'Healing Ritual' Herb Becoming New High For Fla. Teens

[The Straight Story]

'Healing Ritual' Herb Becoming New High For Fla. Teens
Herb Illegal In 5 States, But Not Florida

POSTED: 12:40 am EST December 13, 2006
UPDATED: 2:45 pm EST December 13, 2006

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Mexican-grown herb that has made its way to shops in Central Florida is becoming a popular hallucinogenic drug for kids and it's perfectly legal to sell in the state, according to a Local 6 News report.

Police said salvia divinorum, also known as Magic Mint or Sally-D, provides LSD drug qualities when smoked. In Mexico, the herb is used in healing rituals, the report said.

However, the herb has become available at stores in Florida.

Local 6 took an undercover camera into a smoke shop in Orlando Tuesday and was able to purchase salvia divinorum immediately.

Drug detectives said the salvia divinorum can cause uncontrollable laughter and violence. Recently, videos of teens smoking the herb have begun appearing on the Internet.

"I think it should be investigated," parent Sandra Chitty said. "It shouldn't be legal if it's doing those things."

...

Delaware, Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma and Louisiana have laws against smoking salvia divinorum.

http://www.local6.com/news/10521720/detail.html

[ixion]

1. making things illegal does not solve the problem, parent Sandra Chitty

it does, in fact, make it worse. The so-called 'War on Drugs' is a textbook example of this.

[sam sarrha]

2. the war on drugs was disfunded a long long time ago.. it is a sham and doesnt exist, they wouldnt do

anything to slow down the flow of drugs unless it was from an independant or rival cartell. that is how they fund all the evil shit they do..

[Warren Stupidity]

8. defunded?

What?

2006:
employees: 10,891
agents: 5,320
support staff: 5,571
budget 2,415,000,000

http://www.dea.gov/agency/staffing.htm

The federal and state prisons are packed with drug offenders.

[Ferret Annica]

3. It should remain legal.

Cannabis should be legalized too. I see no reason not to do so with LSD either. Legalize them and regulate them like alcohol, a more dangerous drug then any of these substances.

[negativenihil]

22. While i agree with you on the salvia and marijuana...

I cannot in good faith say that i too feel LSD should be legal. I know from personal experience that it can and DOES affect different people in VERY different ways, and sometimes it can even go very bad.

[lectrobyte]

23. Hmmm.

I cannot in good faith say that I too feel alchohol should be legal. I know from personal experience that it can and DOES affect different people in VERY different ways, and sometimes it can even go very bad.

[negativenihil]

25. good point

and honestly i'd rather see marijuana legal and alcohol illegal. But really - comparing alcohol to LSD is sort of reaching, especially since one may partake in one or two alcoholic beverages without going too out of control (i'm sure there are exceptions to this). With LSD, once you get a bit in your system, you're sort of locked in for the duration.

[lectrobyte]

34. I agree on marijuana and alcohol. I'd have to think about LSD some

more. Certainly some folks have horrible experiences -- it's not for amateurs, but I kind of feel like if it's gonna throw you into a psychotic break, you were probably headed there anyway.

[chknltl]

4. Salvia

tastes like poo and didn't do anything for me... A younger (much younger) lass I know told me that when she tried a concentrated version, she had a transcendental excursion for a few minutes and swore never to do it again. I have known a few others who have tried it and none of them have shown any further interest either. I am a bit mystified as to what all the bruha is over that plant.

[negativenihil]

24. d'oh

ack wrong post

[On the Road]

31. I Had the Same Experience

Tried it. Didn't do anything. Don't know the reason.

[Clark2008]

5. Isn't marijuana basically an herb?

There's probably a gazillion herbs that would cause one to get a high if one smoked them.

[bananas]

14. Marijuana, peyote, morning glories, jimson weed, many others. nt

[Gato Moteado]

17. most of those you listed are not herbs actually

peyote is a cactus. jimson weed (aka datura) also does not fit into the classic definition of an herb. probably the same for morning glories.

and aside from mj, those you listed are not smoked, but rather ingested. of course, mj can be ingested as well.

and the effects of each of those listed are very different. the seeds of morning glories and datura are the parts of those plants used for their psychotropic effects and this is extremely dangerous as they are extremely toxic.

[WCGreen]

6. "Drug detectives said the salvia divinorum can cause uncontrollable laughter and violence"

Then they should outlaw Bush...

Cause he makes me laugh a lot and that war over there is causing a lot of violence...

[livetohike]

10. Good one!

:toast:

[livetohike]

11. Jimson weed = salvia, I think

A few years ago there was a sad story about a couple of local kids who went out camping in the desert and smoked some jimson weed. One wandered off and they found his body a couple of days later. I don't think I ever heard what he died from (but it probably wasn't the drug) - more likely exposure to the desert heat.

[Gato Moteado]

13. nope...not even close. salvia is a very different plant

salvia is a mint family plant. jimson weed is a nightshade.

salvia has been found to be safe.
jimson weed is a powerful toxin.

and i believe the way jimson weed (datura) is taken is by ingesting the seeds, not smoking the plant. and it's very possible that the users died from being poisoned by the seeds.

[livetohike]

20. Oh, thanks for clearing that up!

Those kids were two weeks away from graduating from high school :-(. And they were best friends.

[liberal hypnotist]

7. Reefer Madness

Another drug to steal the minds of children. All young people should watch "Reefer Madness. But, not while under the influence of this herb. They may experience violent outbreaks of laughter.

[greyl]

9. It should remain legal, but definitely not used casually.

It's potent stuff. (but don't tell anyone unless they're thinking of trying it. ;))

There have been quiet murmurs of making it illegal in the US for several years. Hopefully this little story will die out.

edit: more real world info.

[HuffleClaw]

12. "It shouldn't be legal if it's doing those things."

BWAHHAHHAHHAAAAAA

and THAT is essentially the entire 'rational' behind the 'war on drugs', though oddly enough the same folks who rant about DRUGS never seem to connect ALCOHOL to the same 'rationale' and alcohol is directly responsible for a far greater number of deaths than any drug.

[Gato Moteado]

15. here's a video of a study done on salvia divinorum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsdwQSwF_ak&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I31jfqezq3g&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C03IkN1Lbo&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMkER24m_Tk&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NgfYpuhJ4w&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8WIx8w0ZgA&mode=related&search=

[The Straight Story]

19. Thank you for the videos! (nt)

[Gato Moteado]

16. the violence part is pure BS

i have never seen anything to suggest that salvia divinorum makes one violent. that is a load of crap spewed by the cops.

[Jed Dilligan]

26. They want as many excuses as possible

to kill people, and get away with it, that's all. When a cop's jaws flap, that's what he's talking about.

[verse18]

18. That's why I just joined LEAP

About LEAP -- The Summary



Founded on March 16, 2002, LEAP is made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who are speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies. Those policies have failed, and continue to fail, to effectively address the problems of drug abuse, especially the problems of juvenile drug use, the problems of addiction, and the problems of crime caused by the existence of a criminal black market in drugs.


http://leap.cc/

[Ron Green]

21. Florida again. I'm keepin' track.

[The Straight Story]

27. ROFL I remember you :)

I can't help it, Local6 is chock full of goodies ;)

I would also recommend: http://www.usnpl.com

Keep track of all 50 states!

[originalpckelly]

28. They really are smoking some herb!

I've been reading about some of the trips here:
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Salvia_divinorum.shtml

I had a theory in physics about what these people describe.

[Richard D]

29. There is a whole class of medicinal herbs . . .

. . . including Salvia Divinorum (diviner's sage) that have tremendous potential for healing and understanding. Salvia has been used in Mexico by the Mazatec's for thousands of years. It's not a casual feel good drug like cannabis. I can't imagine it being used for recreation, though I guess some people would do so. I think it's a sad commentary on this society that any thing other than alcohol that changes consciousness is made illegal.

[vogonity]

30. This one ain't much fun

This plant has HUMBLED many an experienced tripper. Its effects don't last long but they are very, very powerful. Try spending part of a lifetime as a brick in the sidewalk, or a lamppost.

http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=57297

One very experienced tripper's Salvia Divinorum trip.

Lots of people have decided to use Salvia as an experience. Not too many repeatedly use it for the fun of it. It is some powerful shit.

The violence thing is bullshit of course. Salvia *can* and does cause powerful fear, however. Fear can lead to violence as people have been known to jump up and run away, not realizing that they are sitting in a room with friends.

[Gato Moteado]

32. that guy's experience was on 20X extract, not normal salvia leaf

and as you can see he says he's now a weekly user but he uses the leaf as opposed to the extract.

the extract is a higher concentrated amount of salvinorin than the natural leaf could ever contain. that's not recommended for someone wanting to give this stuff a casual try. the mazatecs only used the leaf itself and they normally chewed on it as opposed to smoking it.

[Zhade]

33. THAT STUFF IS NOT A PARTY DRUG.

I can tell you from direct experience - don't fuck around with it, or it'll fuck around with you.