Posted: 04/18/07

Salvia divinorum: a legal hallucinogen
Controversy sparked in Middlebury over the sale of legal herb

Emma Long | copy editor
elong@smcvt.edu

University of Vermont senior Kris Crown describes it as “an experience that comes close to a spiritual endeavor.” Founder of the Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center, Daniel Siebert, calls it “an extraordinary herb used in shamanism, divination, healing, meditation, and the exploration of consciousness.” Town officials in Middlebury, Vt., however, are looking to ban the sale of the dry, leafy hallucinogenic herb after the Middlebury Police Department’s school resource officer discovered an increase in use by area teenagers, according to an April 11 article in the Rutland Herald.

Selling to minors?

Vermont does not have a law that prevents the sale of salvia to minors. (photo courtesy of Daniel Siebert, Salvia divinorum Research Center)

Middlebury School Resource Officer Scott Fisher notified the Middlebury Police Department last week that The Emporium Tobacco and Gifts store had been selling salvia to minors as young as 13, according to Middlebury Chief of Police Thomas Hanley. This report was followed by an Emergency Health Order, issued by Middlebury Town Health Officer Dr. Robert LaFiandra on April 11, to prohibit the sale of salvia altogether from The Emporium.

“In consultation with Dr. Robert LaFiandra, we determined the sale of this product, especially to children, was a public health hazard, and the sale was banned. Mr. Stone has procedural rights to appeal the decision,” wrote Hanley in an e-mail interview.

Hanley says The Emporium in Middlebury was selling salvia, also known as ‘Purple Sticky Salvia,’ unrestricted, over the counter to minors. The Middlebury Police Department investigated the situation following a complaint of parents and school officials, and a number of teenagers substantiated the unrestricted sales to children and adolescents, he wrote.

“Reports were received of children as young as 13 years of age purchasing this substance over the counter,” he wrote. “The sales were even accompanied by oral and written instructions on how to achieve the best effects from the drug.”

Emporium store owner James Stone, who also owns another Emporium store in Rutland, told the Rutland Herald on April 11 that he doesn’t believe his employees have ever sold salvia to anyone this young.

While this is not a legal issue, as Vermont does not have a law that prevents the sale of salvia to minors, Middlebury Town Manager Bill Finger says it’s still an area of concern.

“Legal or not, hallucinogenic substances should not be sold or distributed to children along with instructions on how to maximize their potency,” Finger wrote in an e-mail interview.

“Legal or not, hallucinogenic substances should not be sold or distributed to children along with instructions on how to maximize their potency. ” -Middlebury Town Manager Bill Finger

Stone told the Rutland Herald that when salvia is sold from his stores, included in each sale is a pamphlet which provides information about the herb.

“It is not illegal to sell it to someone under 18, but obviously there’s moral issues,” Stone told the Rutland Herald, also noting that he doesn’t sell to people under 18 and requires buyers to provide proper identification in his stores.

“This is simply not true,” wrote Hanley. “He [Stone] may have had a store policy on this, but it wasn’t enforced. There were no warnings or postings of any kind placing notice of restrictions on the sale."

Stone is set to appeal the order, which seeks to prohibit him from selling it in his Middlebury store, according to an April 13 Associated Press article published in the Boston Globe.

A legal hallucinogen?

Salvia divinorum is a plant native to Oaxaca, Mexico, according to The Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center, and has a powerful hallucinogenic effect due to its active ingredient, salvinorin A. It is a member of the mint family.

“The effects depend on dose and individual sensitivity,” Siebert wrote in an e-mail interview. “Low doses produce an introspective state of awareness that is conductive to meditation and contemplation.” Low doses, he wrote, “do not alter sensory perception to any significant extent.”

High doses, however, produce a different experience, Siebert wrote, or “a dream-like visionary state.”

Although smoking or ingesting the herb causes an effect similar to peyote and hallucinogenic mushrooms, according to the Rutland Herald article, it remains legal in most places throughout the U.S. While the effects can be just as powerful as other hallucinogenic substances, a high attained from salvia doesn’t last long; depending on the dosage, the effects may last anywhere from five to 20 minutes.

Regardless of its powerful effects, salvia is not actually considered a drug by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. In January 2007, however, salvia was added to the DEA’s list of Drugs and Chemicals of Concern.

Concern has risen in America recently, shown through legislative bills proposing regulatory controls of salvia in a number of states, including Alaska, Maine, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia.

“The pharmacological effect on the central nervous system causes hallucinations, depersonalization, perceptual disturbances, and disturbances of the thought processes,” Hanley wrote. “The psychoactive effects of this drug are well documented by the Vermont Department of Health, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and other authorities who have conducted the research.”

One experience, and what will happen next?

“You become a part of all your surroundings,” Crown says of his hallucinogenic experience using salvia. “The first time I did it was by myself in my apartment. I was completely unaware of the real world around me.”

The use of salvia is not something to be abused, Crown says. (Photo courtesy of Kris Crown)

Crown says he’s only smoked salvia a few times, and that the experience lasts for approximately five minutes each time. The use of salvia is not something to be abused, Crown says.

“Generally speaking, salvia produces a range of altered states that are useful for exploring one’s own mind and improving self-knowledge,” Siebert wrote.

While its effects are powerful and sometimes overwhelming, Crown says, he doesn’t experience any type of ‘hangover’ after the use of salvia.

“Mental exhaustion and the desire to take a nap,” he says, are the only after-effects he has ever felt.

“Toxicological studies have shown that salvia does not produce toxic effects,” Siebert wrote. “Salvia is not addictive, nor habit-forming.”

Siebert says he believes while salvia “does not present a significant risk to public health or safety,” there is “obviously a problem with young people using this herb, especially when they use it carelessly.”

He says this can be managed, however, with regulation that prohibits sale or delivery to minors.

“This is a useful medicinal herb that enriches the lives of many responsible adults,” Siebert wrote. “Since it by all accounts a remarkably safe herb when used responsibly, it would be overly restrictive to make it illegal for all citizens.”