Posted on 05/26/2006 1:11:43 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
A herb that makes you hallucinate is perfectly legal in Texas. The drug is sold without a prescription, and medical experts say it's dangerous.
At the Gas Pipe in Austin, Purple Sticky Salvia is sold for $20, along with a list of safety instructions on how to smoke it.
However, some argue that the list is not enough the product should be banned by state and federal governments.
Purple Sticky Salvia is an all-natural hallucinogen, made from native plants used in landscaping. In Mexico, it has been used in religious ceremonies for centuries.
"It is something that I think it's very real, and has the potential to do some real damage," said Dr. John Roache, a clinical pharmacologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center.
Roache is skeptical of the herb salvia divinorum, which can also be purchased online. One place it can't be found is on the Drug Enforcement Agency's list of controlled substances, and experts say that's a problem.
"I do consider it very dangerous, and I think it's only a matter of time before it will become illegal," Roache said.
Now teens are using it for their own trips.
"For a few minutes you see stuff, you hallucinate for a little bit," user Steve Fanning said.
D.A.R.E. coordinator Dep. George Little is baffled by the product's accessibility.
"There comes a time when somebody ought to say enough is enough," Little said.
He says if people are smoking it and hallucinating, then it needs to be off the market.
"Just because something's legal, doesn't necessarily make it right," Little said.
So far, a handful of states are considering outlawing this drug. Louisiana and Missouri have already done so, and several other countries have named it a controlled substance.
Harrumph! Huffing industrial roofing solvents was good enough for my generation. Kids these days...
Personally, I think that the authorities are terrified of anything that could put a dent in the profits that are obtained from cocaine, heroin, weed, etc.
The "War on Drugs" has lasted my entire adult life, and I'm getting close to checkout time. I've always believed that some very respectable people are making some very serious money through a number of "deniable" cutouts.
And the award for Best Non-Sequitor goes to...
Or even worse, you could take it while surfing DU...
Great article in Wall Street Journal today on plants releasing toxins: "Its tissues are 'like toxic waste dumps filled with dangerous chemicals that kill or deter the organisms that eat it.'" They quote from a book, "A Natural History of Ferns."
There are a large number of plants that release chemicals. I like this quote from WSJ in this regard to insects eating one: "One meal and the insect is shedding exoskeleton like an ecdysiast and 'has eaten its last supper.'"
Any idiot who ingests chemicals for psycho-active effect (unless a minor) deserves the body damage they receive. At this point in the War on Drugs, I think we need to allow death by drug suicide. Just arrest them when they commit other crimes -- like stealing to support a drug habit, or driving under the influence. There's no way we can make every plant illegal.
When it comes to children and their drug fad of the decade, the parents should be arrested and fined for child neglect.
After wandering a bit on your link, I came across the following:
"Unfortunately there is little room for error before the effects become potentially dangerous. When the dose goes above 500 - 1000 mcg the effects can be very alarming, I have seen several people get up and lunge around the room falling over furniture, babbling incomprehensible nonsense and knocking their heads into walls. Several people have tried to wander out of the house. When the experience is over they have no memory of any of this. In fact they usually remember very different events. To an outside observer people in this condition have a blank look in their eyes as if no one is present (and perhaps no one is). It is also common for people to have a facial expression which is probably best described as being like that of a frighten ed animal. It appears that at these "larger" doses one completely loses awareness of, and control over, the physical body and for some reason part of the brain causes the body to get up and move about recklessly while the individual has no awareness of where their physical body is or what it is doing. It seems inevitable that one of these days some careless person will do too large a dose without a sitter and will wander out in the street, or hurt themselves in some way."
The problem with keeping such a substance legal, and available to the public, is that the average member of said public, especially if he or she is young, is bound to overdose on this plant. As you can see above, the results are potentially catastrophic.
> Or even worse, you could take it while surfing DU...
AAAUGGGHH!!! MY EYES!!!!
Thanks uglybiker. Thanks a lot.
I can only imagine THAT pic in kaliedoscopic vision... AAAUGGGHH!!! THERE GO MY EYES AGAIN!!!
Good lord, that's one fugly bunch of womyn.
"kaleidoscopic"
Don't blame me, I was typing with my eyes closed.
TAKE THAT!!!
I don't know about that...
That can happen with almost any drug.
Rest assured that it will.
OKAY, I SURRENDER -- I'm no match for Purple Sticky Helen!!!
God that's hideous. You are a fiend. (Actually, that's a great hack!)
lmfao.
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