Hallucinogenic herb used for cheap, legal thrill has lawmakers worried about abuse. RALEIGH YouTube may prove the downfall of Salvia divinorum. For years, college students have used the hallucinogenic herb for a cheap - and legal - thrill without attracting much attention. But with hundreds of online videos showing people smoking Salvia and dissolving into fits of laughter and hallucination, North Carolina is considering joining 14 other states that have outlawed it. A bill proposed in the legislature last week would make Salvia a Schedule I drug, equivalent to heroin or LSD. [continues 438 words]
RALEIGH - YouTube may prove the downfall of Salvia divinorum. For years, college students have used the hallucinogenic herb for a cheap - -- and legal -- thrill without attracting much attention. But with hundreds of online videos showing people smoking Salvia and dissolving into fits of laughter and hallucination, North Carolina is considering joining 14 other states that have outlawed it. A bill proposed in the legislature last week would make Salvia a Schedule I drug, equivalent to heroin or LSD. State Sen. Bill Purcell, a Laurinburg Democrat, said he has no evidence that the herb is being widely abused, but he is concerned about anecdotal reports of people who became violent or suicidal while using it. "Methamphetamine got out of control before we did anything about that," said Purcell, a retired pediatrician. "I'm hoping we can do something sooner this time." A member of the mint family, Salvia was traditionally used in religious rituals by the Mazatecs Indians of Mexico. It first became popular in the United States in the mid-1990s under names such as Magic Mint or Purple Sticky and can be found in head shops in Raleigh and Chapel Hill for as cheap as $14. [continues 400 words]
ANNAPOLIS -- State lawmakers reviewed a bill that would outlaw salvia divinorum, a powerful hallucinogenic herb that hit new heights of popularity last summer at Ocean City's Boardwalk shops. State legislators held hearings last week to review the bill, which was sponsored by Delegate Adelaide C. Eckardt, R-37B-Wicomico, Delegate Jeannie Haddaway, R-37B-Wicomico, and Sen. Richard Colbourn, R-37-Wicomico. The draft legislation would place salvia on Maryland's list of Schedule I drugs, making it illegal to possess or sell, as well as eliminating possible medical research. [continues 613 words]
Salvia Found In Boardwalk Shops Last Summer ANNAPOLIS -- State lawmakers reviewed a bill that would outlaw salvia divinorum, a powerful hallucinogenic herb that hit new heights of popularity last summer at Ocean City Boardwalk shops. State legislators held hearings Tuesday to review the bill, which was sponsored by Delegates Adelaide C. Eckardt R-37B-Dorchester, and Jeannie Haddaway R-37B-Talbot and Sen. Richard Colburn, R-37-Dorchester. The draft legislation would place salvia on Maryland's list of Schedule I drugs, making it illegal to possess or sell, as well as eliminating possible medical research. [continues 523 words]
YouTube videos show young people laughing uncontrollably, slurring their words or hallucinating -- all after smoking an herb that's completely legal in Maryland. But if state Sen. Richard Colburn has his way, Salvia divinorum -- also known as Sally D or Magic Mint, a herb widely available in smoke shops and on the Internet -- will be in the same category as heroin and LSD. "It's pretty disturbing," Colburn, an Eastern Shore Republican, said of the hundreds of videos showing the affects of the herb. [continues 392 words]
LINCOLN -- Quicker than the high from Salvia divinorum comes on, Nebraska lawmakers advanced a bill today that would make the hallucinogenic herb illegal in the state. Legislative Bill 123 would add the plan to the state's list of controlled substances, along with marijuana, cocaine and LSD. Under the bill, it would be a felony to possess or sell salvia. State Sen. Russ Karpisek of Wilber, who introduced the bill, told colleagues of a young man whose suicide was attributed in part to his use of salvia. He noted that Web sites selling salvia typically caution users against doing the drug alone. [continues 54 words]
The Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) held a discussion group Wednesday in the Holmes Student Center about the difference between psychedelic and psychoactive medicine and their uses. Tom Roberts, a retired professor of education of psychology, led a small group of people on a question-and-answer-based discussion on the medical uses, different types and the foundation of psychedelic drugs. This is a four-week program for the winter term. "A psychedelic drug magnifies or amplifies whatever is going on in the subconscience or conscience mind," Roberts said. "It can also stimulate mystical experiences." [continues 272 words]
Salvia divonorum, commonly known as salvia, thanks to its powerful psychedelic punch and its availability in legitimate retailers, has made a huge jump into Canada's recreational drug scene, particularly among youth. "It's a very intense hallucinogenic experience that is thankfully short-lived-usually 15 minutes, some people report five minutes and the longest would be half an hour," said Wende Wood, a psychiatric pharmacist with the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Native to Mexico, the drug was originally used by the Mazatec culture for spiritual journeys. [continues 987 words]
Gov. Ted Strickland signed a law yesterday that will add the hallucinogen Salvia divinorum to Ohio's controlled substance list. The law, which takes effect in 90 days, classifies salvia as a Schedule I controlled substance alongside drugs like marijuana. Ohio joins at least nine other states to ban the use, possession or distribution of salvia. State Senator Jimmy Stewart, R-20, said the law will be enacted in the same way as previous additions to the Schedule I controlled substance list. [continues 123 words]
State Rep. Charles "Doc" Anderson, R-Waco, is to appear on the "Dr. Phil" show today after he filed legislation Monday that would ban the increasingly popular hallucinogenic drug Salvia. Anderson, who is on the show to discuss the drug's effects on young people and their families, has been pushing to have Salvia placed on a list of controlled substances for more than a year and a half. Also known as "Diviner's Sage" and "Magic Mint," the active ingredient in Salvia, Salvinorin-A, which is found on the leaves of the herb Salvia divinorum, produces a psychedelic high that lasts anywhere from minutes to hours after it is smoked. [continues 228 words]
Cluster Headaches Cause Such Severe Pain That Some Sufferers Are Driven to Suicide. Now One Man Believes He's Found a Surprising Cure This is the story of a man known online as Flash - a man driven to the brink of suicide by the debilitating effects of cluster headaches. After years of ineffectual treatments, Flash stumbled on what he declared was a new treatment, as controversial as it was, he claimed, effective: hallucinogenic drugs. Flash was ridiculed by the cluster headache community for his "miracle cure". But when a survey of fellow sufferers who self-medicated with hallucinogens was published in the mainstream journal Neurology, the results gave weight to his claims. The Harvard Medical School scientists who conducted the survey have now applied for a preliminary clinical trial on the subject. [continues 1791 words]
TORONTO -- The first time Ryan Fentie smoked salvia, he was overwhelmed by the sudden, intense feelings that swept over him. A huge hole opened in the ground before him, vines snaked out of the pit and encircled his feet and he felt himself become a part of them. "I had no idea what the drug was doing to me," Fentie recalled. "It feels like you entered another world." His high came from a powerful hallucinogenic drug that can be bought - -- legally -- at convenience stores and head shops across Toronto. [continues 228 words]
It might sound far-fetched, but just a decade ago it seemed unlikely that the prohibited and mildly hallucinogenic drug cannabis would become a mainstream pain-killing medicine. But it is happening: Cannabis pain-killing pills and sprays are being developed to help people with multiple sclerosis, cancer and Aids. Now some scientists and psychotherapists think more powerful psychoactive drugs like psilocybin, found in 'magic mushrooms', could have a future as medicinal agents for a number of conditions. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved, but not funded, a pilot study aiming to see if the euphoria and insight of a mild psychedelic 'trip' can ease the physical and emotional pain experienced by thousands of terminal cancer patients each year. [continues 770 words]
DALLAS -- With a friend videotaping, 27-year-old Christopher Lenzini of Dallas took a hit of Salvia divinorum, regarded as the world's most potent hallucinogenic herb, and soon began to imagine, he said, that he was in a boat with little green men. Mr. Lenzini quickly collapsed to the floor and dissolved into convulsive laughter. When he posted the video on YouTube this summer, friends could not get enough. "It's just funny to see a friend act like a total idiot," he said, "so everybody loved it." [continues 1587 words]
First Test of 'Psychedelic Psychotherapy' Since 70s Researchers Hope Effects Will Improve Quality of Life Scientists are exploring the use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD to treat a range of ailments from depression to cluster headaches and obsessive compulsive disorder. The first clinical trial using LSD since the 1970s began in Switzerland in June. It aims to use "psychedelic psychotherapy" to help patients with terminal illnesses come to terms with their imminent mortality and so improve their quality of life. [continues 1183 words]
A Watauga teen accused of delivering drug-tainted cookies to the Lake Worth police department told investigators he did not put drugs in the cookies but that friends may have been using marijuana while he baked them, police said Wednesday. Christian Phillips, 18, was delivering the cookies as part of his court-ordered community service for a previous arrest, officials said. He was arraigned Wednesday on a charge of tampering with a consumer product, a second-degree felony. Police said Phillips was arrested Tuesday when a field test on the cookies he delivered in Lake Worth indicated the presence of LSD, a hallucinogenic drug. Blue Mound police said cookies delivered to them Monday field-tested positive for marijuana. [continues 800 words]
Columnist Dick Dorworth dances around the true reason LSD was outlawed. Authorities were more than a little fearful of being exposed for the lying frauds they are. They knew for a fact that an LSD trip could undermine years of propaganda and opinion molding. Back in the 1960s when LSD was still legal, trippers saw Washington bigwigs thumping for the Vietnam War and instantly and without exception responded, "They're lying!" LSD enabled trippers to "see" the lies flashing out of McNamara et al like overamped strobe lights. [continues 162 words]
Alton Kelley, one of the founding members of the '60s San Francisco rock scene, died Sunday at his home in Petaluma after a long illness. He was 67. Mr. Kelley will be remembered as the creator (with his artistic partner, Stanley Mouse) of hundreds of classic psychedelic rock posters, such as the famed "skull and roses" poster for a Grateful Dead show at the Avalon Ballroom. Mr. Kelley and Mouse created 26 posters for just the first year of the Avalon's operation. [continues 655 words]
Alton Kelley, a San Francisco graphic artist whose psychedelic posters and album covers captured the mood and music of the Grateful Dead, the Steve Miller Band, Journey and other top rock 'n' roll groups of the '60s and '70s, has died. He was 67. Kelley died Sunday at his home in Petaluma, Calif., according to publicist Jennifer Gross. The cause was complications from osteoporosis. With his creative partner Stanley Mouse, Kelley helped launch a poster art revolution in the mid-1960s, turning out vividly colored works for concerts at the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore Auditorium, where Jimi Hendrix, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Quicksilver Messenger Service were among the headliners. [continues 588 words]
Prohibition of Albert Hofmann's 'problem child' failed to get it off the street -- and succeeded in killing legitimate research into its powerful potential to help people Albert Hofmann, who died last week at the age of 102, lived just long enough to see scientific research into the therapeutic value of LSD get started up again. For the first time since the 1960s, the tremendous potential of this powerful tool is being examined scientifically for therapeutic use. Millions of people have experienced transcendence through LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide). The creative energy unleashed by Mr. Hofmann's chemical catalyst has had a tremendous impact on our world. [continues 984 words]
