Google Trends

[Sasquatch]

I was interested in whether global interest in Salvia divinorum seems to be growing or lessening. With all the fuss about YouTube, etc, one may think that there is a salvia epidemic going on. So, I decided to check out Google Trends which uses search volumes to gauge trends. Here are the results for “salvia divinorum” (blue) and “salvia” (red):



So there you have it, interest in Salvia divinorum has been pretty much flat since the beginning of 2004, with some spikes in 2008 coinciding with prominent news articles.

Does anyone know what the spike in the first quarter of 2006 is? I saw a similar spike for that period in another data set (which I will tell you about later). It happens to coincide with Sweden banning both the plant and salvinorin on the 1st of April, but I doubt that would have that great an effect. Other ideas?

[Sasquatch]

Code:

     2008-08: ******** (31)
     2008-07: *** (13)
     2008-06: ** (6)
     2008-05: ****** (23)
     2008-04: *** (13)
     2008-03: ******* (28)
     2008-02: ****** (23)
     2008-01: ***** (20)
     2007-12: ****** (24)
     2007-11: *** (13)
     2007-10: ****** (23)
     2007-09: **** (17)
     2007-08: *********** (43)
     2007-07: ****************************** (115)
     2007-06: ********************************* (128)
     2007-05: ********************** (84)
     2007-04: *********************** (90)
     2007-03: ***************************** (112)
     2007-02: ********************* (81)
     2007-01: *********************************************** (179)
     2006-12: **************************************************************************************************** (383)
     2006-11: ********************** (83)
     2006-10: *********************** (88)
     2006-09: **************** (60)
     2006-08: ****************************** (115)
     2006-07: ************** (54)
     2006-06: ***************** (66)
     2006-05: ***************************** (110)
     2006-04: ****************** (69)
     2006-03: ********************* (80)
     2006-02: **************** (62)
     2006-01: ********** (38)
     2005-12: ********** (40)
     2005-11: *** (12)
     2005-10: ****** (22)
     2005-09: ****** (22)
     2005-08: ******** (32)
     2005-07: * (4)
     2005-06: ******** (30)
     2005-05: *** (10)
     2005-04: **** (16)
     2005-03: ** (7)
     2005-02: ***** (18)
     2005-01: ** (7)
     2004-12: ** (9)
     2004-11: *** (13)
     2004-10: ** (7)
     2004-09: ** (7)
     2004-08: * (5)
     2004-07: ** (7)
     2004-06: ** (9)
     2004-05: *** (13)
     2004-04: ** (8)
     2004-03: **** (17)
     2004-02: * (2)
     2004-01: * (5)
     2003-10: * (2)
     2003-07: * (2)
     2003-06: * (3)
     2003-03: * (2)
     2003-02: * (1)
     2003-01: * (3)
     2002-11: * (5)

That’s a histogram of the number of edits of the English Wikipedia article on Salvia divinorum.

[Sasquatch]

Does anyone know what the spike in the first quarter of 2006 is? I saw a similar spike for that period in another data set (which I will tell you about later).

I believe I found its cause: It was around the banning of Salvia divinorum in Delaware, the insultingly-named “Brett’s Law” following Brett Chidester’s suicide. [1][2].

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

the insultingly-named “Brett’s Law”

That's exactly what I was going to guess...

JARG