Haha, sure. I don't post often, and half the time it's something obscene, but be my guest. ;-)
Oh, and I realized the other day that I had responded to your post wrong, had read your question incorrectly.
You asked "why is salvia not illegal?!", and I went off on a tangent about legality. The actual reason that Salvia still hasn't been scheduled (that is, made illegal) by the DEA is kind of up in the air... I've heard some speculation about it, but nothing definite. My opinion is that it has yet to be picked up and popularized by a large, coherent group. In the last few years it has seen a sharp rise in recreational use, and I imagine that it will end up scheduled before too long, but the real killer will be when some stupid kid takes it, freaks out, does something stupid, and the press explodes with "reports" about "the new demon weed" or whatever.
Other hallucinogens like LSD and psilocybin (in mushrooms) were only noticed by the DEA once the counter-culture had picked them up and started using them widely. The former was used very succesfully to treat alcoholism, of all things, and early proponents of the drug's psychiatric benefits were enraged by the recreational users who got it outlawed. Likewise, the American anthropologist who discovered and published a report on the psilocybe rituals in an indian tribe in Mexico was angered and frustrated when his report was picked up by "those damn hippies," who then started travelling to Mexico in droves. Psilocybin was scheduled soon after this.
It even took the adoption of a group for marijuana (and relatedly, hashish) to be illegalized (and the slander and efforts of a DEA jerk named Anslinger); it was used by aristocrats, doctors, pharmacists, and other "upper-class" (or government-friendly) folk for a long time before the DEA mounted a campaign against the (black) jazz musicians and Mexican workers who were using it in the '30s and '40s.
The opiates are another story, of course, because they are the only physically addicting ones on the list... But that's a history that I haven't read hardly anything about (yet!).
Anyway, sorry to wax pedantic. I just find it a terribly interesting and pertinent history. "He who knows the past..." right? ;-)
Not yet I haven't. I ordered a gram of 40x from a reputable (and cheap!) online source, which unfortunately takes a month and a half to get here... But I'll certainly post my first trip report. Huzzah!
Oh, and I realized the other day that I had responded to your post wrong, had read your question incorrectly.
You asked "why is salvia not illegal?!", and I went off on a tangent about legality. The actual reason that Salvia still hasn't been scheduled (that is, made illegal) by the DEA is kind of up in the air... I've heard some speculation about it, but nothing definite. My opinion is that it has yet to be picked up and popularized by a large, coherent group. In the last few years it has seen a sharp rise in recreational use, and I imagine that it will end up scheduled before too long, but the real killer will be when some stupid kid takes it, freaks out, does something stupid, and the press explodes with "reports" about "the new demon weed" or whatever.
Other hallucinogens like LSD and psilocybin (in mushrooms) were only noticed by the DEA once the counter-culture had picked them up and started using them widely. The former was used very succesfully to treat alcoholism, of all things, and early proponents of the drug's psychiatric benefits were enraged by the recreational users who got it outlawed. Likewise, the American anthropologist who discovered and published a report on the psilocybe rituals in an indian tribe in Mexico was angered and frustrated when his report was picked up by "those damn hippies," who then started travelling to Mexico in droves. Psilocybin was scheduled soon after this.
It even took the adoption of a group for marijuana (and relatedly, hashish) to be illegalized (and the slander and efforts of a DEA jerk named Anslinger); it was used by aristocrats, doctors, pharmacists, and other "upper-class" (or government-friendly) folk for a long time before the DEA mounted a campaign against the (black) jazz musicians and Mexican workers who were using it in the '30s and '40s.
The opiates are another story, of course, because they are the only physically addicting ones on the list... But that's a history that I haven't read hardly anything about (yet!).
Anyway, sorry to wax pedantic. I just find it a terribly interesting and pertinent history. "He who knows the past..." right? ;-)
Take care,
-Ben
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