LAWMAKER FINDS A CAUSE IN A HALLUCINOGENIC MINT

RALEIGH - YouTube may prove the downfall of Salvia divinorum. For
years, college students have used the hallucinogenic herb for a cheap
- -- and legal -- thrill without attracting much attention. But with
hundreds of online videos showing people smoking Salvia and
dissolving into fits of laughter and hallucination, North Carolina is
considering joining 14 other states that have outlawed it.

A bill proposed in the legislature last week would make Salvia a
Schedule I drug, equivalent to heroin or LSD.

State Sen. Bill Purcell, a Laurinburg Democrat, said he has no
evidence that the herb is being widely abused, but he is concerned
about anecdotal reports of people who became violent or suicidal
while using it. "Methamphetamine got out of control before we did
anything about that," said Purcell, a retired pediatrician. "I'm
hoping we can do something sooner this time." A member of the mint
family, Salvia was traditionally used in religious rituals by the
Mazatecs Indians of Mexico. It first became popular in the United
States in the mid-1990s under names such as Magic Mint or Purple
Sticky and can be found in head shops in Raleigh and Chapel Hill for
as cheap as $14.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration currently regards Salvia as
a "drug of concern" and is studying it. In the past few years, states
such as California, Florida and Virginia have banned it outright,
while Louisiana and Tennessee have restricted its consumption.

'It's just too intense' Not everyone thinks it's a serious problem.

Bryan Roth, a professor of pharmacology at UNC-Chapel Hill, has
studied Salvia and its chemical derivatives to see whether they can
be of use in developing anti-psychotic medication. He said it is not
addictive and its effects typically last only about 15 minutes.

He said many regular users of hallucinogens say they do not enjoy it
because it is too potent.

"Most people don't like it," he said. "It's just too intense." That
was the experience of James Bonhotel, a 30-year-old bartender living
in Wilmington, who decided to try Salvia after hearing about it from
friends and reading about it on the Internet. He found the experience
"strange and uncomfortable."

"After the initial high wears off in about two minutes, you are left
with a hangover of sorts where you just don't feel right mentally,"
he said. Few reliable studies have looked at the use of Salvia. A
scientific study published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence medical
journal in 2007 showed 4 percent of students at a college in the
Southwest had tried it at least once in the previous year.

By comparison, 35 percent of students in the same study reported
trying marijuana. Attracting attention Bert Wood, president of the
Partnership for a Drug-Free North Carolina, said he's concerned about
Salvia, but he also doesn't want to attract too much attention to
something that isn't really a major problem right now. "This could
end up being like those books that the Catholic church bans and then
everybody wants to read it," he said.

The partnership does not have a stance on the proposed legislation,
but Wood said they favor limiting access to Salvia and other
hallucinogens. Roth, the UNC researcher, said he does not think the
herb should be sold over the Internet, but he said tougher
restrictions could hurt his ability to continue research he believes
could help victims of Alzheimer's disease, depression and schizophrenia.

"Outlawing it basically brings research to a halt," he said.