Driving on Salvia

[Humodour]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WruyjJwyf0M

 

So funny.

[Walsingham]

I started out being very prudish, as I'm pretty anti-drugs - knowing too many people who have been ****ed permanently - but that is hilarious.

 

EDIT: Also hilarious:

 

Representative Michael Sak submitted a bill which proposed Schedule I classification of Salvia divinorum and salvinorin A in the state of Michigan.[82] He said that if people had questions about the deleterious affects of salvia, they should go on YouTube to watch the videos. Sak was asked by a reporter whether he had ever seen a "Girls Gone Wild" video - where drunken college girls are asked to show their breasts, and are rewarded with free T-shirts - and whether that would incite him to try and make alcohol illegal. Sak said he had not had a chance to review the material.

Edited June 4, 2009 by Walsingham

[Gorgon]

For the longest time I thought the title was driving on saliva and I kept waiting for him to spit in a contained of some sort and use it to power the car.

 

By the way I hear salvia is quite potent and not to be messed around with idly. You need a buddy there to look out for you lest you start wandering around the freeway naked.

[Humodour]

By the way I hear salvia is quite potent and not to be messed around with idly. You need a buddy there to look out for you lest you start wandering around the freeway naked.

 

That's not really true. I've never used it, but it only lasts about 5 to 20 minutes and then the person is essentially normal again, feeling a bit nauseous. I've heard it's interesting but not especially 'fun'. It's become en vogue to ban it in Western countries recently but I really don't see the point.

 

One reporter who tried it said:

The salvia took me on a consciousness-expanding journey unlike any other I have ever experienced. My body felt disconnected from ‘me’ and objects and people appeared cartoonish, surreal and marvellous. Then, as suddenly as it had began, it was over. The visions vanished and I was back in my bedroom. I spoke to my ‘sitter’—the friend who was watching over me, as recommended on the packaging—but my mouth was awkward and clumsy. When I attempted to stand my coordination was off. Within a couple of minutes, however, I was fine and clear-headed, though dripping with sweat. The whole experience had lasted less than 5 minutes.

Edited June 4, 2009 by Krezack

[Enoch]

Salvia? You mean these?

 

 

I have some of them growing in the front yard!

[Walsingham]

I'd be deeply suspicious of any claim that such a massive effect on brain function could leave no long-term traces.

[samm]

Is this effect true for all kinds of sage? We use sage tea here when feeling ill, use it in meat seasoning etc.

[Walsingham]

Nutmeg also causes a bad trip. Lasts for bloody days.

[Humodour]

Nutmeg also causes a bad trip. Lasts for bloody days.

 

Such doses of nutmeg damage the brain though (or was it the liver?).

 

I'd be deeply suspicious of any claim that such a massive effect on brain function could leave no long-term traces.

 

That's fair enough, but whether or not a drug damages the body/brain is actually not dependent on its strength, rather its method of action and often duration. Salvia uses opioid receptors which makes it a rather unique drug. Salvinorin A (the drug at work in Salvia Divinorum) does not cause any organ damage (i.e. no neurotoxocity), and it doesn't seem to last anywhere near long enough to be liable for changes in gene regulation.

 

Most dissociatives (Salvia is not a psychedelic) actually can cause organ damage, so your suspicion is justified. E.g. ketamine, PCP, dextromethorphan, nitrous oxide/laughing gas. Specifically read about Olney's lesions. Salvia is not like these because it uses an opioid receptor instead of NMDA receptors. Interestingly, shrooms and LSD (psychedelics based on 5-HT receptors) actually prevent Olney's lesions from forming.

 

Salvia? You mean these?

 

 

I have some of them growing in the front yard!

 

I don't think the red one is Divinorum - it's been growing in my backyard for years. It grew at my primary school and I used to pick the flowers and suck the ends of them because the nectar tasted like honey. Divinorum looks to have blue/purple flowers.

[Walsingham]

Thanks for explaining, Krez. I appreciate you say it ahs a very short term effect, but opiates are strongly habit forming. Would that not be the case here?

 

I'm not forcing this. I just thought it would be intesting to question the assumption that it's fine.

[Humodour]

Thanks for explaining, Krez. I appreciate you say it ahs a very short term effect, but opiates are strongly habit forming. Would that not be the case here?

 

I'm not forcing this. I just thought it would be intesting to question the assumption that it's fine.

 

Oh, no, that's fine. It's not an opiate (AFAIK that's a specific type of alkaloid, and Salvia isn't even an alkaloid), though. It's not habit forming, either, to answer your question. Opiates are not like most drugs because they actually cause physical dependence as well as psychological dependence (alcohol is the other well-known one to do that). The physical dependence is primarily determined by the delta and mu receptors, while Salvia is a kappa receptor agonist. The delta and mu receptors are also responsible for euphoria/pleasure, while the kappa one is not. Just a bit of trivia: paracetamol binds to cannabinoid receptors, yet is nothing like marijuana.

 

Oh, not to mention kappa-agonism causes dysphoria at recreational doses, meaning a low abuse potential (and hence why I doubt Salvia will become the next party drug).

[Walsingham]

Lay it on us, man. Lecture me up. This is fascinating.