Salvia ban a burn to science

March 26, 2010

In an excellent article published on Minnesota Daily, John Brown clearly lays out why Salvia should not be prohibited. His article comes in reaction to a recent bill in Minnesota that would make Salvia a schedule 1 drug. An excerpt:

Research on salvia has been increasingly popular. According to Dr. Bryan Roth at Case Western Reserve University, salvia is “the most potent naturally-occurring hallucinogenic drug.” By 2006, studies had suggested that its primary active ingredient, salvinorin A, could lead to treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.
As far as drugs go, salvia does not appear to be particularly dangerous. No long-term negative outcomes have been reported from its use. There have been no reported cases of addiction in the scientific literature as the drug can be unpleasant.