Salvia divinorum from an unbaised and practical perspective

[Sea Mac]

I've found a LOT of research over at http://sagewisdom.org !

The secondary list is posted here:
http://www.salvia-community.net/index.php?s=2fcc716c681792c902b1be4caa85592d&showtopic=7728

[Sea Mac]

After another round of Grammar checking and a few more edits I've reposted it. I've changed the last version I posted here to reflect it.

[Paradoxic]

Hey Sea Mac, would you mind removing all those papers, we really dont need the whole list when we can just go right over to SageWisdom. But what we should do is provide a list of papers that will be directly useful to cite in our document. This will be papers that mention Salvia therapeutic potential and other things like being non-toxic.

[Sea Mac]

Then add these to the list:

Antidepressant Effects of the Herb Salvia divinorum: a Case Report.
by Karl R. Hanes, PhD. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology (2001).
http://sagewisdom.org/jclinpsych.html

Salvia divinorum: Clinical and Research Potential.
by Hanes KR. MAPS Bulletin 13(1): 18–20 (2003). This paper is in PDF format.
http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v13n1/13118han.pdf

Salvinorin A: From Natural Product to Human Therapeutics.
by Vortherms TA and Roth BL. Molecular Interventions. Vol.6 No.5 (2006). This review article is in PDF format
http://sagewisdom.org/vorthermsandroth.pdf

Acute Physiologic and Chronic Histologic Changes in Rats and Mice Exposed to the Unique Hallucinogen Salvinorin A.
by Mowry M, Mosher M, Briner W. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 35(3): 379–382 (2003). This paper is in PDF format.
http://www.sagewisdom.org/mowryetal.pdf

[Paradoxic]

I added one paper about the toxicity of Salvia to Sea Mac's post. I was thinking, everyone who writes a piece or a letter should always hold onto it because even if we dont use parts or edit things for the final version, I think it would be useful to have a bunch of other unique letters that as many people as possible can send themselves.

I'm thinking the main version will be sent with the signatures (or e-signatures) of everyone who has contributed and perhaps others as well. It would be great to get prominent scientists to sign as well. I can definitely get Dr. Gang in my lab and probably some others to give their endorsements. It might also be useful to email other scientists who have published papers on Salvia to get their support as well.

[Paradoxic]

Ok, I've been doing some writing for the document and I've come up with an intro and a basic outline. Heres what I have so far:

Introduction
   Civil liberties are strongly valued in our society and if we agree to give up one of them we must  make sure there is a legitimate and necessary reason. Many “recreational drugs” have proven to be considerably dangerous or addictive and have demonstrated little to no use in medicine. These substances, of course, are tightly controlled. However, when we are talking about a plant with tremendous medicinal potential and a weak, mostly unsubstantiated case for prohibition we should reconsider if it is really necessary to restrict another civil liberty in order to, at best, attempt to control this beautiful member of the mint family called Salvia divinorum. Its appearance is similar to many houseplants, however it produces an extremely unique chemical called salvinorin A. While salvinorin A is hallucinogenic, it has been shown to be non-toxic (cite) and there is no evidence to suggest that it is in any way addictive. In fact, there is substantial evidence suggesting it has potential in treating cocaine and amphetamine addiction (cite). This document covers Salvia divinorum's medicinal potential, scientific value, and also recommendations on how to ensure this plant is handled safely. Writing this document was a collaborative effort and it is supported by a cumbersome list of prominent scientists and enthusiasts (listed below).

[Nice picture of Salvia divinorum in bloom]

Background information
-history
-salvinorin A mechanism of action
-non-toxic

Medicinal potential


No potential for long-term abuse
   There are many popular misconceptions about Salvia divinorum, presumably these led to some of the proposed bans. Many of these misconceptions have their origin in sensationalistic stories presented by misinformed journalists, and others derive from the absurd advertising claims of unethical herb vendors who market this herb as a “legal high” and deliberately exaggerate its effects to increase sales. The fact is that the effects of Salvia divinorum are not appealing to recreational drug users. The majority of people who try it find that they do not enjoy its effects and do not continue using it. It does produce an altered state of awareness, but does not produce a “high” (i.e., it is not euphoric or stimulating). Salvia divinorum produces a state of increased self-awareness. For this reason, some people use it as an aid to meditation, contemplation, and spiritual reflection. There are people who are intrigued by salvia’s effects, but even these people use it infrequently. Because it increases self-awareness, it is useless as an escapist drug. When used in a careless manner, it tends to produce unpleasant experiences, and that of course discourages further use (i.e., abuse is self-limiting).

Unnecessary increase in law enforcement expenses


Recommendations
-under 18 ban
Salvia divinorum is an important medicinal herb that has no potential for long-term abuse. It does not present a significant risk to public health or safety. Obviously, there is a problem with young people using this herb (especially when they use it carelessly). There is a sensible way to deal with that problem: regulation that prohibits sale or delivery to minors. This is a useful medicinal herb that enriches the lives of many responsible adults. Since it is by all accounts a remarkably safe herb (when used responsibly), it would be overly restrictive to make it illegal for all citizens. Placing it in Schedule I would deprive people of a safe and useful medicinal herb, and it would seriously hamper promising medical research. Because of its complex stereochemistry, salvinorin A is virtually impossible to produce synthetically. It is important that its source plant, Salvia divinorum, remain available so that researchers can continue to study this important compound.

Sent on behalf of...
[everyone involved in writing + scientists, etc (phone #, address, name, signatures?)]

References

Someone offered to make a PDF version of the document, which we definitely need to do.

Also the above doesnt include the ways to take action section, but we will have to work out different versions for different purposes. We obviously wouldn't want to send ways to take action to legislators. And we might want to add a section on safe usage to give to smoke shops and online Salvia vendors.

Tell me what you think of it so far (this is just what I have written; I haven't incorporated anyone else's writing yet).

[divinorum]

"It looks similarly to many houseplants", can you change the similarly to similar (thats the only grammatical error that I see in it). Anyway, below is my paper so far. I have been trying to get my school stuff out of the way, but projects and such are stacking up on me again so I dont have a ton of time. This week though is pretty much it, so I will definatley have this finished by Sunday. Now, I need to know how to put up my word document that I have written so far up here so that you can download and take a look at it. Does anyone know how to do this?

[Paradoxic]

Oh yeah, I recently edited that section.

Thank you for contributing. I really wanna get this off the ground very soon because in my city there is a group trying to get the plant banned.

[divinorum]

Oh yeah, I recently edited that section.

Thank you for contributing. I really wanna get this off the ground very soon because in my city there is a group trying to get the plant banned.

Cool, and uncool (in that order). We need to stop groups like this by showing them unbiased information.

Alright, I am almost done with my little section, and will be getting a great resource for any further sections in a week. Its the book Plants of the Gods by Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hofmann which outlines 90-somthin plants that were used for spiritual purposes.

[DrYRHead]

I'm updating my web page and posting the cleaned up copy here.

   http://members.cox.net/sageseeds/noonab259.html   

The rough source draft ...

Good rants SeaMac.

[DrYRHead]

Oh yeah, I recently edited that section.

Thank you for contributing. I really wanna get this off the ground very soon because in my city there is a group trying to get the plant banned.

This kind of thing makes me wonder which plant these goons are going to go after next. 

[lanothegreat]

this is a great idea..countries are so power hungry and are willing to ban anything people use openly without taxtation for the government...without looking at the positive side effects.i agree with the open use of salvia and anything like that of its nature...from what i understand..the  effects of salvia are limited to minutes...where as alcohol could have effectiveness for hours and it can be purchased openly damn near anywhere....
i just purchasede 25 grams of salvia and im going to enjoy it..then make extractions...shit...thank god for salvia