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 Health & Beauty | December 2006 
Maine Lawmaker Wants to Regulate New Hallucinogenic Drug
 Associated Press
| | Salvia divinorum is a species of sage that originates from the Mexican province of Oaxaca... | 
| | .... smoked in a bong, with its effects lasting about 10 minutes. (Jered Stuffco/Ryersonian) |
Bangor, Maine - A state lawmaker wants to regulate a hallucinogen that's closely related to an ornamental plant grown in herb and flower gardens.
Rep. Chris Barstow, D-Gorham, wants to ban the sale of salvia divinorum altogether but he said the proposal could be changed to limit sales to those 18 or older. The substance already is being sold in smoke shops in Maine.
Kim Johnson, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse, approached Barstow after a shop near her home town of Gorham began selling the hallucinogen.
Johnson said she supports banning salvia altogether and hopes Barstow's bill won't be watered down to a ban on sales to minors. "This drug is just as dangerous to someone who's 30 as someone who's 17," she said.
There are several varieties of salvia, which is in the same family as sage, but only salvia divinorum is known for its hallucinogenic effects. The substance has been used for hundreds of years by Mazatec Indians during religious ceremonies in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
It's classified as a controlled substance in several countries but not in the United States. Delaware, Louisiana, Missouri and Tennessee recently adopted measures to limit its availability. Regulations are under consideration in a number of other states.
Several smoke shop owners in the Bangor area said they already limit sales to of salvia divinorum to those who're 18 or older.
According to Hal Dunakin, an employee at the Middle Earth smoke shop, customers spend anywhere from $2 to $65 for dried leaves or extract.
Dunakin said the drug not only produces hallucinations but also affects physical coordination and emotional control, so he recommends that people treat it like alcohol by not driving or operating machinery while using it.
Nonetheless, he doesn't think it should be regulated. "I think it's ridiculous for one man to tell another man what he can do with his own body," he said.
At Herbal Tea and Tobacco on Main Street, owner Chris Ruhlin said efforts to regulate salvia reflect a "drug policy that lacks intelligent design." He has been selling the dried leaves for six years or more. "Everyone's buying it," he said.
Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com |
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