CONTROVERSIAL SALVIA PLANT NATIVE TO MEXICO GAINING POPULARITY AS RECREATIONAL DRUG

Children as young as 12 are getting high on a potent psychedelic drug
that some compare to LSD - and it's perfectly legal.

"It's getting really bad," warns Edmonton youth worker Darren Herd. "A
lot of kids are getting their hands on salvia. The demand is huge."

And just as worrisome, said Herd, who founded Youth Addiction
Awareness. He's hearing increasing reports that young kids are
shoplifting cold medications and swallowing entire packages of them.

"They're getting really high and then really sick," Herd
says.

"I've heard about a couple of kids who are teaching younger ones how
to steal them."

Salvia, a plant native to Mexico, has been used for centuries in
spiritual ceremonies. In recent years it's gained popularity as a
recreational drug.

ILLEGAL IN AUSTRALIA

While illegal in places like Australia and Denmark, it is completely
unregulated in Canada and legal for anyone to buy or sell. It's
stocked by several head shops around Edmonton and costs just over $40
a gram, or can be purchased online.

When smoked, the high lasts only five to 10 minutes, but can cause
hallucinations. If you chew the leaves, you can stay high longer.

Sagewisdom.org, a salvia users' website, says a mild high can be as
simple as an overall sense of well-being, along with "relaxation and
increased sensory appreciation."

From there it can progress to vivid hallucinations and
blackouts.

"Injuries can be sustained without pain being felt. On awakening, the
individual will have no recollection of what he/she did."

Health Canada spokesman Phillipe Laroche said salvia is not listed by
the United Nations "and is therefore not required to be regulated as a
controlled substance" by Canada.

However, he added, the feds are "continuing to collect information ...
from both national and international sources, and considering what
regulatory action might be warranted."

Meanwhile, one of the city's salvia retailers is regulating himself.
Colin Rogucki, co-owner of Shell Shock, says his three stores refuse
to sell the plant to anyone under the age of 18.

"That's our choice," he said.

Shell Shock has been selling salvia for more than five years, but "we
don't really market it. There is nothing in the store announcing it
and you have to ask staff," said Rogucki.

The decision not to sell to kids, he said, was made after an angry
mother came into the store.

"She found her kid's stash (of salvia). She thought it was pot and
smoked it," Rogucki said. "It didn't have the same effect."

He added that while his company won't sell salvia to minors and few
people under the age of 18 even ask for it, other retailers have no
qualms.

"We try to have some social responsibility," he said.

Meanwhile, the UN revealed yesterday in its annual World Drug Report
that Canada has become a major centre for manufacturing
methamphetamine and ecstasy.

INDUSTRIAL-SIZE METH LABS

The report said that last year there were 17 "industrial-sized" meth
labs reported in Canada, mostly for export to the U.S. and Asia. There
were only 11 reported in the U.S.

MacEwan College criminologist Bill Pitt said Western Canada is a hub
for drug manufacturing and distribution into the U.S. because of our
"porous" border.

"We have wide-open spaces, a mobile population and (criminal
organizations) don't have to deal with the Rio Grande (River) and
5,000 border security officers on patrol."

And with so much pressure by law enforcement concentrated on
Vancouver, he said, "Alberta is the pressure valve" for criminal activity.