LEDUC CALLS FOR BAN ON HALLUCINOGEN

A city council in central Alberta is pushing the federal government
to remove a powerful hallucinogenic drug from stores and add it to
the list of illegal substances.

"It is like the new acid," says Greg Krischke, the mayor of Leduc, a
city 35 kilometres south of Edmonton.

The psychedelic drug is called "magic mint" or "diviner's sage." It's
available in some hemp stores and on the Internet.

It is sold both as pills or as a dried product for smoking, and
causes intense hallucinations lasting 30 seconds to 30 minutes.

Council unanimously voted Monday night to bring the issue up as a
resolution at next year's annual meeting of the Federation of
Canadian Municipalities.

It wants the drug to be governed under the federal Drug and
Controlled Substances Act.

"This is definitely a preventative measure, and I want the federal
government to be aware this is readily available," Ald. Dana Smith
said Tuesday.

Called salvia divinorum, the drug has been chewed or smoked for
centuries by Mexico's Mazatec people.