Salvia: more powerful than LSD, and legal

Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | April 6, 2009 | Philip Sherwell

[Schnucki]

Salvia divinorum - aka the 'YouTube drug' - is banned in many countries around the world, but not in Britain. Is it as harmless as its users claim?

In a cluttered living room in south London, Lee Hogan, a sound engineer and part-time disc jockey, perches on the edge of a cheap leather armchair and bends his head towards a glass water pipe. A friend, kneeling on the floor, holds the stem of the pipe and uses a cigarette lighter to burn a tea-smelling herb. The herb glows red, and as it does so, Hogan places his mouth over the aperture of the pipe (better known as a 'bong' to those in the know). He breathes in deeply, taking a lung-full of smoke.

It's the way that many people choose to inhale marijuana, but this weed is far more potent and far more harmful. Hogan is smoking salvia divinorum, a species of sage that also happens to be the most powerful hallucinogenic herb known to man. It's also perfectly legal.

It doesn't take long for the effects to take hold. Seconds after breathing in the smoke, Hogan leans back in his chair and lets out a deep, slightly manic laugh. He hugs himself and starts to giggle. The giggle then transforms into a whimper, which, in turn, becomes a series of high-pitched squeaks. He is trying to talk, but makes no sense whatsoever. Then, mouth hanging wide open, he looks around the room. His eyes have glazed over and he doesn't seem to know where he is. As he slowly manoeuvres himself in his chair, his head rocking from side to side, he looks like a man who has just been hit over the skull by an iron bar.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

What a crock.

Dried banana peels are just as hallucinogenic.

[Sig Sauer P220]

Salvia is nothing to spit at. Let me tell you.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

"I thought I was doomed!' Of course, if this was the experience of everyone who smoked salvia, it wouldn't have much of a following"

"of course" not. that's the point about drugs, people go back time after time even though they have bad experiences.

[GOP_Party_Animal]

His eyes have glazed over and he doesn't seem to know where he is. As he slowly manoeuvres himself in his chair, his head rocking from side to side, he looks like a man who has just been hit over the skull by an iron bar.

Obama voter!

[Billthedrill]

Hey, those work, man. You just have to get the part of the peel that's under the sticker.

Anyone who understood what we just said is too old.

[Syncro]

Spider webs too!

[Buck W.]

“Seconds after breathing in the smoke, Hogan leans back in his chair and lets out a deep, slightly manic laugh. He hugs himself and starts to giggle. The giggle then transforms into a whimper, which, in turn, becomes a series of high-pitched squeaks. He is trying to talk, but makes no sense whatsoever. Then, mouth hanging wide open, he looks around the room. His eyes have glazed over and he doesn’t seem to know where he is. As he slowly manoeuvres himself in his chair, his head rocking from side to side, he looks like a man who has just been hit over the skull by an iron bar. “

He then went out and cast an absentee ballot for Barack H. Obama.

[denydenydeny]

It doesn't take long for the effects to take hold. Seconds after breathing in the smoke, Hogan leans back in his chair and lets out a deep, slightly manic laugh. He hugs himself and starts to giggle. The giggle then transforms into a whimper, which, in turn, becomes a series of high-pitched squeaks. He is trying to talk, but makes no sense whatsoever. Then, mouth hanging wide open, he looks around the room. His eyes have glazed over and he doesn't seem to know where he is. As he slowly manoeuvres himself in his chair, his head rocking from side to side, he looks like a man who has just been hit over the skull by an iron bar.

Finally, an explanation for Al Gore.

[wac3rd]

That sounds like Brian Williams and Keith Olbermann reading a story about Dopey-Changey selling the nation to the UN.

[eclecticEel]

The nice thing is that the experience ends in 5-10 minutes, you’re going to have a ‘bad trip’ that lasts for hours on end. The smoke is murder on your lungs though ...

[eclecticEel]

you’re not going to have a ‘bad trip’ that lasts for hours on end ahem, correction.

[JennysCool]

It doesn't take long for the effects to take hold. Seconds after breathing in the smoke, Hogan leans back in his chair and lets out a deep, slightly manic laugh. He hugs himself and starts to giggle. The giggle then transforms into a whimper, which, in turn, becomes a series of high-pitched squeaks.

Oh. That'll impress the chicks!

[snarks_when_bored]

Only the weak need to get high. Pathetic.

[postoak]

Well, we already have datura. No need for this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura

“Due to the potent combination of anticholinergic substances it contains, Datura intoxication typically produces effects similar to that of an anticholinergic delirium: a complete inability to differentiate reality from fantasy (frank delirium, as contrasted to hallucination); hyperthermia; tachycardia; bizarre, and possibly violent behavior; and severe mydriasis with resultant painful photophobia that can last several days. Pronounced amnesia is another commonly reported effect.

According to the drug information site Erowid, no other substance has received as many “Train Wreck” severely negative experience reports as has Datura[11], noting that “the overwhelming majority of those who describe to us their use of Datura (and to a lesser extent, Belladonna, Brugmansia and Brunfelsia) find their experiences extremely mentally and physically unpleasant and not infrequently physically dangerous.”

[clippedwing]

This stuff will be made illegal by the end of the year. It has no purpose but to get people tripped out stoned.

Unfortunately it will probably take some indirectly related deaths to happen.

There is no question that if you operate any vehicle on this stuff that someone is going to get hurt.

[dokmad]

"He is trying to talk, but makes no sense whatsoever. Then, mouth hanging wide open, he looks around the room. His eyes have glazed over and he doesn't seem to know where he is."

I call that The Obama Effect!

[girlangler]

Huh? I grow a red flowering plant called Salvia in my window boxes.

Maybe this is why my cat Tsali is so crazy.

[BallyBill]

As someone who devoted youthful years to research: BS!

[HighlyOpinionated]

I’m getting old . . . I thought it read SALIVA more powerful than LSD. No wonder I think we have a Kenyan Citizen as a US President, the Banks have been Bailed Out, and the Unions control the White House, etc. It’s all in the saliva.