SALVIA IS A LEGAL HIGH ... FOR NOW

"South Park" spoofs it. Web sites shill it. Lawmakers think it should
be banned.

Salvia divinorum elicits a variety of reactions.

The most common: What is it?

"I've been trying to get the word out there for three, four years,"
said Bill Phillips, who oversees a statewide drug education program,
New Beginnings, based at Framingham's Keefe Technical High School.

"People look at me like I'm crazy" because they haven't heard of
salvia, he said.

"The first time we started hearing about it was about a year and a
half ago," said Ashland Police Sgt. Greg Fawkes, who warned parents
about the plant at a recent forum at the middle school. Salvia has
been used in shaman healers' rituals in the plant's native Mexico for
centuries.

"It was extremely obscure," when he began studying it 20 years ago,
said Daniel Siebert, a Los Angeles-based researcher who created the
Web site sagewisdom.org. "The effects vary from nothing to extremely
intense."

Its different forms can be smoked, ingested or inhaled, and potency
levels vary widely, depending on the concentration of salvinorin A,
which gives the plant hallucinogenic properties.

"It's a powerful high, but short-lived," said Fawkes. "It's extremely
available and it's extremely potent."

"It's probably the most hallucinogenic thing you can use," said Sean,
a senior at Framingham State College. "It's a pretty wild
experience."

"It's overblown," said Brian, also a Framingham State senior who said
he's familiar with the drug. "It's a 10-minute high and then it's over.

"No fun," he said.

Neither thought salvia was likely to cause addiction. Although it
smells like potpourri, its taste is reportedly unpleasant.

"Pretty much people take it once and the problem solves itself," said
Brian.

"The effects of salvia don't appeal to most young people," said
Siebert. "Most people feel the effects are disorienting."

However, one of the dozens of Internet sites offering salvia, for
prices ranging from $8.99 to $96.99 depending on quantity and potency,
posted the following message last week: "Since the site has been
featured on Yahoo.com we have experienced a huge surge in orders, and
are not accepting new orders today."

"I think now that the news is talking about it, people will be going
out looking for it," said Melissa Helliwell, a Framingham State junior
who "hadn't heard of it until it was on the news."

"When something's on television, kids are going to go out and try it,"
said Phillips.

Particularly since it's not illegal to do so in Massachusetts, a fact
state Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, and Sen. Susan Fargo,
D-Lincoln, hope to change.

Earlier this month, the legislature's Joint Committee on Public
Health, co-chaired by the local lawmakers, recommended salvia be
classified a controlled substance.

"I knew of salvia as a popular bedding plant you put in your garden,"
said Fargo. "This is obviously not the same.

"We heard testimony about three of these herb plant-like substances
available on eBay or convenience stores. ...They seem innocent, but
they're not."

"It was extremely troubling to see young people inhale salvia... and
lose complete control of their bodily functions," Koutoujian said of
the video committee members were shown. "It's identical to other
hallucinogens that are illegal."

"It's disturbing a lot of this is marketed to children," said Fargo.
"It's marketed to look attractive" to youngsters.

Siebert, of sagewisdom.org, agrees.

"I'm concerned about young people using it recklessly," said Siebert.
"I'm concerned about irresponsible marketing.

"A lot of vendors seem to be targeting minors. A lot of them are
selling what I consider excessively concentrated extracts. It's really
just dangerous. It's like going to the liquor store, buying two
bottles of vodka and drinking them both.

"It's a shame that something that can be used responsibly... some
people are using it recklessly."

California has a bill pending that would make it illegal to sell
salvia to minors.

"I think that's appropriate," said Siebert.

Koutoujian hopes to make salvia, and similarly legal substances catha
edulis and kratom, illegal for all.

"I believe we should act on this with all due speed," he said,
hopefully before "that story about someone getting really sick from
this."

That's already happened, said Phillips, who runs New
Beginnings.

"I had a kid come in here, saying this is the best stuff and it's
legal. A month later, he came back sick as a dog," said Phillips.

But local hospitals haven't seen the evidence.

"We have not seen anyone come through our emergency department having
taken salvia," said Milford Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Terri
McDonald. "No one has come in with that noted in their records."

At MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham and Natick, "we've not seen
any effect from it in the ER," said spokeswoman Beth Donnelly.

Many local police departments also say they haven't seen evidence of
the drug.

"I haven't seen it" in Hudson, said Capt. David Stephens.

"I'm not aware of us coming across that," said Bellingham Police Capt.
Gerry Corriveau.

"We have come upon high school students with it in their possession,"
said Ashland's Fawkes. "When we happened upon (the students), they
acted very nervous and suspicious.

"They said they had purchased it at a Chinese herb shop in Boston,"
and "that vial cost them 50 bucks."

"We haven't come across it yet," said Franklin Deputy Police Chief
Steve Senerjian, but that "doesn't mean it isn't out there."

"We've seen a small amount, and heard some talk, but it really hasn't
made an impact at this time. But it has the potential," said Bill
Horne, executive director of Genesis Counseling Services in
Framingham. "It hasn't shown up here," said Sgt. Richard MacLean of
Sudbury, and that's fine with him. "We've got enough problems with
what's already out there. We don't need anything new."

Horne agrees.

"I'm a zero-tolerance guy. I don't like anything mind-altering.
Period. Paragraph," said Horne.

Youngsters already use computer cleaners as inhalants and share
attention deficit disorder prescriptions with friends, said Horne.

"We just don't need kids, or any person for that matter, trying to add
to the list of chemical substances."