SALVIA COULD BECOME ILLEGAL IN MO

Missouri lawmakers are considering adding salvia divinorum, a legal
hallucinogenic, to Missouri's list of controlled substances, thereby
classifying it as a drug with a high potential for abuse. Salvia is among
13 drugs that could be added to the list.

The drug is legal nationwide, though St. Peters, Mo., has a city ordinance
limiting the substance's sale to adults 18 years and older.

A bill in the Missouri House would add 13 drugs to Missouri's controlled
substance list if passed, and would classify saliva as a Schedule I drug.
Rep. Rachel Bringer, D-Palmyra, the bill's co-sponsor, asked the bill's
sponsor, Rep. Scott Lipke, R-Jackson, to add salvia to his proposal.

According to the bill, a substance may be classified as Schedule I if it
"has a high potential for abuse, and has no accepted medical use in
treatment in the United States or lacks accepted safety for use in
treatment under medical supervision."

Lipke said the bill saw no opposition when it went to hearing in the House
Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee, but he has received e-mails
and letters from concerned people around the world.

"I've gotten some e-mails that say we shouldn't be trying to do this, it's
not bad at all, and it has medicinal use," Lipke said. "I don't think I've
seen one yet from anyone in Missouri that's opposed to it."

Opponents of the bill say salvia has few negative affects on its users and
that it has potential medicinal uses. Daniel Siebert, an ethnobotanist and
creator of the Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center, said he
worries that the move could restrict researchers.

"I'm more concerned about making it difficult for scientific research to
continue," Siebert said. "Missouri is considering (some) of the most
restrictive scheduling. If you put something in that schedule, it's very
difficult for researchers to obtain it."

Salvia is a kappa-opioid agonist, a substance that acts upon the
kappa-opioid nerve receptor in the brain. The result: pain relief and, when
taken in high doses, hallucinations.

The most potent of known kappa-opioid drugs, salvia has pain-relieving
properties that are of specific interest to the medical community because
the substance is not known to be addictive.

"They reduce sensitivity to pain, but they don't lead to addiction or
dependence, which is obviously a problem with drugs like morphine," Siebert
said.

Siebert said salvia is relatively safe, but it can produce hallucinations
when taken in high doses.

"I've never heard of anyone getting into serious accidents," Siebert said.
"I've heard of people stumbling over furniture. One guy put his hand
through a window."

Although salvia can stimulate hallucinations, Siebert stresses that the
substance is different from well-known hallucinogens.

"It's in a different category than other hallucinogenic drugs like LSD,"
Siebert said. "It works in a very different way, and it has a number of
properties that the medical community is interested in."