The legal hallucinogen Salvia may be joining Canada's list of banned substances thanks in part to the YouTube party antics of pop tart Miley Cyrus.
Cyrus made Salvia famous after a video of her smoking the herbal cousin of mint through a bong went viral on the Internet. The federal Conservative government is proposing to add Salvia Divinorum to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
Smoking the concentrated form of the herb, which is native to Mexico, causes intense hallucinations and delerium lasting five to 15 minutes. Salvia is available at many corner stores and head shops around Vancouver, where it has been quietly sold for more than 10 years.
Among those objecting to the move is Rebecca Ambrose, owner of Vancouver Seed Bank, where Salvia is sold in a variety of forms.
"This solution would cause far more harm and cost millions of dollars to enforce. Scheduling Salvia will only stop me, a responsible, tax-paying retailer, from carrying Salvia. It will stop me from responsibly selling it to adults, who will be informed how to use it in a safe environment.," Ambrose wrote in a letter to the Controlled Substances and Tobacco Directorate. "Salvia has no toxicity, and it is completely safe as long as the user if prepared for its effects. It has been widely available in Canada since the early '80s and has been attributed to ZERO fatalities. Like Alcohol or skydiving or many other potentially dangerous things, Salvia an be a pleasant and interesting experience as long as it is done responsibly."
Schedule 3 drugs include magic mushrooms and mescaline.
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