Salvia divinorum can be used as tool. So can a hammer. One can accomplish wonderful things with tools--like a hammer. (Particularly if there's strong societal support, e.g Habitat for Humanity, or Amish barn raisings.) Conversely, one can be stupid with the tool known as a hammer, and cause harm of various kinds. Is that reason enough to ban hammers?
But since Salvia d. happens to also fall into the category of "psychoactive plants," political pressure will be brought to bear. This is mainly because here's a cheap and fast way to feather one's nest, should one happen to be a politician. You can rapidly build a high-profile political career (as did the witch burners of antiquity) by finding an easy and relatively unknown target to demonize. So this Delaware state senator is following in the exploitative footsteps of legislators in Missouri, Louisiana, Italy, Australia, Norway, etc.
The media are usually the helpful and idiotic amplifiers of an ambitious politico's shrill warnings. When I heard that CNN and NPR were following in FOX network's footsteps to do stories on Salvia, I groaned. The more responsible news stories have consulted with Daniel Siebert, who is arguably the world expert on the plant and its active agent. He has led the way in working for responsible use (USE A SITTER EVERY TIME, DON'T TRY TO GET UP...) and he always states clearly that that this is no party drug...that it's not often thought of as having been a "pleasant" experience, per se. Unfortunately most news accounts do not offer any positive speculation about S.d.'s potential benefits, as for instance an antidepressant, or a facilitator of spiritual inquiry, or an aid in kicking opiate addiciton... all of which there is promise for. And contrary to what the Delaware drug & alcohol expert on the CNN story claimed, I am not aware of any reports/research that demonstrate a post-use slump or depressive reaction. It's usually quite the opposite, with a lasting effect for weeks after one use. This is why many of us believe strongly in Salvia's potential for positive medicinal use.
Fear usually trumps and the alarmists get their way. Just as with tools like MDMA and LSD, we will probably see Salvia pushed underground for a while. Then there will have to be many tragic and unneccessary life disruptions-- imprisonments, confiscations of property, and so on, in numbers that will dwarf the tiny number of only-possibly-related-to-Salvia mishaps such as Brett Chidester's suicide-- before the tons of hard work to get these tools "reinstated" as valid medicines (work like what the fabulous org MAPS has been doing, in terms of pushing for actual medical research into the potential benefits of LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, cannabis.)
Legislators should be working instead to ban Chicken Little-izing and the irresponsible employment of our worst toxin, FEAR.
Vip
But since Salvia d. happens to also fall into the category of "psychoactive plants," political pressure will be brought to bear. This is mainly because here's a cheap and fast way to feather one's nest, should one happen to be a politician. You can rapidly build a high-profile political career (as did the witch burners of antiquity) by finding an easy and relatively unknown target to demonize. So this Delaware state senator is following in the exploitative footsteps of legislators in Missouri, Louisiana, Italy, Australia, Norway, etc.
The media are usually the helpful and idiotic amplifiers of an ambitious politico's shrill warnings. When I heard that CNN and NPR were following in FOX network's footsteps to do stories on Salvia, I groaned. The more responsible news stories have consulted with Daniel Siebert, who is arguably the world expert on the plant and its active agent. He has led the way in working for responsible use (USE A SITTER EVERY TIME, DON'T TRY TO GET UP...) and he always states clearly that that this is no party drug...that it's not often thought of as having been a "pleasant" experience, per se. Unfortunately most news accounts do not offer any positive speculation about S.d.'s potential benefits, as for instance an antidepressant, or a facilitator of spiritual inquiry, or an aid in kicking opiate addiciton... all of which there is promise for. And contrary to what the Delaware drug & alcohol expert on the CNN story claimed, I am not aware of any reports/research that demonstrate a post-use slump or depressive reaction. It's usually quite the opposite, with a lasting effect for weeks after one use. This is why many of us believe strongly in Salvia's potential for positive medicinal use.
Fear usually trumps and the alarmists get their way. Just as with tools like MDMA and LSD, we will probably see Salvia pushed underground for a while. Then there will have to be many tragic and unneccessary life disruptions-- imprisonments, confiscations of property, and so on, in numbers that will dwarf the tiny number of only-possibly-related-to-Salvia mishaps such as Brett Chidester's suicide-- before the tons of hard work to get these tools "reinstated" as valid medicines (work like what the fabulous org MAPS has been doing, in terms of pushing for actual medical research into the potential benefits of LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, cannabis.)
Legislators should be working instead to ban Chicken Little-izing and the irresponsible employment of our worst toxin, FEAR.
Vip
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Oregon
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Re: We tend to fear what we cannot control or understand
Sat, April 15, 2006 - 8:15 PMthanks for posting that*wink*
