Salvia divinorum
Have you ever heard of Salvia divinorum? I hadn't until this morning. There's a brief article about it in The Daily Tarheel, the student newspaper here at UNC.
Salvia divinorum is a hallucinogenic drug that's legal in most states and available in head shops The article even identifies the two locations here in Chapel Hill that carry it. Scary stuff, especially if you have college age kids. I'll have to forward the article to my brother and his wife.
The active ingredient in it is Salvinorin-A, C23H28O8, which is available from chemical supply houses though I suspect it's regulated to some degree. The drug was characterized recently by Bryan Roth, a pharmacology professor here at UNC, back in 2002 in an article in PNAS. According to him, the only affect Salvia has is on the kappa opiate receptor in the brain. The psychoactive mechanism for this was identified by Daniel Siebert back in the 1990s.
The drug was originally derived from a plant that is a member of the sage genus and the Lamiaceae family (mint). It's been used as a hallucinogen by the Mazatec shamans and is only naturally found in Oaxaca, Mexico though I suspect most of it is chemically synthesized now.
While it's currently legal, that's probably just due to its recent "official" discovery by researchers. No doubt it'll soon be illegal as the slow wheels of justice grind away. According to the article in The Tarheel, a gram costs $80 and most users don't find the experience pleasant.
An article in Wikipedia is more optimistic though I suspect it might have been written by Siebert who promotes the drug via several books and many speaking engagements.
It's a puzzle to me why anyone would use a drug like this. It makes me think that the kids just have too much money--to burn 80 bucks just to have a novel experience.
Most of the people that read this blog are parents. What do you think of a student newspaper printing an article which for all practical purposes is a instructional on how to get and use a drug (albeit a legal one)?
Salvia divinorum is a hallucinogenic drug that's legal in most states and available in head shops The article even identifies the two locations here in Chapel Hill that carry it. Scary stuff, especially if you have college age kids. I'll have to forward the article to my brother and his wife.The active ingredient in it is Salvinorin-A, C23H28O8, which is available from chemical supply houses though I suspect it's regulated to some degree. The drug was characterized recently by Bryan Roth, a pharmacology professor here at UNC, back in 2002 in an article in PNAS. According to him, the only affect Salvia has is on the kappa opiate receptor in the brain. The psychoactive mechanism for this was identified by Daniel Siebert back in the 1990s.
The drug was originally derived from a plant that is a member of the sage genus and the Lamiaceae family (mint). It's been used as a hallucinogen by the Mazatec shamans and is only naturally found in Oaxaca, Mexico though I suspect most of it is chemically synthesized now.
While it's currently legal, that's probably just due to its recent "official" discovery by researchers. No doubt it'll soon be illegal as the slow wheels of justice grind away. According to the article in The Tarheel, a gram costs $80 and most users don't find the experience pleasant.
An article in Wikipedia is more optimistic though I suspect it might have been written by Siebert who promotes the drug via several books and many speaking engagements.It's a puzzle to me why anyone would use a drug like this. It makes me think that the kids just have too much money--to burn 80 bucks just to have a novel experience.
Most of the people that read this blog are parents. What do you think of a student newspaper printing an article which for all practical purposes is a instructional on how to get and use a drug (albeit a legal one)?
Comments
It did not sound like a very pleasant high.
I would like to think it is too expensive for kids, but they seem to have a lot of available cash.
I wonder if what is being sold at the store is stronger than what the Mayans used. Being that it is chemically prepared now.
Just one more thing for me to discuss w. my kids.
I would think that there are other more readily available highs out there for college kids. However, more readily available LEGAL ones would be hard to find.
Eh - I grew up in the "beer for 18-year-olds" generation and got a lot of that thrill-seeking behavior out with a 6-pack of Busch. 3 bucks and I was done for the night.
Alcohol has been illegal, Tiff. That experiment was deemed a failure but I suspect no more people were circumventing prohibition than are currently using banned substances now. Should we legalize them as a result? I'd say no but then again, I don't use anything that's illegal. Those that do might have a different answer.
The problem is when the behavior, drug taking, becomes a habit hard to break when people grow dependent on them that is.
It is proof that students continue to show the finger to authority, while saying things like "It's LEGAL!" and "You don't know what it's like!".
Things won't change until someone dies or ends up brain damaged. Then there will be legislation, organization - and classification.
As a result, those that use this for religious purposes will chance breaking the law in order to practice their beliefs. Sadly, it's the same old - same old.
So, this school would get no donations from me. They would get letters to the President and to the editor of the local newspaper.