FEDS EYE BAN ON OBSCURE HERB

Hallucinogen Salvia Target Of Vowed Ban

A little-known leaf is facing lockdown as Ottawa moves to ban a
hallucinogenic herb that has turned into a YouTube hit.

At a press conference in St. Vital on Monday, St. Boniface MP Shelly
Glover announced the federal government plans to put salvia divinorum
onto its list of controlled substances. The move would make selling,
owning or cultivating the herb a criminal offence.

Currently, salvia is sold and designated in Canada as "natural health
product." This gives Health Canada the ability to limit its sale to
approved vendors, though it has done little to enforce its
regulations.

But while the feds move to ban the herb, one head-shop owner shrugged
at the prospect of sales going up in smoke.

"The popularity goes up and down. It isn't something that goes flying
off the shelves," said Bart Stras, who owns The Joint on Marion
Street. "It's not like people are running in here going 'Salvia,
salvia salvia!' "

After all, it isn't cheap. Sold legally at head shops as a specialty
incense, a tiny bag of salvia divinorum extract will set buyers back
between $24.99 and $79.99, depending on its potency. When left to
smoulder, the herb produces an "earthy" aroma, Stras said.

Of course, it's not the smell Health Canada is targeting. If it is
inhaled directly, salvia can produce a brief but intense high,
including hallucinations. In most cases, the effects begin to fade
within five to 10 minutes.

Still, that's enough to make it a hot novelty item, especially with
curious youth. Glover hopes stiffer restrictions on salvia will keep
the psychedelic stuff out of teens' hands. "I'm concerned about it and
I don't know a single parent who wouldn't be concerned," she said. "We
are very worried about the long-term effects."

According to the 2009 Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey,
the first to measure the spread of salvia, just over seven per cent of
Canadians aged 15 to 24 had tried the substance.

Despite this, few members of the public knew about the herb until
December, when partygoers uploaded a video of teen pop idol Miley
Cyrus giggling uncontrollably and rapping Nicki Minaj lyrics while
having what she called a "bad trip" on the stuff.

It wasn't the only hit video showing wacky antics after smoking
salvia. On YouTube, hundreds of videos featuring salvia trips --
including one intrepid fellow attempting to garden and write a letter
to Congress while tripping -- helped fuel headlines about the herb,
which is sometimes called "magic mint."

Salvia is already banned in a handful of countries, including
Australia, as well as some U.S. states, but most countries have few or
no restrictions on selling, possessing or growing the plant.

Across the world, some high-profile incidents have contributed to
fears about salvia's impact. The intense trips have been blamed for at
least one teen suicide and a 2006 case, described by Health Canada,
where an incoherent teen threatened to shoot police officers.

Stras said he's not aware of any situations locally where people were
injured after choosing to smoke salvia, but stressed that ingesting it
in that way is not its intended use.

If the ban does go ahead, Stras said it won't make a large impact on
his shop.

"If they feel it needs to be banned, we'll comply with it," he said.
"This is a product that has never had any issues as a herbal incense
product... until people decided to abuse it."

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

Mexican shamans traditional users of the member of the mint
family

What is salvia?

Salvia divinorum is a plant in the mint family. Native to Mexico, the
herb produces pretty flowers... and leaves rich in a unique
psychotropic substance called salvinorin A.

What does it do?

For generations, Mexico's Mazatec shamans have chewed the fresh salvia
leaves to trigger spiritual visions during meditation. Since the
1990s, dried leaves, and ones coated with salvinorin extract, have
gained popularity in North America as a recreational drug.

What are its effects?

Effects vary, but smoking salvia usually produces a brief, intense and
often unpleasant high, which generally fades within 10 minutes. Users
may see dreamlike hallucinations and go on psychedelic journeys -- or
just feel terrified and overwhelmed. Advocates often recommend only
using it for meditation and under the guidance of a sober "sitter."

Is salvia safe?

Many are concerned that in addition to the intensity of its short-term
trips, salvia could have a long-term impact on mental or physical
health and more studies need to be done; at least one suicide in the
U.S. has been blamed on salvia use. So far, it is not known to be
physically addictive, and one study found it had very low toxicity,
even at megadoses to which humans are not generally exposed.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 22,
2011 A3