More teens using hallucinogenic salvia

[flashl]

by Jake Stump
Daily Mail Capitol Reporter
Tuesday August 5, 2008

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A sage-like herb that triggers intense hallucinogenic trips is a new drug of choice among the country's teenagers.

...

Type 'salvia' into the search engine on YouTube, and you'll get more than 4,000 videos depicting youngsters smoking the drug and tripping on it.

This widespread trend has caught the attention of most states, which are now pushing to ban salvia.

...

Recently, California became the 11th state to restrict salvia when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill forbidding the sale of the drug to minors.

In West Virginia, there are no laws regarding salvia. Abuse of the drug doesn't appear prevalent here, said Lt. Chuck Carpenter, who heads up the Metro Drug Unit.

...

A National Survey of Drug Use and Health report found that 1.8 million people ages 12 and older had used salvia. By comparison, about 23 million people in the same age group have used LSD at some point in their lives.

There is no evidence to indicate that salvia is addictive or fatal.

But that doesn't mean it's OK to consume it, Carpenter said.

"People think if it's legal, it's harmless," he said. "That is not true."

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is studying salvia to determine if it should be labeled a controlled substance.

[SacredCow]

1. I've seen the videos....

And I have salvia in my flower beds- Is this for real?

I've asked a few people younger than myself and I get differing reports. Some say it WILL mess you up, and others say it's a hoax.

[Gato Moteado]

3. you probably don't have salvia divinorum

that's the stuff they're smoking.

there are hundreds of species of salvia. you probably have some of the ornamental types or maybe even the edible herb.

but unless you're growing salvia divinorum, don't waste your time smoking any of it.

[SacredCow]

5. I wasn't planning on trying it, regardless....

as long as I can have my cocktail in the evening, I'm content! But I sure don't want a bunch of tripping kids tramping through my yard! (Do I sound like a grumpy old man, or what?)

[Gato Moteado]

7. ah, well, in that case don't worry.....

...they're getting their salvia divinorum in head shops. it's very hard to grow in the US outside of hawaii and the mountains in california, unless you have a mist house in your back yard.

i think your garden is safe from the kids. unless you have cannabis growing back there, in which case you'll have kids harvesting it and then ringing your doorbell to see if you have something to eat.

[SacredCow]

9. If I had cannibis growing back there....

My roommate would strip it clean before any kids EVER got a chance to look at it! :rofl:

[DS1]

2. holy crap this is the funniest thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp2V6NXCkE0

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. Amazing stuff.

I don't get why one would want to do that to oneself, but it sure is funny.

[Gato Moteado]

8. i think that kid was just bustin on people......

...didn't look at all like a salvia divinorum trip. i think it was a joke or a hoax.

[DS1]

11. the cat freakout had my rollin

[Stump]

17. Holy shit!!!

That was funny as hell, that cat really freaked him out!!! :rofl:

[BlueStateMind]

21. this whole thing is so overblown

this stuff is no different than huffing paint

[bluedeminredstate]

6. My kids,

ages 18 and 16, told me about it, and there's a little gift shop up the street that is kind of like an upscale head shop (without being too obvious) that sells it by the baggie. I live in Richmond, VA and to the best of my knowledge there aren't any restrictions on it here.

Thankfully, my kids are too freaked out by hallucinogenics to try it. I know they've tried pot, but I think they plan to stay away far away from this shit along with acid and mushrooms. My daughter is convinced that LSD will make you psychotic for life and I haven't tried to disabuse her of this notion. From what they've said, this salvia stuff does mess people up.

[Gato Moteado]

10. the mazatec indians used it for spiritual purposes......

...and i believe it's been studied enough to know that it's perfectly safe. the dangers come when people try to extract the active ingredient to make a stronger substance. taken just from the leaves of the salvia, it is safe.

i'd be worried more about kids getting into addictive substances like cocaine, cigarettes or alcohol.

[DS1]

13. everyone should do mushrooms once

it's an amazing experience

[bluedeminredstate]

14. I guess

but I'd rather it be me than them. I know my 18 y.o. will do all kinds of stuff next year at college - hopefully she'll be careful and not binge drink; I'd rather she smoke pot everyday. But my 16 y.o. son is my baby and I can't handle the thought of him doing mushrooms.
Of course I know what shit I pulled at that age...

:smoke:

[BlueStateMind]

22. stop sheltering your kids

Not going to try to tell you how to raise your kids.

I only know that the kids who go to college and completely debauch and go bugnuts on the freedom overdose are the chilren of parents who were terrified to let their kids have any experience that involved any degree of risk of personal safety. I'm not saying this is you, but you are lamenting their ability to handle the dangers of real life on an internet forum .

Kids need to have a chance to go out and experience some of the "dangers of life", this includes drugs.

You want well-rounded kids? let them go out and see whats out there in the world, including the silly recreational drugs.

[Hopfrog]

32. I'm always weirded out by posted like this

Its like you're going out of your way to seem like a hypocrite. I don't doubt the level of concern, but in a four sentence post, the first and last sentence are both more or less designed to make the reader think "wow, what an asshat." And its not like you need to post here; this is a pretty voluntary way to present yerself. So what gives?

[Dragonbreathp9d]

29. while I agree

not everyone can handle shrooms

[MikeE]

12. I'm almost 45 and I smoke it about every day

I use a little as a meditation aid. If you learn how to use it, it can be great and really helpful. And yes, it is fairly harmless. It's not something that a lot of kids would do on a regular occasion since the experience is very existential and not always pleasant.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

15. It's not that much fun to smoke

Salvia divinorum makes you feel kind of creepy all over, like there are bugs crawling over your skin. You also tend to lose your sense of balance. And the smoke tastes TERRIBLE when you exhale.

[bamacrat]

16. Ive done it 6 or 7 times.

Pretty fun, very harsh smoke. Not real side effects, makes you laugh like weed never imagined.

[Stump]

18. How long does the high last?

Just wondering...

[dassix]

19. couple hours

I say a little less than weed, but maybe thats because I smoked less of it...who knows. Fun to do once, but not worth doing habitually. I got real hot and true to previous post - tingling of skin all over. Just something to check off on the list of "stupid shit I probably shouldn't do, but is crazy and will do it anyways list"

[JonLP24]

20. Really?

I've tried the stuff a few times. It is an incredible intense high that only lasts a few minutes, from what I've experienced. It's perfectly legal in Arizona.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

25. That's my experience as well

[RedCappedBandit]

27. Same here

Nowhere near even one hour

[Mikayote]

31. Very harsh smoke indeed....

I tried it a couple of times. Makes an interesting mix with ganj or kratom. But the taste is WRETCHED. Seriously the harshest thing Ive ever smoked.

[logjon]

23. Entirely unreasonable

These assholes making fools of themselves smoking salvia on youtube are exactly the reason I can't get it in Illinois anymore. That just feeds the paranoid minds who say "Omgzorz, this stuff is like acid? Let's rid the world of it." Can't even catch a decent buzz anymore, god damn commies. There is no reason for this plant to be outlawed.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

24. I've done it, multiple times

It's tops in a safe enviornment

[crimsonblue]

26. Salvia is completely harmless

A trip lasts literally less than 10 minutes. It is no way more dangerous than alcohol, marijuana, or nicotine.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

28. I have to say

I love salvia. Its a great once in awhile break form normalcy and a chance to really let your mind go wild. Not dangerous, or harmful (in moderation at least). I saw Dr Phil have a story on it and it was obvious those people werent event doing it right. But the potential for criminalization all comes down to these idiot kids posting videos on youtube. I mean, seriously, how fucking stupid do you have to be. Of course when uptight righties and parents see that they are going to flip. Pisses me off, people compare it to LSD, they arent anything alike, and the dangers of LSD are way overblown as well. Give the people something that takes them out of the political conformity and opens their mind and the government will try to stop it. Should everyone do salvia, lsd, mushrooms, etc? Of course not, but not everyone should drink or drive a car or godforbid have children either.

[iamthebandfanman]

30. its legal, safe as far as they know, but dont use it!

ive done it before, its not that big of deal. i had a friend whos father used to grow the stuff for meditation and things. infact when i smoked it a few times it was purchased over the internet and was extract, not the actual plant, so it was stronger.

that was in the 90s....

id say 5 of the 7 times i did the stuff i didn't even have a changed mindset or 'buzz'...the 2 times i did it was amazing ..for all of 5 minutes..(seemed like it went away quickly).

i tend to believe those videos you speak of(and ive seen a few) are exaggerations and kids just trying to seem cool on the internet

[yay]

33. It's ok, but expensive.

I don't see any reason to make it illegal.

I did it once. It was interesting, but it's to expensive to be something I would do regularly.

If anyone is interested in what my trip was. You know when people draw pictures on a pad of sticky notes and flip the pages to make them animated. Yup I thought I was in one of those...

Nice thing about salvia is that the trip and high are short lived.