Oregon (OR)

Current Status: Bill died (as of Sept 3, 2008)
Classification: Schedule I
Bill Reference: HB2494
Contact State Representatives:
- House of Representatives
- Senate
External Links: Wikipedia | Erowid
Action Leader: N/A (to apply please post a reply to this topic)

Details
During the year 2003 two bills were proposed to criminalize Salvia divinorum and salvinorin A. Both bills died upon adjournment of the Oregon Judiciary Committee. House Bill 3485 (introduced March 15, 2003) sought to impose particularly severe penalties. If it had passed, possession would have been punishable by a maximum of 10 years imprisonment, a $200,000 fine, or both. Delivery would have been punishable by a maximum of 20 years imprisonment, a $300,000 fine, or both. Senate Bill 592 only proposed to make delivery a crime. If it had passed, delivery would have been punishable by a maximum of one year's imprisonment, a $5,000 fine, or both.

Efforts to ban Salvia divinorum were renewed on January 25, 2007. Representative John Lim (R) introduced House Bill 2494 to the Oregon State Legislature. If passed, this legislation would have made Salvia divinorum and salvinorin A Schedule I controlled substances in that state. Possession would be punishable by a maximum of 1 year's imprisonment, a $6250 fine, or both. Manufacture or delivery would be punishable by a maximum of 20 years imprisonment, a $375,000 fine, or both. House Bill 2494 died in committee upon adjournment on June 28, 2007.

Take Action
Send letters to state representatives

Modified version of Daniel Siebert's letter: View template or Download it in RTF format
If you sent a letter to a representative in this state post it and it will be added here.

Attend public hearing
This is the most effective way to take action against a ban. If you know about an upcoming date for a hearing please post it and it will be added here. You can search the state web sites to look for public hearing dates.
*Please post any public hearing dates you know of

Suggested key points:

Salvia is not a problem: No emergency room admittances, no drug counseling or addiction services admittances, no salvia related crime being reported by LEO, no superintendents speaking out against it. No deaths, and poison control rates it as a very low priority. Salvia has been around for a couple decades, or at least as long as the current meth plague--if salvia was going to be a widespread problem, it would have been by now.
Medicinal and/or scientific potential
Salvia is NOT a recreational substance and cannot be grouped with LSD, mushrooms, ecstasy, marijuana, etc. (ex: not addictive, short-acting, non-toxic, unappealing/unpleasant as a recreational substance)
Religious use. History dating back thousands of years of indigenous use and decades of contemporary spiritual use. Without apparent harm or addictive tendencies.
Arguments against rest almost exclusively on hearsay: unsubstantiated internet videos (search on alcohol and compare the number of videos), and the marketing claims of unscrupulous sellers.
Suggest age restriction instead of an outright ban (give examples of this being done in Maine and California)

*Please suggest other tips/links

Public hearing tips:

Good resource: http://www.ctkidslink.org/action_howtestify.html#anchor368848
Do research in your own state. Go the your state DEA or Office of Substance Abuse website and dig around a bit. Find out how much it costs to arrest, prosecute, and jail per person for drugs crimes and include that figure in your arguments against a ban. The ME financial report associated with a ban indicated minimal fiscal impact, but using their own reported figures, it turns out that it costs near $60,000 for each successful drug crime prosecution.

*Please suggest other tips/links

Discourage irresponsible sale
Visit your local smoke shops or send them letters to encourage them not to sell Salvia divinorum to minors and include safety information about using Salvia divinorum. You can print out a User Guide (or part of it) to give to them.

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*Please post a reply if you have any additions or updates for this page.
*Please post about any action you are taking in this state.