Teens Getting High With Legal Drug

(CBS)  WCCO's Dennis Douda reports on a legal drug that is soaring in popularity.

It's called Salvia Divinorum and it's that's all the rage on YouTube. Users chew it, smoke it or brew it into a tea.

"It is a strong hallucinogenic drug," said Carol Falkowski, the director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the state Human Services department.

"It produces profound hallucinations and out of body experiences," she said.

Falkowski knows drugs. She's been researching drug and alcohol trends for years. She thinks Salvia should be outlawed.

"I think it's something we should all be concerned about," said Falkowski. "If parents ever hear their children talk about Salvia Divinorum, they should try to get to the bottom of that quickly and find out where the source of that is."

There are more than 4,000 videos about Salvia on YouTube, many of them showing people tripping on the plant.

"Damn, that's crazy," said one of the YouTube photographers as he watched a friend under the influence of Salvia. "And that's legal."

Salvia is sometimes called a "lunchtime" drug because the high lasts only a half hour or so.

WCCO has the storyand video:

Local Video from WCCO in Minneapolis/St. Paul

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[marrinera]

It seem's like to me if this is becoming a problem with teens then it needs to be given an age limit to have it and a sergen generals warning on it like ciggeretts and that does harm your health. It also seems that to me to me this country is ass backwards on this whole subject ciggeretts legal and harmful while salvia is not harmful and is illegal and to me only one "possible" case to it hurting anyone is not enough evidence to call this drug harmful to anyone and the only way that a teen could possibly kill himself on this drug is at most if they already possibly stressed out or have depression and how do we know that this drug is without a doubt the cause for this boys death. Its truly a shame that a child had to die that way but we all should consider this and its possible harm and restrit it as we see fit and do an age limit like other states have.

[SmilesAway]

YET another thing made illegal? Salvia is a large family of plants, all fairly attractive and widely planted. And there (I'm not telling) are others that are ALSO mind-altering. Most gardens and flower borders have plants that, if misused, can produce altered states...and even kill. Say, are we going to "make illegal" nutmeg used in Egg Nog and Pumpkin Pie? What about a eradication program to wipe out Jimson Weed? I, by the way, grow (although it grows wild in EVERY part of the Country) Jimson for the purfumed, beautiful blossoms that scent the evening air). The Baby Hawaiian Wood Rose? Will we no longer have it as an ornamental, and dried for arrangements. I for one am increasingly TIRED, WORN-OUT, FED-UP by all the headline-makers spreading problems for the sake of having "news" and revenue from adverts! All the gloom, doom, constant threats. "The News" cheerleads The Nation into hysteria, panics, PANdemics that never materialize. We need to back away from all the generated fears and realize that most of what we worry about is senseless, CERTAINLY not in any WAY as significant as this particular story is being made. If ANY control at all needs to be exerted, it would be over the highly concentrated Salvia extracts coming in from Mexico's Drug Labs. LEAVE the plants alone! North Carolina is hysterically trying to criminialize anything related to Salvia, while Its neighbor Tennessee dealt with the concentrates and illegal USE but left the plants for landscaping...which is the rational way to deal with the matter.

[honestabe8]

andie52: i do not understand your question. It behooves those enforcing prohibition to paint all use as abuse, thereby reinforcing the need for the prohibitionists to "protect" people from themselves
Posted by honestabe8 at 1:16 PM : Apr 23, 2009

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How about just the use of illegal substances?
Posted by andie52

[honestabe8]

How about just the use of illegal substances?
Posted by andie52

What about them?

[andie52]

It behooves those enforcing prohibition to paint all use as abuse, thereby reinforcing the need for the prohibitionists to "protect" people from themselves
Posted by honestabe8 at 1:16 PM : Apr 23, 2009

---------------------------------------------------------
How about just the use of illegal substances?

[honestabe8]

It behooves those enforcing prohibition to paint all use as abuse, thereby reinforcing the need for the prohibitionists to "protect" people from themselves

[honestabe8]

Here is the conundrum; almost all drug users like to top it off with alcohol so you not only have them driving while high they are also driving drunk.
Pot may not be a gateway drug as previously thought but it?s by no means harmless. Even if it were legal it still has ramifications; the issue is those who use don?t look at it rationally. As I posted earlier; denial is a very big problem when trying to treat users.
Posted by andie52

Okay, one by one.

almost all drug users like to top it off with alcohol so you not only have them driving while high they are also driving drunk.

this has not been what i have seen with the stoners i know. what do you base your assertion on? most the people i know who smoke pot do not drink, or drink only moderately. also, everything i have read on the influence of pot on driving said that it not only makes sober people drive more cautiously, it also does the same with people who have been drinking. whether it makes drunk drivers "safe" is far from certain, as alcohol is a much more powerful drug.

it?s by no means harmless.

i agree. however, it does appear to be about the most benign drug available (medically and recreationally).

the issue is those who use don?t look at it rationally.

some do, some don't. much of it appears to depend on the age of the user. young people seem to be all gung ho about getting messed up. older people (at least the ones i know) approach it much more rationally. again, this is the disparity between use and abuse.

denial is a very big problem

no it isn't (sorry, just had to say it)

[andie52]

honestabe8
Here is the conundrum; almost all drug users like to top it off with alcohol so you not only have them driving while high they are also driving drunk.
Pot may not be a gateway drug as previously thought but it?s by no means harmless. Even if it were legal it still has ramifications; the issue is those who use don?t look at it rationally. As I posted earlier; denial is a very big problem when trying to treat users.

[honestabe8]

What I have seen is folks like Drug Czar Walters saying "more people are in treatment because pot is sooooo bad". Then it comes out that the reason that most of those people are in treatment is because they were busted, not because they had an addiction problem. In other words, the treatment is a function of the law enforcement,not vice versa.

[honestabe8]

Actually very few abusers of any nature don?t come in for therapy unless its court mandated and unfortunately the recivity rate is high.
Posted by andie52


Okay, i am assuming you mean that few abusers come in for reasons other than mandated by the court.

If it is mandated, for example a person having to go to "therapy" rather than jail once busted, does it not indicate that it could be use rather than abuse?