COUNCILLOR URGES REGULATION OF HALLUCINOGENIC HERB

You can smoke it like marijuana. It produces hallucinogenic effects
like LSD. It's also likely available in a corner store near you.

Salvia divinorum, also known as diviner's sage, maria pastora or Sage
of the Seers, is a herb which is a member of the sage genus and mint family.

It is being called the "new pot" in some circles and this has City of
Kawartha Lakes Ward 12 Coun. Gord James concerned.

Last year, James recommended a resolution received from the city of
Port Colbourne about a petition to the Minister of Health to call
Health Canada to undertake a review of salvia be received and
referred to both the City of Kawartha Lakes Police Services Board and
local OPP for comment.

"It wasn't necessarily a problem before," he told The Lindsay Post.
"It will be a problem...it is being abused, if we could regulate this
it would be good for all communities."

Salvia can be smoked, chewed or using as a tincture, with effects
differing depending on the individual.

Effects seem to last for a shorter amount of time than other drugs,
sometimes only between one and five minutes.

Results seems to be more intense and last longer when the herb is
chewed or using a tincture.

Effects from salvia may include uncontrollable laughter, past
memories, such as revisiting places from childhood memory, sensations
of motion, or being pulling and twisted by forces, visions of
membranes, films or various two-dimensional services, merging with or
becoming objects as well as overlapping realities, such as the
perception of being in several locations at once.

Whatever the effects are, James believes salvia is dangerous.

"It's a hallucinogenic herb," he said .

The councillor acknowledged that salvia is readily available in local
stores and said owners should be careful about the product.

"If I was a store owner, I would take it off the shelves to be a good
member of the community," said James.

Salvia divinorum is legal in most areas however, many states in the
United States having passed their own laws regulating it while others
have proposed legislation.

So far, despite calls for it's criminalization, Health Canada has
said it doesn't have enough evidence to place salvia under the
Controlled Drug and Substances Act.