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May 11, 2008 11:43 pm US/Eastern
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CBS4 I-Team: Florida Moves To Make Salvia Illegal
Gov. Crist Expected To Sign Measure In May
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
It's become the hottest rage on college campuses and even some high schools across the country. It's a drug some state lawmakers compare to LSD and PCP.
And the
CBS4 I-Team found out it's legal.
Florida State Senator Victor Crist of Tampa said, referring to salvia, "It's becoming an epidemic in this state and this country."
Senator Crist has led the fight to make salvia illegal in Florida for several years. The Tampa Republican introduced a bill last year to ban the drug. That bill failed. But a similar one he helped push this year passed both houses.
Crist told the
CBS4 I-Team, "Youngsters in schools are going online finding out who the local store is that carries it and walking in and laying the money on the table and walking out with a drug that in most cases is worse than marijuana."
The
CBS4 I-Team decided to get a look for ourselves to see how easily available this drug really is here in South Florida.
It looks a lot like crushed marijuana. Those people who've tried it say it gives a high much like pot or PCP or even LSD.
"It's a completely different perspective of reality," said Ashley Hoffhines.
The 22-year old Hoffhines should know. She says she's tried this drug several times with friends at local parties.
Hoffhines described the experience to
CBS4.
"It's all at once," Hoffhines said. "It hits you all at once. And you just like you feel like you're a midget because you can't see everything. Your vision is blocked a little bit. And your motor skills are like completely shut off--like a part of your brain is definitely shut off."
The drug has long been known as salvia divinorum. It comes from a plant that's commonly grown and used in Central America. Historians date its use by the Mazatecan Indians in Mexico as far back as the 16th Century.
Today, it's known on the street simply as "salvia."
Hoffhines compares smoking salvia to smoking pot.
"Marijuana is a little bit stronger, this is probably a more mild strand of it," said Hoffhines.
The biggest difference between salvia and marijuana is that, right now, salvia is legal since federal drug laws do not currently list it as a controlled substance.
And it's easily found.
The
CBS4 I-Team discovered dozens of Internet web pages advertising salvia sales. We discovered that even a couple of sites advertising growing seeds. These are sites where you can buy salvia seeds to grow your own plants!
But you don't have to go on-line. You can go to your local head shop. The
CBS4 I-Team went undercover and bought salvia on two different occasions from a head shop in Coconut Grove.
All it took was $58.98 for a small 80-milligram container of the stuff.
We discovered inside the head shop that there were no questions asked by the salesperson. There was no hesitation to sell it to us.
And it is all perfectly legal!
In describing drugs such as salvia, Florida State Senator Evelyn Lynn said on the Senate floor, "They're very similar to what they do to the mind to LSD and PCP."
And because of that, during the months the
CBS4 I-Team investigated this, Florida's law began to change.
While speaking in support of legislation to ban the drug Senator Lynn said, "This (proposed law) would place these two substances into a schedule one for controlled substances."
On March 24, 2008, the Florida Senate joined the Florida House of Representatives in passing a bill that - effective July 1st - would make salvia illegal in the Sunshine State.
It was a victory for the Tampa Republican who had pushed this bill for so long. No relation to Governor Charlie Crist, Victor Crist defends Florida's decision to make salvia illegal even though the federal government hasn't taken that step yet.
"The federal government historically moves very slowly," Crist said. "It could take 10, 20 years to pass a bill in the federal government. In state governments you could pass bill in one year."
And, as if to prove his point, this year the legislature did just that.
Hoffhines could not believe it wasn't illegal before now.
"When I found out that they sold it in stores I was like really surprised," Hoffhines said. "I was like because that's like a drug you know it changes the way you think and the way you process stuff completely."
This Florida legislation now awaits Governor Charlie Crist's signature to become law. The Governor is expected to sign the legislation later in May.
Several other states including South Carolina, Virginia and Illinois have also recently passed bills to make salvia illegal.
However, so far, the federal government and the DEA do NOT consider this drug illegal under federal law.
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