Pubdate: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 Source: Post and Courier, The (Charleston, SC) Copyright: 2005 Evening Post Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.charleston.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/567 Author: Bo Petersen, Of The Post and Courier Staff Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/salvia+divinorum TRENDY DRUG DERIVED FROM TYPE OF SALVIA Myrtle Beach Asks for Statewide Ban The drug's effect is described as dreamlike. One user said it made him feel like he was shrinking. Salvia divinorum may or may not be the new psychotropic scourge of the coast, and it comes from a variety of a gardeners' favorite plant -- the flowering salvia sage that drives hummingbirds mad. Put that pipe away, you won't find the herb at a garden center nearby. In July, Myrtle Beach City Council voted unanimously to ask for a statewide ban of the plant, whose leaves or extract can be smoked or chewed. The council said teens were buying it at shops on Ocean Boulevard, the heart of the popular tourist beach strip. "It's available. At this time, it's legal. The kids don't have to drink underage. They don't have to do something else illegal, and they get the same effect," said Mayor Mark McBride. But he said it was difficult to gauge how prevalent it is. A Myrtle Beach police spokesman said there had been no arrests or reports of trouble. Isle of Palms, Folly Beach and Charleston County police said they weren't aware of it being used or sold. The South Carolina departments of Health and Environmental Control and Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services weren't aware of a problem. The abuse service's Horry County office hasn't treated anybody. The drug isn't on the radar of the State Law Enforcement Division or the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's office in Columbia. On its Web site, the federal agency characterizes it as a "chemical of concern," but it's not listed as a controlled substance. "We don't sell it," said Thom Williams, of Books, Herbs and Spices in Charleston. And his customers don't ask for it. "That's one of the botanicals we stay away from. We know the potential for abuse." But salvia divinorum is out there. Type the words into an Internet search engine or check on eBay and the screen lays out piles like a pot harvester's dream. One Web site for the extract sells a gram of "20 times" potency for $40, a gram of "15 times" potency for $30. On a recent afternoon on eBay, a kilogram of Hawaiian whole leaf salvia divinorum had a high bid of $100. The plant is one of nearly 1,000 varieties of salvias, and the only one known to have a narcotic effect. It's native to the high mountains in Mexico and doesn't cultivate well outside that high-altitude, arid country. Linda Guy, who develops new products for Carolina Nurseries in Moncks Corner, said she hadn't heard of it despite buying trips to Mexico. "It's not widely grown," said Daniel Siebert, a California botanist who has researched the plant, although it can be found at specialized nurseries, as well as the Internet. "It's actually something not very many people like." The drug doesn't produce euphoria or a sense of well-being, and isn't a stimulant, Siebert said. Its effects are brief, with a peak of only about five minutes. The leaves aren't very potent; high doses found in extracts produce what he described as an introspective state that's a lot like dreaming. The Mazatec tribe in Mexico has used it traditionally to spur visions to help them deal with health problems, as well as for maladies such as arthritis and headaches, and on the skin to treat burns. There's evidence that constituents of the plant are a natural folk remedy, Siebert said. More recently, research that Siebert took part in found the active ingredient, salvinorin A, acted on the same receptors in the brain that pain-treatment drugs like morphine do, but without the toxic or addictive effects of those drugs. "It's a different class of chemicals, that could be used to develop other drugs," he said. Research in Australia suggests it could be used to treat depression. "I think it's something people should be concerned about. I think it should be regulated; it shouldn't be sold to minors. But a lot of people do get benefits from it. I don't think it's fair to ban it." On the street salvia divinorum is one of those trendy "legal drug" botanicals that seem to circulate every few years "like little stones or pebbles that get picked up, dropped and picked up again," said Wade Roitsch, manager of the Yucca Do nursery in Hempstead, Texas, that specializes in Mexican plants but does not sell salvia divinorum. "Surprisingly, it may be getting to be the herb of choice again," Williams said. "But they're always digging (for one)." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake