Salvia Divinorum In The Media
News media has taken an escalating interest in Salvia divinorum -
particularly in the United States - where an increasing number of
newspaper reports have been published and television news stories
broadcast. These stories generally raise alarms over salvia divinorum's
legal status. Headlining for example with comparisons to LSD, or
describing it as "the new pot" for instance, with parental concerns
being raised by particular focus on Salvia's use by younger teens.
Without necessarily providing much further context or supporting
evidence story headlines may also include 'danger' keywords, such as -
"Dangerous Herb is Legal..." or "Deadly Dangers Of A Street Legal High."
Such reports may mix journalistic opinion and prejudgment of the issue.
In a major ABC news report aired on July 11, 2007, the anchors are seen
to exchange expressions of incredulity when referring to a salvia
divinorum story with the following introduction - "Now, an exclusive
I-Team investigation of a hallucinogenic drug that has begun to sweep
the nation. What might amaze you is that right now the federal
government is doing nothing to stop it."
Another reported issue of concern has been the emergence of YouTube,
about which, in an interview with California based newspaper the San
Francisco Chronicle, published on June 27, 2007, Daniel Siebert was
quoted as saying - "Those videos are certainly not going to help the
situation. They make Salvia look like some horrible drug that makes
people nuts and dangerous..." and "The sad thing is it creates this
public image where people don't realize there are sensible ways to use
something like this."
Although published responses may not necessarily be representative of
public opinion as a whole, some news agencies generally support reader
and viewer feedback in connection with their stories.
Brett's Law
A particular focus of many US media stories is the long-running
coverage of the case of Brett Chidester. Chidester was a 17-year old
Delaware student who committed suicide in January 2006 by climbing into
a tent in which a charcoal grill was lit. He died of carbon-monoxide
poisoning. Reportedly, some months before this, Brett's mother had found
out and questioned him about his Salvia use. Brett said that he had
ceased his experimentation, but his parents do not believe that he was
telling the truth. They have argued instead that Salvia caused
depression and must have been largely to blame for his death. Some of
Brett's earlier writings about his Salvia experiences have been used to
suggest that it made him think "existence in general is pointless." Some
media stories have referred to these earlier written experience reports
as if they were part of Brett's suicide note. In any case, law was soon
passed in Delaware classifying the herb as a Schedule I controlled
substance in that state. This legislation was named "Brett's law"
(formally referred to as Senate bill 259).
Although the Chidester story has been given continued exposure by US
media, there has not been anywhere else, either before or since this
controversial incident, any other reported cases involving or alleging
salvia divinorum as a serious factor in suicide, overdose, accidental,
or any other kind of death.
NOTICE:
The large amounts of information on this site
ranging from chemistry, botany, propagation, history, ingestion, side effects
and toxicity, etc is for information only. The information on this site is not
intended to be instructions on how to use products sold on this site! As stated in the Terms /
Conditions / Disclaimer, our salvia is only for incense, herbarium specimen,
collection, legitimate research, plant propagation, and/or ornamental purposes.
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Salvia Divinorum Controversy