RADIO HOST'S SALVIA VIDEO SPARKS WORLDWIDE REACTION

Reaction to the video of a local radio host smoking salvia live on air
has been as swift and powerful as the drug's hallucinogenic effects.

The 12-minute video of Wired 96.3 host Ryder smoking the herb salvia
divinorum set off a storm of public reaction that started Thursday
morning after his live demonstration and continued on Friday when
popular gossip website Perezhilton.com post the video.

"The reaction is exciting and honestly it's scary with how big this
has been," said Ryder in an interview Friday afternoon. "I was
mentally prepared for negative reaction in Saskatoon, but now it's
worldwide."

In phone calls, Facebook comments and emails, hundreds of people have
been praising and condemning the radio station for the stunt.

Ryder said the most interesting feedback is from one-time users of the
drug --- a legal substance sold in some head shops -- who agree it
should be illegal.

"These people were as surprised as I was about how serious this is,"
he said.

The video shows Ryder inhaling the salvia smoke from a pipe Thursday
morning during his show. The camera doesn't leave Ryder for tense 10
minutes as he goes from sober to high and back again.

Perez Hilton posted the video on his popular gossip blog on Friday,
giving the performance a large audience. Perez Hilton runs one of the
world's most popular celebrity gossip websites, according to website
traffic monitor Alexa.

"To get that international exposure is great and we're proud we
accomplished it," Ryder said.

Hilton posted the video because of its connection to teen celebrity
Miley Cyrus, who can be seen smoking what her publicist claimed was
salvia in video leaked to the media.

That video is what prompted Ryder to smoke the drug on air and film
the experience, a decision he said was the right one because helped
spread his message.

Ryder is pushing to make salvia divinorum an illegal drug and he said
the on-air stunt was an attempt to draw attention the drug's effects.

"I'm not one to promote ignorance as an option," he said. "When people
see the video it scares them and shakes them up. The message is there:
(Salvia) is too intense and too available."

Radio colleagues from Saskatoon and elsewhere have contacted Wired
96.3 to compliment the stunt, which Ryder said he values more than any
nod on a website.

"People appreciate how real it was," Ryder said. "It was an extremely
real 10 minutes of educational, powerful and meaningful radio."