Salvia Divinorum : Legal

Salvia divinorum - aka the 'YouTube drug' - is banned in many countries around the world, but not in Britain.

Hogan is smoking salvia divinorum, a species of sage that also happens to be the most powerful hallucinogenic herb known to man. At 40, Hogan is older than the average salvia user in Britain, who is in his teens or twenties. Watching young people out of their minds on salvia is the latest YouTube sensation and is fuelling the popularity of the herb. For his part, Lee Hogan describes his first experience of salvia as the, 'most mind-bending, totally bizzarest, weirdest, strangest experience I have ever had'. Three years ago, her 17-year-old son, Brett, committed suicide after smoking salvia.

Straight away, Mrs Chidester suspected salvia was to blame. After Brett's death, Mrs Chidester found a note that he had written on his computer about his salvia use. The medical examiner subsequently listed salvia as a contributory factor on his death certificate. 'The fact that his posthumous drug test showed no signs of drugs led us to believe definitely that the drug had to be salvia, especially since that was all the police found with him. 'I am concerned about the use and misuse of Salvia divinorum because it contains an active ingredient that can trigger hallucinations,' he says. 'And in the last three years, we have seen a huge increase in the popularity of psychoactive compounds from herbal drugs such as Salvia divinorum.' 'But the market reacted brilliantly by promoting herbal alternatives as appealing natural drugs.

Among the salvia users I spoke to, none reported depression or suicidal feelings. The herb's defenders believe that Brett was a young man who took his own life and happened to smoke salvia rather than that he committed suicide because he used salvia.

Salvia is being used and abused but does it carry any risk? It's certainly not a social party drug. Crackheads are not switching to salvia. Heavy drinkers are not switching to salvia. It's not that type of drug.'
'Make no mistake, salvia is not a recreational drug,' he adds.