THERRIAULT BILL WOULD BAN SALVIA DRUG

Samantha Verna, assistant manager at 2K1 Neat Things on College Road,
said she doesn't know why Alaska lawmakers are trying to ban a
product she sells as incense. Salvia divinorum, she said, is a
natural extract derived from sage plants.

"People smoke it, but you're not supposed to," she said. "It's just
an incense."

Salvia is often marketed as incense but can be used as an "herbal
meditation supplement," according to one company.

Salvia is a perennial and a member of the mint family. Many types of
Salvia are grown for ornamental use in flower gardens. A well-known
variety of the plant is common sage, used in cooking.

Sen. Gene Therriault, a Republican from North Pole, called the plant
a "very powerful hallucinogenic substance" capable of "long-lasting
psychological effects" in a statement accompanying the bill he
introduced earlier this month through the state Senate Affairs Committee.

Therriault referred to warnings from experts that users of the
substance risk depression and schizophrenia.

Because the drug is not widely restricted, it is becoming more
popular, he argued.

"We have an opportunity to get ahead of this powerful substance and
reduce the risk to our young people," he wrote.

Therriault's bill would make it a felony to possess the substance,
sell it to someone under 19 or make or deliver the drug on school
grounds, according to a fact sheet for Senate Bill 313. The bill
would place Salvia in the same class of controlled substances as LSD
and peyote.

The substance is already banned in two other states.

"We'd have to throw it away if they passed that," Verna said.

2K1 Neat Things sells Salvia in 100-, 140-, and 160-milligram units
of varying potencies. The smallest sells for $79.95 and Verna said
the store might sell a few each week.

"It doesn't really fly out of here," she said.

Mr. Rock & Roll on Cushman Street also sells Salvia.

"It's made from sage," said the store manager, Wendy, who wanted to
give only her first name. "It's been around for centuries."

Wendy said the effects of the substance last for five to 10 minutes
and provide a kind of "vision quest" or "inner-self" experience.

"It just kind of gives you a perspective on where you are in your
life," she said.

The store is careful to sell only to people over 18, she said, and
most of the people buying it are between the ages of 30 and 55.

She said she's had a lot of feedback from people who have used Salvia
and has not heard any reports of bad trips or dangerous experiences
resulting from it.

The store sells Salvia produced by a company called Club 13 and
labeled, "For incense use only." The package warns, "First time users
exhibit caution! Tolerances vary. Use at your own risk."

Dave Stancliff, a legislative assistant for Therriault, claimed
Salvia is the "most powerful" natural hallucinogen known.

He said his research on Internet chat rooms shows the effects can be
pronounced and long-lasting, and can include flash-backs.

One thing it can do, he said, is allow ways of thinking that make
reality seem "mundane" and life futile. The substance was banned in
Delaware after a teenager there killed himself in a suicide
attributed in part to his use of Salvia.

Stancliff said it was important to ban the substance lest the state
imply to children Salvia is safe.

"The fact is, legal means safe," he said.

He said he learned about Salvia on the Internet while researching a
different subject and passed what he learned on to Therriault. The
bill was not in response to a problem noticed in Alaska.

Alaska State Troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said Salvia "has
really not shown up on our radar here in Alaska."

Therriault's bill was passed by the Health, Education and Social
Services Committee last week and referred to the Judiciary Committee.
A hearing on the bill will be held this morning.

Mr. Rock & Roll's Wendy said she wasn't surprised by the lawmakers'
effort but didn't know why they would want to ban a natural substance
she considers safe.

"I would hate to see them go that far," she said.