SALIVATING OVER SALVIA

When drug users quibble over what hallucinogenic drugs create the
strongest trips, they generally rate LSD as No. 1, followed closely by
Salvia divinorum.

Most everyone is familiar with LSD. It's a storied substance that
routinely makes the headlines, getting a fair amount of well-deserved
bad press. On top of that, it's a Schedule 1 drug that is illegal to
manufacture, possess, buy, or distribute in the United States. Despite
the image and the laws, in 2006 some 23 million Americans were
estimated to have used the drug in their lifetimes.

Salvia, on the other hand, is a relatively unknown drug. It gets
almost no major media attention and is legal to distribute and possess
in all but a dozen states. You may not know about Salvia, but there's
a very good chance your children do, maybe even intimately.

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, Salvia is the latest craze in
the youth drug culture, quickly becoming the drug of choice. Word
about its dissociative abilities has spread like wildfire on the Web
and kids find themselves amused by - and therefore curious of - its
effects after viewing any one of the thousands of Salvia trip videos
that are available on YouTube, Google Video and the like. They're
easily able to see their peers acting erratically, aggressively and
dangerously, even driving while under the influence of the herb. Go
online and give it a look. If you have even a modicum of maturity,
you'll find these videos disturbing.

The net not only promotes Salvia, but it sells it, too. This makes it
ungodly easy for youth to get their mitts on a potent drug. No longer
do they have to worry about breaking a law or dealing with
questionable and dangerous drug pushers. It's all just a mouse-click
away.

A quick search will show hundreds of Internet companies selling
Salvia. A relatively cheap high, anyone can buy it for as little as $9
a gram to as much as $64 per gram depending on the strength. And,
unfortunately, it's delivered incognito. In most cases it arrives via
standard mail in an envelope or as a package from what appears to be a
reputable supplement/health company along the lines of GNC. Few
parents would question their children on either count.

Because of the congruence of all these factors, use of Salvia has
exploded. In the past 12 months alone, more than 750,000 have used it
for the first time. One online vendor brags that his sales to New York
state have increased by 1,000 percent in the past half-year.

Yes, you read that right. The Empire State, usually the state to have
more laws than any other, has no restrictions on Salvia. So there's a
very good chance that high school and college students you know have
used the stuff.

This legal impasse is not for a lack of trying. For the past five
legislative sessions, the state Senate has passed a series of bills
that make the sale and or possession of Salvia an offense in New York
state. In each and every session, the Assembly has put them out to die
in committee. This year was no different. Bill S.695, sponsored by
Sen. Flanagan of Long Island, would make it illegal to peddle the
plant in New York. It was overwhelmingly passed by the Senate back in
February. Since then, the Assembly has let the bill (as A.610) sit
idle in the economic development committee. Other bills, like state
Sen. George Maziarz's attempt to identify Salvia as an LSD-type
controlled substance (S.7736) have been met with disdain. That said,
it's imperative that you contact your assemblyperson and ask him or
her to support such legislation when it returns to the floor in 2009.

If they fail to make headway yet again, which is likely and
unconscionable, it might be up to our local elected officials to
succeed where Albany has failed. The county legislators would need
only to follow the lead of Suffolk County. There, back in April of
this year, it was signed into local law that possession or sale of
Salvia in the county is a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail
and/or a $1,000 fine.

As long as the laws allow it, kids will continue to use this weed,
putting them and their companions in peril. It's up to you as a parent
or friend to make yourself aware of this insidious, easily acquired
drug. With no laws on the books, it will be up to you to make law in
your home.

Bob Confer is a Gasport resident and vice president of Confer Plastics
Inc.