about the message companies like Disney, and MTV, and so many others, are sending? What its ok to sell 13+ teenagers as 'sex objects', or what they all look perfect because they're so clean cut and righteous? Yeah, don't see Disney doing anything about the 'scandals' that occur, other than someone makes a statement saying sorry and things continue as normal. What does that do to the childlren watching this crap, and who else do you think it attracts? Yea, michael jackson. So thats ok, but it isn't ok to allow people to change their state of consciousness which btw is a tradition going back to the beginning.
Do yourself a favor, think for yourself. As for this site? Its one of the 'few' remaining bastions of truth on the internet, that isn't impossible to find and I appreciate it.
hi big brother, watch this :) 8====D (your face) legislate that
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