Pubdate: Wed, 06 Feb 2008
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2008 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Jan Ravensbergen

EUPHORIA, UNCONTROLLED

A Cafe Owner Is Drawing Patrons To His Establishment By Offering Two 
Novel - And Legal - Psychoactive Substances

The latest buzz in the city's Plateau Mont Royal district is around 
two psychoactive substances being served up to patrons of a small local cafe.

Montreal police, the Mounties and Health Canada agreed yesterday the 
two new offerings aren't illegal.

About a half-dozen Montrealers drop in daily - more on weekends - 
into the cozy, brown-themed cafe near Mount Royal, either to smoke 
salvia divinorum, a member of the sage family, or drink a type of 
euphoriant tea made from kratom leaves, said Matthew Lipscomb, the 
cafe's owner-operator.

Nobody's breaking any laws, added Lipscomb, who said he spent much of 
the past six months researching the substances.

In January, satisfied he wasn't setting himself up to get busted, the 
Vancouver native transformed what had been his Internet cafe, where 
business had been slowing down, into a 900-square-foot lounge 
featuring live music and hookahs.

The 30-seat spot, called Les Mentheurs, is located at Mount Royal 
Ave. E., near Hotel de Ville Ave.

Lipscomb said he was looking for a traffic draw. The space costs him 
rent of $1,600 a month and $500 in taxes and related expenses, and 
"I'm in business to pay my bills."

As far as Montreal police are concerned, the 34-year-old entrepreneur 
is doing nothing that contravenes any law, said Det.-Sgt. Nick 
Milano, who has been on the drug squad since 1994.

About salvia, "I've heard of it, mostly from anecdotal information," 
Milano said.

As for kratom: "I've never heard of that."

In both cases, Milano said, "It's not illegal in our books."

As Lipscomb put it: "A lot of people are tired of smoking pot. They 
don't want to drink (alcohol) and they want to try new things."

Lipscomb says he's taken salvia divinorum "maybe 20 times" in recent 
months while he fine-tuned the dosage to serve to customers.

There were only two patrons at Les Mentheurs yesterday afternoon. 
Things liven up in the evenings, Lipscomb said, adding the place was 
packed last weekend.

He says he insists on supervising all salvia users personally, and he 
bars anyone under 18.Users so far have ranged in age from 22 to the 
low 30s, he said.

One lungful of salvia, burned in a water pipe in combination with 
herbal tobacco and held in for 15 seconds, provides an altered state 
of consciousness for "three to five minutes," he said.

Lipscomb charges $22 for a water pipe loaded for two users.

Salvia is being smoked by "17-year-olds getting so high they can't 
even speak," he said. "Their videos are all over YouTube."

The RCMP "are aware of the drug," Sgt. Nathalie Deschenes said from 
national headquarters in Ottawa. "But it's not a controlled 
substance," she added.

She referred further questions to Health Canada.

"This is not on our list of controlled substances," department 
official Paul Duchesne said.

"I have not evaluated any patient with this intoxication as yet," 
said Sophie Gosselin, a toxicology specialist and an emergency-room 
physician at the McGill University Health Centre, "and I have not 
heard of any colleague who has."

- - - -

What are they smoking?

- - Salvia divinorum, a species of sage that belongs to the mint 
family, is a hallucinogen native to Mexico. It is found in the form 
of dried leaves, extract and plant cuttings.

- - It is not listed under Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances 
Act. It is illegal in Australia and Italy and is a controlled 
substance in Denmark, Belgium and South Korea. The U.S. Drug 
Enforcement Administration has labelled it a drug of concern.

- - Reliable, systematic and controlled observations on the 
psychotropic activities of salvia divinorum are scarce, but effects 
reported by users include sensations of travelling through time and 
space, feelings of merging with inanimate objects, laughter, sense of 
well-being, sedation/calmness, confusion/anxiety, lack of 
coordination, chills/sweating, increased urination.

- - Health Canada "is collecting information about the plant and 
assessing the risk that the unrestricted sale of the plant poses to 
public health and safety" as well as "its abuse and dependence potential."

- - The department has "no specific information about actual usage in 
Canada" and "has not elected to regulate salvia divinorum as a 
controlled substance."

Sources: Health Canada, royal canadian mounted police
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart