KANSAS BILL CRIMINALIZES HALLUCINOGENIC HERB

TOPEKA - Kansas is now one of nine states in the country that have
criminalized the illicit use of salvia divinorum, a hallucinogenic
herb.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has signed legislation banning the possession,
use or sale of the drug, which has long been legal in the U.S. and
used in shamanistic rituals in southern Mexico.

About 20 other states are considering making the drug illegal as
well.

Landscapers often use the broad leaf for ground cover. Smoking or
chewing a concentrated extract of the plant produces hallucinations, a
perception of overlapping realities, dizziness and impaired speech,
according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

It was mentioned as playing a part in the suicide of a Delaware
teenager in 2006, which brought it to the notice of officials in many
states.

Tom Stanton, president of the Kansas County and District Attorneys
Association, said he became interested after hearing about the
Delaware suicide and seeing videos on the Internet of teenagers under
the drug's influence.

Stanton said he didn't have any statistics to show how widespread the
drug's use is, but he said the Internet videos were enough for him to
determine its use needed to be controlled.

Jon Sloan, owner of Persephone's Journey in Lawrence, disagreed,
saying the bad behavior of a few teens on the Internet should not lead
to the substance's criminalization.

Sloan's store sell salvia, and he said it could prove to have
medicinal benefits.

Thomas Prisinzano, a medicinal chemistry professor at the University
of Kansas, has participated in studies of salvinorum A, the
psychoactive substance found in salvia. He has said salvia could be
used to treat pain and possibly depression and Alzheimer's disease.

Stanton, however, said few comprehensive studies have been conducted
to determine salvia's long- and short-term effects on the brain and
that the state shouldn't take any risks.