In widespread fashion, teens use social networking sites for everything from posting blogs to bullying their peers. They also use the Internet to spread information on what household chemicals, prescription drugs and plants can get them high.
Videos abound on YouTube of teens smoking a hallucinogenic plant once used in divination rituals in Mexico. It’s legal and common enough that it may even be in grandma’s garden.
Salvia Divinorum provides a 5 to 10 minute hallucinogenic “trip” after it’s smoked in a “bong.” Though some think it’s safe, its toxicity and addictiveness are still being researched. It has not been encountered by local guidance counselors or police agencies.
Amanda Conn Starner of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services says she hasn’t seen Salvia activity in northwest Ohio but her department is aware of it, as is the Ohio General Assembly.
“We’re not seeing it popping up in northwest Ohio and we haven’t tracked it in terms of drug trends but we are aware of it. We know it’s being circulated through the Internet and that’s how kids are finding out about it,” she said.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration lists salvia as a drug of concern and states are beginning to line up with laws against it. Ohio may join the growing list.
Fourth District Representative Matt Huffman (R-Lima) says the Ohio House passed a bill this week that will list salvia as a controlled substance, making it illegal to sell or be prescribed. He hopes this will help curtail the drug’s future popularity.
“It’s going to be a problem eventually and if it isn’t illegal, it will be easy to buy,” he said.
The bill must be passed by the Ohio Senate, which will begin its summer break in May. Huffman says it will reconvene in November, which is when the bill will more likely pass due to current energy and economic stimulus debates. Huffman also says it takes 90 days for new laws to take effect, keeping salvia legal until next year.
Phil Atkins of the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board in Lima says rural teens have to be more hidden about drug abuse because tight-knit communities watch them more closely. He says teens still steal prescription meds and “huff” household aerosol cleaners. However, adolescents have to get high from something else if medicine cabinets and utility closets are locked with a deadbolt and mom wears the key around her neck.
“It’s about access. We find that in rural communities, you have to take what you can get. If you’re determined to get high, you will use substances that are readily available to you. Inhalants are huge in rural communities and in those smaller settings, people tend to watch more closely so they have to be more ‘underground’ about it,” he said.
Though salvia is legal at the federal level, eight states have banned it and the number of other states considering similar measures is growing. It’s also illegal in Australia, Italy and Belgium.