A LESSER-KNOWN, ANCIENT DRUG DRAWS BOTH USERS AND CRITICS

Salvia divinorum, a herbal hallucinogen that is legal to sell and
consume in Massachusetts and many other states, has recently come
under attack as lawmakers and concerned parents link it to some salvia
users' suicides and push to criminalize the drug.

Delaware and Virginia, along with six other states -- Tennessee, North
Dakota, Maine, Illinois, Louisiana and Missouri -- have outlawed
selling and consumption of salvia. Opponents to the ban say there is
no connection between the suicides and salvia use. At least 10 other
states are considering regulation or outright criminalization of the
drug.

Mazatec religious leaders in southern Mexico originally used salvia
for rituals but outside use began in the 1930s.

Jim Stone, owner of the Emporium Tobacco and Gift Shop in Middlebury,
Vt., said he is taking on Vermont lawmakers with help from the
American Civil Liberties Union in response to an ordinance by the town
of Middlebury that stated that Stone could not sell the legal herb.

His Middlebury store closed soon after the ordinance passed because he
and his customers were harassed by police and health officials, Stone
said. He said he is fighting the ordinance so it does not spread to
his two other stores in Rutland, Vt. and Farris, Vt.

"People had been asking for salvia a lot and it was perfectly legal,
so I bought a dozen," he said. "Two days later, I had sold it all with
a waiting list of 50 people."

Stone said he only sells salvia to those over 18 and many salvia
buyers from the two remaining Emporium locations are older "hippies"
who do not smoke marijuana anymore because it is illegal.

About 95 percent of young people who try salvia only do it once, Stone
said, because the effects are not good for everyone. Salvia is also a
reverse tolerant, so the more often a person uses it the less they
need to achieve the effects.

Evan Blackwell, of McLean, Va., where the drug is illegal, compared
criminalizing salvia to "reefer madness," or hysteria about marijuana,
because he said it is a harmless drug with no negative effects. "It
isn't violent and you can't hurt yourself," said Blackwell, the
creator of the "Keep Salvia Legal" Facebook group. "It is so short you
can't do anything that would harm yourself."

Blackwell said salvia users hold out hope for liberal-leaning states
to keep the drug legal because the laws against salvia are based on
its stigma of being dangerous.

Tim Moss, a salvia grower and webmaster for Just Say Once to Salvia, a
site that offers free trials of the drug, said the experience is
unlike other drugs and the predominant effects usually last 10 minutes.

"People don't know what they are looking for so sometimes they can
miss it," he said. "After 10 minutes, they will twitch and when it's
over they say two words: 'oh' and the second is a four letter word."

Moss said salvia should remain legal because it is not a party
drug.

"The magic of salvia happens in a quiet, dark room," he said. "You
have to focus on opening up your senses . . . it is a selfish
experience."