North Dakota Mortal Facing Years in Prison After Buying Salvia Divinorum on eBay DrugReporter AlterNet

Kenneth Rau, a bottling plant worker with an interest in herbalism, altered states, and belief and spirituality, was arrested by Bismarck constabulary on April 9 when they searched his home looking for his adult son, who was on test for drug charges.

Police found a marijuana pipe, eight ounces of salvia leaf, a aggregate of amanita muscaria mushrooms, and a digit of other herbal products. Rau now faces multiple charges, said Burleigh County States Attorney Cynthia Feland.

He is existence charged with possession of salvia with intent to deliver, as well as possession of psilocybin with intent, and possession of marijuana," she said. Although Rau told the Account he thought he would be charged with a school zone violation as well, which would have unreal his intent offenses Group A felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison, that is not the case, said Feland.

He is not being charged with a school band violation," she affirmed. The psilocybin onus could drive up in smoke.

The amanita muscaria mushrooms that he driven are not controlled stuff under federal law and, while hallucinogenic, do not incorporate psilocybin. The active ingredient in amanita muscaria mushrooms is muscimole.) Rau was growth charged with proprietorship with intent because of the weight of the leaves, she said.

We look at the typical utilize quantity," she said, "and it is similar to marijuana, with a typical use dose of. 25 grams to. 5 grams, and he had significantly extra than that," she said. Salvia divinorum, a member of the Mexican mint family, has been used by Mazatec shamans for hundreds of years.

Smoking or chewing the leaves, or besides commonly, concentrated extracts, can produce intense, albeit short-lived hallucinogenic experiences.

While the plant has alter to scandalous fini YouTube videos of young people smoking it and behaving strangely, it is also of interest to "psychonauts," or people attempting to explore consciousness through herbal means.

Researchers convey that while salvia's effects on consciousness may be disquieting, the plant has not been shown to be toxic to humans, its aftermath are so potent it is unlikely to be hand-me-down repeatedly, and its active property, salvinorin A, could assist in the adulthood of remedy for mood disorders.

There are hazards to messing with hallucinogens, one expert was quick to end out.

It's an hallucinogen, and while its hallucinogenic energy are different from those induced by LSD and other hallucinogens, it has the liabilities that hallucinogens do," Bryan Roth, a professor of pharmacology at University of North Carolina's Faculty of Medicine, the man who loney salvinorin A, told Narcotic War Legend endure month.

When general public capture it, they are disoriented. If you don't appreciate where you are and you're driving a car, that would be a evil experience."

Still, said Roth, while it may build you freak out, it isn't going to electrocute you. There is no evidence of any overt toxicity, there are no reports in the medical literature that anyone has died from it.

The caveat is that there have been no formal studies done on humans, but the being data suggests that it doesn't kill animals given massive doses, and that's usually -- but not on all occasions -- predictive for human pharmacology."

The DEA over salvia a drug of interest, but has yet to move to place it under the Controlled Substances Act. A DEA spokesman told the Chronicle recently that the plant is being reviewed to see whether it meets the criteria for inclusion on the list of controlled substances.

From http://alternet.org/drugreporter/84158/