Salvia: a legal hallucinogen?

 A product like salvia that is sold legally at the corner health food store, can’t be bad, one might think… Think again!

The list of precautions to take if you take the risk of consuming salvia – a list that comes, moreover, from its own supporters – gives food for thought. If you try this drug, recommend those who have experienced it, it is better to do it: under the supervision of a sober person, staying away from bodies of water, traffic, blunt objects, firearms fire, windows, and balconies… just in case. That’s all? And they want us to believe that otherwise, it’s not more dangerous than a Strawberry Quick?

What is salvia?

Salvia, a variety of sage, has been consumed for millennia in Mexico, but it was not until 1939 that an English botanist listed it. And now, 70 years later, this psychotropic is available in Quebec in shops selling articles related to drug consumption or “natural” products. This substance is not among the products banned by the Government of Canada, so it is found over the counter and available to everyone. However, since 1992, like a domino effect, salvia has become illegal in several countries, one after another: Australia, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Belgium.

Young people who use salvia seek a hallucinogenic state where time, space, and the world of perceptions are altered. Salvia mainly comes in the form of dried leaves that are dark green in color. Whether smoked, chewed, or drunk as an infusion, salvia causes effects that vary depending on several factors, including the amount consumed, ranging from 5X to 20X the initial dose. According to young consumers, some merchants have a special reserve behind their counter whose concentration can reach 60X. This means that the packet contains five, ten, fifteen, twenty, or even 60 times the initial dose. And the higher the rate, the more intense the effect. The effects of salvia
Salvia (or “divinatory sage”) acts on the same receptors as mescaline: it is an entheogen, a word which literally means “bringing God into oneself”.

Its effects appear very quickly, 30 seconds after ingestion, peak after two minutes, then decline and disappear after thirty minutes.

The effects can be devastating, especially for people struggling with unstable emotions, schizophrenia or other mental health issues. The latter must refrain from experimenting with this psychotropic. This advice is also for teenagers and young adults who have not reached their full neurological potential.

If it’s not illegal, shouldn’t it be so bad?

Salvia is far from unanimous among users of psychotropic drugs. Younger people who want to experience it out of curiosity describe its effects as both “disturbing” and “far too intense”; most of them admit that they no longer want to repeat the experience. Among them, several have regularly used, for years, chemical drugs such as the “magic mushroom”, GHB, PCP: knowing well the effects induced by these substances, they decide to give up salvia … Harmless, the youngest? Not so sure.