Mazatec Shamans and Your Teenagers: Learn What They May Have in Common!
Posted: Monday, April 07, 2008
by Kimberly
http://kimberlyinChance.blogspot.com
Is smoking the herb salvia divinorum, considered this generations new hallucinogen? It certainly appears to be. Salvia divinorum is a perennial herb in the mint family, native to Mexico and still grown there..Used primarily by the indigenous Mazatec shamans, it is said to produce a visionary state of consciousness during spiritual healing sessions. It is generally smoked, but can also be chewed or made into a tea to induce experiences ranging from excitable laughter to a more intense altered state.
When asked what effects it had on two young adults who recently started smoking salvia, their answers were mixed. One young man described the experienced high as too intense, too short and you feel fried when it's done. The second young man who smoked salvia said it was a bland, boring high that lasted anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 or 4 minutes
Louisiana's agricultural and forestry commissioner Mike Strain was successful in 2005 with his attempt to make salvia illegal in his state. Florida state Rep. Mary Bradenburg has introduced a bill to make possession of salvia a felony and punishable with prison. Currently sixteen states have targeted salvia with their concerns about the psychedelic effects it has on its users, and eight states have restrictions in place.
Salvia divinorum passes through the body quickly and does not show up on drug screens. It is relatively inexpensive and easily obtained through the internet. Although, the actual high appears to be short term, parents are concerned and rightly so, about it's long term effects on their teenagers.
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Kimberly, good article. I'm glad I'm too old to be tempted by such things. The closest I'll get to that herb is a pot of turnip greens.Thanks Bob, I was leaning a little more towards the collards! Kimberly
hi kimberly, i sit at my computer, and anxiously await my 17 year old's safe return, after getting his car today, and driving on his own for the first tiem. add drugs and alcohol lurking about, to that, and i never sleep easy. anything any of these young kids want, they can get. i believe it to be worse now than in the 70's, more harmful at least. thanks for a well written article, best regards, sue thom
An interesting read! I'd have liked to see more discussion of possible effects on healthHi Ben, Thanks for reading my article. In reference to your question on the effects of health, that was one of the parents concerns. The short lasting high appears to have no effects on the individual once over. The parents concerns deal with the effects of long term use. We will have to wait and see. Kimberly
im 17 and i can tell you worried parents the truth. im speaking on behalf of average teenagers. of course theres always the kids who really get into drugs, but as a teenager with a life ahead of me, drugs are very secondary, and experimental only. Salvia especially but all psychedelic drugs RARELY become habitual among teenagers. when we eat our mushrooms or drop our acid or smoke our salvia its once a month at the most if youre an AVERAGE kid. its not because we can only get it once a month, its because we only feel like it once a month. Sue, a kid like your son, who's already driving alone at 17 obviously has things together, and is really unlikely to make a bad driving choice and i know from experience. When any of my friends started driving, they were very very very cautious about safe driving when it comes to drugs and alcohol. And 99% of parents have a pretty biased view about sober driving. when you old parents wake up at 5 in the morning and drive to work with 4 hours of sleep under your belt, it can be just as impairing as having enough alcohol in you to fail a Breathalyzer. but since no intoxicants were involved, alot of parents dont consider that as impairment. now, whats youre opinion on smoking pot and driving? im guessing its a classic "are you out of your mind!?" watch this and it will change your mind---- ----- -----okay so i cant put links in the comments on this site, so please take 5 minutes to search "Marijuana And Driving" on YouTube and click the first result, it will be worth your time and it will add a lot of strength to the points im trying to make---------- just because something has bad connotations to doesnt mean its as bad as it really is. Every adult i know drinks alcohol. Alcohol is one of the worst things ever for your body, youre basically drinking poison, OH WAIT! its legal, lets accept it! its glamorized, it sponsors sporting event, yeah alcohol is great. everyone is kidding themselves! drunk people can be brutal. millions die from drinking and driving, you can get alcohol poisoning , theres nothing healthy about it. anyways, pot its illegal, but its a million times safer than alcohol, and the most brutal thing ive ever seen anyone do after smoking a fat joint was eat all of my chips because they had the munchies. think logically, dont form youre opinions because of what "the law" and social acceptance rams dow your throat. form your own opinions based on facts. I hope the video helps you understand what im trying to say.
This makes me sad. I wish parents and the powers that be would direct their attention to the substances in today's culture that truly pose a threat to society. Let me tell you, Salvia is not one of those substances. I would guess probably 19 out of 20 teenagers have never even heard of salvia, let alone tried it. And those who have tried it will quickly learn that it is most certainly not the next new designer club drug or anything like it. The salvia experience is often intense and overwhelming. It can also be beautiful and awe-inspiring. There are so many drugs today that are simply detrimental to the user's health, add to that the possibility of addiction, and you end up with a real problem. For one, salvia is not physically addictive, and to be honest, many people who use salvia choose to never use it again. It's not a fun drug to go take and get high. It is more of a doorway to another dimension that demands respect and preparation. It has been used by indigenous tribes of south america for centuries as a healing tool and a visionary guide. Not everyone in America is out to get "f____ed up". Some are responsible about what they choose to put in their body and they should be granted the right to seek out spirituality and enlightenment in the way they see fit. It is sad to see the government stepping in to "protect" us, when, as the commenter above me stated, they continue to allow the poison that is alcohol to be openly sold/consumed and continue to let the tobacco companies slowly murder millions of people.The only reason salvia is gaining as much recognition in the media as it is is because it is one of the few substances which is still legal which a person can utilize to expand his viewpoint of the world and the universe. If it weren't for the colossal failure which is the "war on drugs," there wouldn't be such a big gold rush for the next big "legal high".Please don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting the use of salvia to anyone. It certainly isn't for everyone, and NO ONE should use it without first doing some research and coming to a open-minded understanding of what it is and what it can do. All I am asking is that law enforcement/government/the uninformed refrain from ruining something which others treasure. www[dot]erowid[dot]org is a great place to start for an unbiased look at not only salvia but pretty much every other psychoactive compound under the sun. I would urge everyone who is interested in this article to read more about it there, including experience reports, articles on health, etc.Thanks for listening :)Oh and I just wanted to clarify one thing:
I am NOT saying that salvia is a safe substance by any means. Yes, the mazatecs have used it for a very long time, and don't seem to be negatively affected, but moving forward, if people begin to isolate salvinorin A from the plant and use it that way it certainly has a potential for dosage to mistakenly exceed orders of magnitude above the required dose, posing a serious physical threat. There is not enough toxicological data available yet to fully know all of the health risks at this point. Unfortunately, with the path that salvia is headed in the media's eye, it too will likely be federally scheduled thus bringing to a halt any progress that has been made in that arena.
Dear Kimberly,I understand your concern is about some potential for substance abuse. I would like to suggest however, that in your quest to guard some from possible drug abuse that you do not overlook the religious rights of those who use salvia in a religious ceremonial context. For example, my religious beliefs are that not just humans, but plants as well have consciousness and that some plants are well situated to help reveal other levels of consciousness to humans -- a sort of natural progression. We should live with these plants in a symbiotic relationship. While substance abuse is bad, not everyone chooses that path, and the laws should have exceptions in mind. Please think about that. For example the Native Americans are allowed to use peyote in religious ceremonies, but other americans are not allowed to practice their religious beliefs? Only if I have at least 1/16th Native American blood in me? hypodescent? Are their beliefs not just a valid as others? There is an inherant contradicition here that has yet to be worked out by the Supreme Court, but it is coming. There will be delays by the fearful who do not understand. But they should not be taking away the rights of others.
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