Pubdate: Wed, 26 Nov 2008
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2008 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Nicole Baute, Staff Writer

SALVIA . . . A STRANGE, LEGAL HIGH

Users tend to curl into a fetal ball. Experts say most people don't
like it. But YouTube is turning a new generation on to the legal
hallucinogen - and Toronto police are watching

In one of more than 6,000 YouTube videos tagged "salvia" for the plant
salvia divinorum, a young man introduces himself as "Eric, your host"
and prepares to smoke the hallucinogenic drug before giving a driving
lesson. Sitting in the driver's seat with his car off and in park,
Eric takes a hit from a pipe and adjusts his mirrors. He exhales and
becomes almost instantaneously dopey and indecipherable. "Excuse me, I
have to go to space now," he says, and spends the remainder of the
two-minute video exploring the ceiling of his car like an astronaut
who has just landed on the moon.

Such videos are bringing new attention to salvia, which traditionally
has been used by Mexican shamans for meditation and healing. It is
legal in Canada and can be purchased online and in Toronto head shops
and some convenience stores.

But the surge in awareness is prompting U.S. lawmakers to take a
closer look at salvia. More than a dozen states have regulated or banned it.

This year the U.S. government published its first estimates of salvia
use, finding that 1.8 million Americans had tried it. There are no
such Canadian statistics, but the Toronto police and Health Canada
both say they are monitoring use of the drug.

"We are aware that it is out there in the community," said Det. Don
Theriault of the Toronto police drug squad.

"But in terms of complaints coming to the drug squad, there isn't a
large problem with it at the moment, so we'll have to see how it
develops over the next couple of years."

Monitoring a drug for abuse means ensuring it is not causing a problem
in the community, Theriault says. "It means in a nutshell, are people
using it, becoming sick as a result of it, or are there any problems
resulting from it, any violence or anything?"

Salvia experimentation brings mixed reviews. Alex Duffy, 24, says the
drug's brief high - less than 30 minutes - makes him feel a relaxing
sense of unity with things bigger than himself.

Duffy has tried salvia four times, and works at Roach-O-Rama in
Kensington Market, where salvia is available to customers who can
prove they are 18 or older. Duffy says employees ensure first-time
customers know how to use the drug safely - which means, ideally,
smoking it with a friend nearby, in a place where you can lie down if
you need to.

Others, like Keith Wong, 26, try salvia once and have no strong desire
to do it again. It was "interesting," he says, but not for him.

Wong works at the Toronto Hemp Company on Yonge St., which sells the
plant but not its derivative drug, and thinks more should be known
about the psychedelic. "I guess there's not enough research on it to
find out if it might be good or bad for long term."

That's true, says Bryan Roth, a professor of pharmacology at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He says some regulation is needed, but worries that federal
criminalization of salvia will halt his research. His lab is one of
many around the world exploring how salvia derivatives could be used
to treat schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer's disease and chronic
pain.

"Frequently when the parent compound is made illegal, all derivatives
are made illegal as well, and that makes it almost impossible to move
these forward as potential medications," Roth says.

A December 2005 report by an arm of Health Canada recommends salvia be
placed under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act; Health Canada
says it is monitoring salvia research.

"Salvia's mechanism of action is still not fully understood, so that's
why we need to keep monitoring it," says spokesperson Paul Duchesne.
Duchesne says no long-term problems have been observed, but that
salvia is known to cause short-term memory loss and out-of-body
experiences.

The drug's brief, debilitating high and the fact that negative
experiences are not uncommon means salvia junkies are rare, perhaps
nonexistent. Eric's other Youtube videos - notably "Gardening on
Salvia" and "Writing a Letter to Congress on Salvia" - belabour that
it is hard to do anything on salvia besides curl up in the fetal
position and mumble.

"It's not going to be a popular drug of abuse," Roth says. "Most
people take it once or twice. We don't have any definitive data on
this but anecdotal reports would suggest that it has no addictive
properties. Most people don't like it."

There is, however, reason to be worried about people injuring
themselves while on the drug, Roth says, as with any
consciousness-altering substance.

Back at Roach-O-Rama, Duffy describes such an experience. The last
time he smoked salvia he imagined he was a molecule on the edge of his
own fist.

"And when I woke up, I realized I might have actually punched myself
in the face," he says.

Duffy says recent media reports and the U.S. regulations have made the
drug more popular in Toronto.

"People are starting to realize they might not be able to access it
forever."

*SIDEBAR*

SALVIA DIVINORUM

ALSO CALLED magic mint, Sally D or simply salvia.

NATIVE TO Oaxaca, Mexico

MEMBER of the sage genus and the mint family.

LEAVES are bright green with simple, oval shape.

GENERALLY SOLD AS fortified leaves - leaves combined with the extract
of other leaves for added potency - and smoked with a pipe or bong.
Fresh salvia leaves can be chewed.

SOLD IN VARIOUS STRENGTHS, with the weakest, 10x (10 times the potency
of a regular salvia leaf) selling for around $25.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin