First of all: Travis.. Second: Is McClatchy News always this amazing??

Drug gains a buzz as hip or dangerous


Jim Sanders McClatchy NewspapersFeb. 20, 2008 09:27 AM


SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California kids legally can tune in, turn on and freak out these days with a potent, mind-altering drug that is readily available but targeted for a crackdown by police and lawmakers.Typically smoked or chewed, Salvia divinorum has become increasingly known on the Internet the past few years through sales on eBay and through YouTube videos of users tripping with it.The drug is produced from a Mexican plant used by Mazatec Indians for healing and ritual prophecy. Users in the United States have reported effects ranging from relaxation and sensual pleasure to out-of-body experiences and frightening hallucinations.

"This is the first really new illicit drug in a long time," said Dr. John Mendelson, a researcher at California Pacific Medical Center who is preparing to study how much salvia users must consume to become intoxicated.San Bernardino County Sheriff's Lt. Jerry Davis, who is pushing legislation to ban sales to minors, said one woman who used salvia - sometimes called "Sally D" or "magic mint" - claimed that her miniblinds suddenly began beating her."She had a burrito on the table," he said, reporting her hallucination. "It grew legs and teeth and started to attack her."A Delaware woman, Kathy Chidester, is pushing to outlaw salvia nationwide after her 17-year-old son Brett Chidester committed suicide two years ago - a death that a medical examiner ruled stemmed, in part, from the teen's use of the drug. Chidester said her son, a straight-A student, balked at her appeals to stop smoking salvia, which he purchased from a Web site. "He said, Mom, it's legal,'" Chidester recalled. "He said, If there was something really, really wrong with it, it would not be legal.'"Daniel Siebert, a Malibu herbalist, counters that media coverage of salvia has been unfair. It is not a party drug, does not produce a euphoric high, is not addictive, and can be used responsibly for introspection, he said."It's kind of like a tool for gaining greater understanding," said Siebert, who has used the drug many times, sells it via the Internet, and has written a user's guide that describes its effects as "divine inebriation."Siebert said users will experience varying degrees of impact, depending partly on dosage and how the drug is consumed. Salvia, whose active component is "salvinorin A," is an herb in the mint family."Salvia has much to offer: fascinating psychoactive effects, sensual enhancement, magical journeys, enchantment, apparent time travel, philosophical insights, spiritual experiences and perhaps even healing and divination," Siebert says in his user's guide.The manual warns that salvia should be used only by adults in a "thoughtful, intelligent manner," and that a companion should be present if a user is taking doses high enough that he or she might "freak out, become confused, injure (himself), fall, or do anything that might harm others."Siebert said salvia's visionary effects typically resemble a dream, with users not feeling like they are under the influence of a drug...