Illinois bans salvia

[Heretic.Ape.]

Legislation: Illinois Joins Short List of States Banning Salvia Divinorum

from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #516, 12/28/07
As of January 1, possession of salvia divinorum in Illinois will be a felony. Before the legislature passed a bill this year, the obscure Mexican mint with hallucinogenic properties had been unregulated and freely sold at tobacco stores, "head shops," and even gas stations.


salvia leaves (photo courtesy Erowid.org)

"We decided to move forward rather than waiting for someone to be killed because of it," said state Rep. Dennis Reboletti (D-Elmhurst), the bill's sponsor. He told the Chicago Tribune it was necessary for Illinois to regulate the herb tightly because the federal government had failed to act. The DEA considers salvia a "drug of concern," but has so far not moved to schedule it under the Controlled Substances Act.

Salvia has traditionally been used in religious ceremonies by Mazatec Indians in southern Mexico, but in recent years, it has spread to the US and other countries, where it is easily available over the counter or via the Internet. At high doses, salvia can produce intense hallucinations, but those effects are short-lived, with a "trip" being over in a matter of minutes. It is not a drug experience that most users wish to repeatedly revisit.


But for Reboletti and his peers, the risk of teens and college students from salvia use are so great that it must be banned. "It's very likely that you could hurt yourself or hurt others while in this drug-induced state," he said.
But others said that given salvia's spiritual and medical uses and potential, banning it is too harsh. Crystal Basler, owner of a religious supply store in Carbondale, told the Tribune most of her customers were medical -- not recreational -- users. "Some people describe [the effect] as they get very relaxed, kind of like taking an anti-stress pill," Basler said. "The leaf is very, very mild. There's no reason to ever make the leaf illegal. A lot of women buy it for PMS depression."


Salvia should be regulated, but not banned, she said. "I'm a big fan of it being regulated," Basler said. "But it shouldn't be illegal because you're interfering with people's right to choose in terms of their health care and religious following."


Salvia has already been made a Schedule I drug under state laws in Delaware, Louisiana, and Missouri, as well as a handful of towns around the country. Bills to ban it have also been brought in Alabama, Alaska, California, Florida, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas, but have so far not succeeded.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Yuck, thanks for sharing.

[bloot]

Is it a felony to hold any amount of Salvia in Illinois ?

[Police Officer]

Originally Posted by Heretic.Ape.

As of January 1, possession of salvia divinorum in Illinois will be a felony.

Originally Posted by bloot

Is it a felony to hold any amount of Salvia in Illinois ?

Yes, it is.

[bloot]

Originally Posted by Police Officer

Yes, it is.

I obviously saw that. But in the states if you are in possession of a smaller amount of said substance it is a lesser charge. And in place of said substance I mean marijuana.

[Salvinorin A]

Obama apparently was one of the Senators that signed this (from what I've read). Maybe something to consider for the upcoming primaries and/or election.

[razorwiredildo]

so is it 100% illegal or just illegal for human consumption? are old women going to get arrested for groing it in their gardens?
Making possession a felony is just fucking rediculous.

[AquafinaOrbit]

Felony for any amount? That seems a bit harsh to jump from no punishment to a felony charge. Eitherway it annoys me that this is no longer a free nation. Rather a communist country with a free enterprise market. I can see banning something that harms others, but if you want to go shoot yourself in the head then I personally don't see why the gov should be allowed to stop you.

[LookingForHer]

Originally Posted by AquafinaOrbit

Felony for any amount? That seems a bit harsh to jump from no punishment to a felony charge. Eitherway it annoys me that this is no longer a free nation. Rather a communist country with a free enterprise market

Sounds like China

Funny eh. The chinese are becoming like the Americans and the Americans like the Chinese.

[Nikolan]

But for Reboletti and his peers, the risk of teens and college students from salvia use are so great that it must be banned.

Hah was it only SWIM that immediately imagined Pastor Lovejoy's wife from the Simpons sceaming 'Oh God! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!'

Its amazing what people get away with when they play off of the 'children need to be protected!' tag.

[Donny Devito]

i live in illinois (chicago) and our jails are already overcrowded. the last thing we need is innocent non-violent people going to jail for bogus reasons. what BS!

[moose190]

This unfortunate legal turn of events also put a certain online shaman out of the salvia business unfortunately

[merecat]

"We decided to move forward rather than waiting for someone to be killed because of it," said state Rep. Dennis Reboletti (D-Elmhurst)

And I thought the people running my country were dumb!

Is there even a single reported case of 'death by salvia'?

[TMM]

Originally Posted by merecat

And I thought the people running my country were dumb!

Is there even a single reported case of 'death by salvia'?

Apparently, by Mr. Reboletti's logic, no deaths is a sure sign that one is bound to happen sooner rather than later!

[juanathan]

i think it would benefit our nation if we considered overhauling our whole system of government... back in the 1700's when our founding fathers gave the Legislative branch of government the most power, i doubt they could've imagined how dubious and complicated our system of laws becomes over time. And too often senators and congressmen will make uninformed decisions, at the expense of informed users, all for a sound byte on the 5 o'clock news.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Absolutely. Well said.

[Hyperspaceblastoff]

good thing they banned it be4 some1 died from it
too bad they didnt think about that with alcohol which causes 999999x more deaths than salvia

[chemlove]

Originally Posted by Hyperspaceblastoff

good thing they banned it be4 some1 died from it
too bad they didnt think about that with alcohol which causes 999999x more deaths than salvia

I haven't heard of anyone OD'ing on Salvia though i guess it could be possible. But why not do the more intelligent thing and ban it from public places where you would be temped to drive Though SWIM knows you can't drive on it but to please the politicians. Why can't they just prohibit it to adults over 18 (who can fight for their country surely increasing their chances of death), and making it only legal to use in the privacy of their own homes.

[AquafinaOrbit]

The government should almost like Salvia because so many people have such a bad trip on it that they no longer want to take hallucinogenics.

[bloot]

Originally Posted by AquafinaOrbit

The government should almost like Salvia because so many people have such a bad trip on it that they no longer want to take hallucinogenics.

SWIM has seen this come more from LSD-25 than Salvia.

[AquafinaOrbit]

Salvia is a short 5 minute trip though, LSD is much more intense and already illegal.

[bloot]

Well from what SWIM has seen the trip is around fifteen minutes and much much more intense than LSD. And whatever argument you are using makes no sense, in one part you are saying that salvia gives a real bad trip but in the next you say it isn't that intense.

[AquafinaOrbit]

Originally Posted by bloot

Well from what SWIM has seen the trip is around fifteen minutes and much much more intense than LSD. And whatever argument you are using makes no sense, in one part you are saying that salvia gives a real bad trip but in the next you say it isn't that intense.

I mean less intense as it's more of a drug people just smoke. LSD users seem to often completely change their lifestyle after using it. The point is the time is very short, almost to short to hurt others when on it. (15 minutes is near unheard of if smoked)

[bloot]

Originally Posted by AquafinaOrbit

I mean less intense as it's more of a drug people just smoke. LSD users seem to often completely change their lifestyle after using it. The point is the time is very short, almost to short to hurt others when on it. (15 minutes is near unheard of if smoked)

Every experience that the blue elephant next door had lasted anwywhere from 10min to 15min

[Salvinorin A]

Well I might as well comment....

Salvinorin A gives a much much much more powerful experience than a typical dose of LSD-25. (Wiki even calls it a dissociative). It's an ego-killer.

LSD-25 is considered a "mild hallucinogen." Unless one takes a very powerful dose of LSD....one is almost always aware of the place he/she is in (can compare hallucinations with reality). That's can't be done on Salvia (people sometimes have mild visuals on salvia, but are in a mental state such that they believe it's real...not that you think about that either).

Not to be confused with potency.....LSD is about 20 times as potent as Salvinorin-A.

I'll agree, much less harm can be done on Salvia because of it's short duration and ability to completely lose touch with reality. And yes, LSD can definitely change a person's life. Salvia, spiritually at most. No one really goes out of his way of work to do salvia, unless he is one of the lucky ones that gets a huge euphoria from it. Most people get a semi-uncomfortable experience and a hectic peak....just plain anti-addictive.

I can't stand how Salvia gets compared to LSD. It's just getting ridiculous. There was an excuse for the federal bill failing in 2002. If it's brought up again, the DEA will probably have finished its research, and with a lot of states as example....it might be a little scarier.

Oh, and the overdose thing. No one has died from salvia use...yet. (The suicide doesn't count, that's just a HUGE stretch). I've also heard of a salvia related car accident (but the driver was stoned and had open containers...I wonder what really caused it...yeesh). But basically, I don't think you can smoke a lethal dose...you'd have to inject it....and you'd probably pass out (or start tripping and become incapacitated) before even finishing (maybe you could do it with IM).

[chemlove]

I agree with the writer above the last thing the state of Illinois needs is 50 to 300 plus people a year arrested and charged with a FELONY over a silly non-violent Saliva charge.

It's a shame that we live in a society where the few get to make the rules for the many and people just have to take it.

Has anyone heard of any protest in the state of Illinois against this because SWIM isn't too...too far and would love to fight for this plant used safely for hundreds of years.

[catfish_groid]

ill keep my eye out for salvia related articles as
the warmer months approach
theres sure to be an example made
unfortunately
but it will happen
yeah sally was big biz in chicagoland
all the local shops used to carry it
i even helped a few of them out
back in the day
but then again
it goes to show that
"they " will give "us " a taste
then take it away once the market is created
and create a blackmarket
that fuels the prison industry
not local jails but state prisons
felonies brahs
id like to see any cop id a sally tho
prolly be a furious mistaken frenzy of chopping up of coleus
or could hypothetically
one stain the leaves of ones sally with food dye and represent it as a coleus?
the flowers are similar