Looking for alternative solutions

lambert's picture

How about hallucinatory drugs?

Until a decade ago, the use of salvia was largely limited to those seeking revelation under the tutelage of Mazatec shamans in its native Oaxaca, Mexico.

Today, this mind-altering member of the mint family is broadly available for lawful sale online and in head shops across the United States.

Though older Americans typically have never heard of salvia, the psychoactive sage has become something of a phenomenon among this country’s thrill-seeking youth.

Well, that just changed, didn't it?

When the federal government this year published its first estimates of salvia use, the data astonished many: some 1.8 million people had tried it in their lifetimes, including 750,000 in the previous year. Among males 18 to 25, where consumption is heaviest, nearly 3 percent reported using salvia in the previous year, making it twice as prevalent as LSD and nearly as popular as Ecstasy.

Naturally, people are trying to criminalize it, since you should only get loaded using branded products produced by corporate monopolies:

This year, Florida made possession or sale a felony punishable by 15 years in prison. California took a gentler approach by making it a misdemeanor to sell or distribute to minors. Though states are moving quickly, Bertha K. Madras, a deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said federal regulators remained in a quandary.

“The risk of any drug that is intoxicating is high,” Dr. Madras said. “You’re one car ride away from an event that could be life-altering. But in terms of really good studies, there is just very little. So what do you do? How do you make policy in the absence of good hard cold information?”

Criminalize it, silly! What's wrong with you? The happy, relaxed citizen is the non-consuming citizen!
Says one user:

“Salvia takes you out of the world and puts you in a different place.”

Can't have that. Especially when it's cheap and easily available.

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Imelda Blahnik's picture

salvia

At first glance I misread this as concerned with the hallucinatory properties of saliva. Who knew? Criminalization, any day now...no swallowing!!!

dupager's picture

Butterflies must be addicts then

I googlz and finds that butterflies like themselves some Salvia trippin.. (BTW: i think my Grandma grew salvia in her flower garden... shocking!)

Probably not the same hard core drugs they want to ban.. but.. what do those butterflies know...

"Autumn-blooming salvias, such as Salvia leucantha and S. guaranitica, produce a show in September and October. They are especially attractive to monarchs, viceroys and swallowtails. "
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/...

happy growing.. dupager

 dupager

Sarah's picture

I will be damned. "Riders of the Purple Sage," by Zane Grey

went on for daaaaayyyyyz about the beauty of the countryside, and the intoxicating smell of the ... wait for it ... salvia.


We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0

1 John 4:18

lambert's picture

Sarah, that is totally, totally cool

I love hearing about connections that I never would have dreamed existed.

Now I have to read Zane Grey. Never have. A good series? Maybe a little like Elmore Leonard?

[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi

there are hundreds

of salvia species, of which, alas, it appears there's only one species that's hallucinogenic --

Diviner's sage (Salvia divinorum) also called Yerba de la Pastora or sometimes just Salvia, is a plant that differs from all the other sages. It is a Mexican visionary herb and there is some evidence it is a true cultivar. It is known to have strong psychoactive (specifically psychedelic) properties.

Sarah's picture

Lambert: Think "Last of the Mohicans" N/T

We can admit that we're killers ... but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0


We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0

1 John 4:18

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