Pubdate: Sun, 29 Dec 2002
Source: Indianapolis Star (IN)
Copyright: 2002 Indianapolis Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://www.starnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/210
Author: Reid J. Epstein, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Note: See entire article at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2313/a06.html

MEXICAN WEED HAS DEA, COPS CONCERNED

MADISON, Wis. -- The clerks at Knuckleheads Tobacco & Gifts, a Madison 
smoking accessories shop, aren't allowed to say words such as marijuana, 
weed or pot.

Although some customers undoubtedly smoke marijuana and are drawn to the 
store's water pipes and rolling papers, any reference to illegal drugs 
could get the clerks into trouble with their boss or the police, who tend 
to keep a close eye on counterculture establishments.

So it's difficult for them to describe what it's like to smoke Salvia 
divinorum, a legal and increasingly popular Mexican plant that some in 
Congress want banned.

"It's like coming down off of, you know, but without the really tired 
feeling you would normally get," Mike Molkentin, 20, said from behind the 
Knuckleheads counter. "I was able to relax and get into a different mind 
state."

Drug enforcement authorities would like to stop the spread of Salvia 
divinorum before it explodes the way Ecstasy did before it was criminalized.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration considers salvia one of its "drugs 
and chemicals of concern." And U.S. Rep Joe Baca, D-Calif., promises to 
reintroduce legislation in January that would make salvia an illegal drug. 
Baca introduced similar legislation in October, but it died in committee.

In Dane County, Wis., police have begun to see increased use of the plant 
among teenagers.

"The fact is, it's out there and kids are learning about it," said 
Detective George Chavez of the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force.

But because the government does not classify Salvia divinorum as an illegal 
substance, there is nothing the task force, or any other government agency, 
can do to regulate its use.

A plant that grows wild in Oaxaca, a state in southern Mexico, Salvia 
divinorum is legal everywhere except for Australia, which criminalized it 
in June.

Users either smoke or eat the plant's dark green leaves. For now, it can be 
bought at shops such as Knuckleheads, which charges $4.95 a gram, and, more 
prominently, from stores on the Internet.

A small amount of salvia, about half a gram, is enough to produce a 
"clearheaded state" that is useful for meditation, said Daniel Siebert, a 
California man who has studied the plant for 20 years and, in the eyes of 
its devotees, is to Salvia divinorum what Timothy Leary was to LSD in the 
1960s.

At medium doses, Siebert said, Salvia divinorum can bring greater awareness 
of color, including "subtle visions that are geometric patterns not seen 
with your eyes open."

Higher doses are said to produce more realistic visions in which one sees 
dreamlike scenery. Such visions can resemble those induced by 
hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD.

But Salvia divinorum is by no means a social substance, Siebert said. 
Unlike Ecstasy, which has been labeled a "party drug," Salvia divinorum 
users become very introverted.

"You can't really engage much with people," Siebert said.

Whether there are health risks involved with using Salvia divinorum is unclear.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens