Speaking of Drugs

Beginning August 1, 2010, Minnesota will join Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Virginia in making the sale and possession of Salvia divinorum and Salvinorin A, a crime. Selling any amount is a gross misdemeanor and possession of any amount is a misdemeanor.

There is a paucity of medical research regarding the effects of Salvia, however there seem to be plenty of YouTube videos, (19,200 at last count) showing people using Salvia, which are convincing legislators of the presumably LSD-like effects of this plant. This coupled with the unfortunate death of a teenager in Delaware, whose suicide may or may not have been linked to Salvia, has created a knee-jerk effect to make this plant illegal. In the interim alcohol continues to be responsible for 100,000 deaths a year in the US alone and tobacco for 400,000 deaths a year.

Also of note is that possession of small amounts (as long as it is not mixed with water as seen here) of marijuana is a petty misdemeanor, so basically the legislature is saying that Salvia is a worse plant than Cannabis.