The Senate moved to ban a legal hallucinogenic herb, Salvia divinorum Thursday, hoping to get ahead of a potential drug problem.
Senators voted 45 to 0 to make the substance illegal, following 14 other states that have cracked down on the herb. It has provided college students with a cheap and legal thrill for years.
The bill would make it illegal to manufacture, sell, deliver or possess salvia. The first offense would be an infraction, punishable by a minimum $25 fine.
Salvia is a member of the mint family and was used in religious rituals by the Mazatecs Indians of Mexico. It showed up in the United States in the mid-1990s as Magic Mint or Purple Sticky and can be found in head shops in Raleigh and Chapel Hill for as cheap as $14.
The herb may have been undone by online videos showing people smoking Salvia and dissolving into fits of laughter and hallucination.
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Re: Senators go herbicidal
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Update: Purcell said he became concerned after hearing about people using the herb who became violent or suicidal. He said it appears to be more commonly used in the western part of the state.
"Methamphetamine got out of control before we did anything about that," he said. "I'm hoping we can do something sooner this time."
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Certainly Purcell as a pediatrician understands the HUGE span of abyss between chemically manufactured and addictive Methamphetamine and naturally grown Salvia divinorum. The two are incomparable.
If there were truly a concern on Purcells part, alcohol is PROVEN to be depressant that causes both suicidal thoughts and violence.
One would be hard pressed to find a single fatality amongst Salvia users. Further, reportedly this herb is seldom used more than once or twice because of its intensity and short lived affects.
This is just another extraordinary waste of tax dollars to prohibit something that poses no threat to community, family or personal safety.