Pubdate: Sun, 27 Jul 2008
Source: Daily Gazette (NY)
Copyright: 2008 The Daily Gazette Co.
Contact: http://www.dailygazette.com/op_letter/
Website: http://www.dailygazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/105
Author: Sara Foss
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/salvia (Salvia)

STATES CAST WARY EYE ON SALVIA

Legal Herb Is Hallucinogenic

NEW YORK STATE — Two years ago, the New York State Office of 
Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services put an informational item 
about a little-known hallucinogenic herb called Salvia divinorum on 
its Web site.

Salvia is unregulated and can be purchased in head or smoke shops or 
on the Internet by anyone with a credit card, and it isn't illegal.

Now, a growing number of states are considering banning or regulating 
salvia, which is said to trigger intense but relatively brief hallucinations.

Earlier this year, the New York State Senate passed a bill that would 
have made it illegal to sell salvia in New York, but a similar 
measure died in the state Assembly. In Massachusetts, legislators are 
considering a bill that would ban salvia, and the Drug Enforcement 
Agency lists salvia as a "drug of concern." Twelve states, including 
Maine and California, have already moved to ban or regulate it.

Though salvia use is far from prevalent in the Capital Region, it's 
something drug-prevention experts are aware of.

"We haven't seen a lot of use," said Patty Kilgore, clinical director 
at the Saratoga Partnership for Prevention. "We've seen a lot of kids 
who are aware of it. … More kids know about it than are actually 
using it. It's not classified, but it probably should be."

Kilgore said she's talked to a few teens who have used salvia. She 
said there are several reasons teens are less likely to use salvia 
than other drugs. For one thing, they may not have a credit card, 
which would make it more difficult to purchase salvia online. Some 
kids have also complained that salvia is not a "good high" — that 
because the drug is unregulated, it doesn't always produce the 
desired effect. And addicts, she noted, are less likely to use 
hallucinogenics because you develop a tolerance to them more quickly. 
"Salvia isn't a daily use type of drug," she said.

Nancy Johnson, coordinator of the Schenectady County Substance Abuse 
Prevention Partnership, said staff first learned about salvia about a 
year and a half ago, when a parent reported that a child's friend had 
used the drug. "We were all on the Internet researching it, but then 
things died down," she said. "We haven't heard anyone talk about salvia since."

The Schenectady County Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership sent 
information about salvia to parents, Johnson said, to make them aware 
of it. But in terms of teenage substance abuse, alcohol and marijuana 
remain the biggest problems, and officials are concerned about 
illicit prescription drug use, she said. Some kids have started 
holding "rainbow parties," where they throw different pills into a 
bowl, mix them up and then take one or two of them, she said.

Dianne Henk, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Alcoholism and 
Substance Abuse Services, said OASAS decided to post the item on 
salvia on the agency's Web site after the agency's medical director 
read several articles about the drug.

Henk said that it's important that parents know about the drug, and 
how easy it is to obtain over the Internet. "Because it's so easy to 
obtain and not regulated, it's something the medical community is 
talking about," she said. "Because we know the Internet spreads the 
word, and because we know there's a great deal of information on the 
Internet, the sense was that it was important to address it."

Right now, the state has no plans to regulate salvia, Henk said. "Our 
focus is 'let's educate as much as possible,'" she said.

The legislation to outlaw salvia in New York was proposed by state 
Sen. John Flanagan, R-Smithtown. "Parents are unaware of this," said 
Robert Caroppoli, a spokesman for Flanagan. "[Flanagan] sees it as a 
gateway drug to harsher drugs. He decided that if the federal 
government wasn't going to do anything, he would try to do something here."

Determining how many people in New York have used salvia is tricky.

"It's not a substance which we track," Henk said.

A National Survey of Drug Use and Health report released in February 
found that more people are using salvia.

"There is evidence suggesting the emergence of new hallucinogens, 
such as Salvia divinorum, which has been marketed as an 'herbal 
high,'" the report noted. About 1.8 million people aged 12 and older 
have used salvia in their lifetime, and approximately 750,000 did so 
in 2006. In comparison, approximately 23 million people aged 12 and 
older have used LSD in their lifetime, but fewer than 700,000 people 
used LSD in 2006.

Salvia, which is also known as diviner's sage, is a psychoactive drug 
that is typically smoked, but can also be absorbed by chewing, tea 
infusions or inhaling the vapors of the burning leaves. It is a 
perennial herb in the mint family, native to Mexico, where the 
Mazaetc Indians use it in healing ceremonies. But little is known 
about its long-term effects.

The OASAS item on salvia states, "Currently, there is a lack of 
information regarding plants or weeds commonly found in our 
environment that can cause serious legal harm when ingested, smoked 
or rubbed into the skin. Most of these substances are not illegal. … 
Research suggests that teen misuse of these weeds and plants 
increases when they are in bloom in the spring and summer months, 
though they can be used year round and could possibly be purchased 
over the Internet."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom