Local Teens High On Legal Substance

BALTIMORE -- Local teens are finding a new high -- it's sold in stores, is potentially dangerous and perfectly legal.

WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter Lisa Robinson uncovered the mysterious new drug and introduced Meg Sullivan, a teen who was 17 years old when she first tried the herb called Salvia.

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"I hallucinated, I had a complete loss of identity. I didn't know who I was or where I was or even that I was a human being on the planet Earth," Meg said.

Eddie Escher said Salvia is similar to LSD.

"When I did it, it was very intense and the visuals were very intense," Escher said.

But this new high is perfectly legal and easy to buy. It's formally known as Salvia Divinorum, an herb that comes from Mexico. It's a member of the sage family and can be smoked, chewed or used in its most popular form as a concentrated extract.

"It has been used in Mexico in religious ceremonies to induce hallucinations related to religious visions," said Dr. Fadia Shaya, who is with the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.

There are side effects from using the herb, including nausea, dizziness, slurred speech and confusion, Robinson reported.

"It only lasts about 30 to 45 minutes compared to LSD which lasts for several hours, which [makes] it pretty attractive to people on a short-term basis," drug abuse expert Mike Gimble said.

The federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is concerned about who's using it and why. They're researching whether it should be a controlled substance.

"The common user that we know of right now seems to be adolescents and young adults. These groups of people that are using the drug seem to be looking for ethno-botanical plants that produce mind-altering-type hallucinations," DEA spokesman Pat Warner said.

And people who want to get their hands on Salvia don't have to look far. It's widely available over the Internet for anywhere from $40 to $120 for an ounce. The 11 News I-Team was able to buy it -- with hidden camera rolling, 11 News was led to the back room of a Towson store where 2 grams of dried salvia was purchased for $10. The owner of the store would not talk to 11 News on camera, but the owner of a downtown Baltimore shop did.

The owner, Barbara Apolonio, said that after people told her how it made them feel, she stopped making Salvia available.

"We sold it and were selling out of it all the time," Apolonio said. "If anything could be harmful, I didn't want the karma of doing it to make money, so I made that choice, not saying it's a bad thing, but I choose not to sell it."

While Apolonio won't say it's bad, scientists warn parents to be vigilant.

"Long-term, prolonged use, kids using it every day, over weeks [and] months ... it could be a very dangerous substance," Tulane Medical School Dr. Bradley Taylor said.

"I really thought that if there is such a thing as the devil incarnate in the world it was in this plant that's what a bad experience it was for me," Meg said.

The active ingredient in Salvia Divinorum activates a receptor in the brain normally affected by morphine. But instead of causing a feeling of well-being, it triggers hallucinations, Robinson reported.

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