COLUMBUS — In a unanimous vote, the state House of Representatives passed legislation that would criminalize Salvia Divinorum, a commercially available and reportedly hallucinogenic herb. Presented by Rep. Thom Collier, the bill will classify salvia as a Schedule I controlled substance, in the same category as LSD, Ecstacy, and heroin.
Salvia is a perennial herb in the mint family native to areas in southernmost Mexico, according to the DEA. The plant, which can grow to over 3 feet in height, has large green leaves, hollow square stems and white flowers with purple sepals, and can grow successfully in most areas of the United States.
In a 95-0 vote, the Ohio House amended Collier’s bill to not only include salvia the plant but Salvinorin A, the active ingredient believed to be responsible for the herb’s hallucinogenic effects. Presently, salvia plants, seeds, leaves and enhanced extracts of Salvinorin A are readily available for purchase over the Internet.
“I was extremely pleased for the unanimous vote,” Collier told the News. “We look forward to passing this on to the Senate.”
Collier said the Ohio Senate has yet to assign a schedule to the bill, although he hopes it will soon be signed to a committee.
“Hopefully we’ll get hearings in an expeditious manner,” said Collier.
Daniel Siebert, the ethnobiologist first credited for identifying the active ingredient in salvia, told the News, “I just think it’s excessive to put a useful medicinal herb in the same category as highly addictive substances like heroin. There’s no evidence that salvia is addictive. It’s pretty manageable if people just use common sense.
“I’d rather see more modest legislation like they have in Maine and what’s pending in California,” said Siebert.
In Maine, a law was passed in 2007 that regulates salvia in the same way tobacco products are regulated. Adults over the age of 18 can legally purchase and use salvia or extracts of Salvinorin A. California is planning similar legislation.
A DEA study is still pending to determine whether or not salvia fits the eight-point criteria to be placed on the Federal Controlled Substances Act. The DEA does not comment on pending controlled substance investigations.
“I don’t know why lawmakers are so eager to criminalize,” said Siebert. “I guess there’s just such a strong anti-drug bias that that’s what [lawmakers] do without questioning it. I guess that’s just the way things are.”
Collier said he doesn’t know if the current legislation will pass the Senate by its break this summer.
“Hopefully we’ll get it passed this year,” he said.
If signed into law, Ohio would join Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Delaware, Maine and North Dakota as states that have prohibited possession of salvia. Not all states with possession laws on the books have classified salvia as a controlled substance. In Louisiana and Oklahoma, it is still legal to possess the plant as long as it is not intended for human consumption.
A report filed by the House Criminal Justice Committee expects that “the number of individuals that could be sentenced to prison exclusively for conduct involving salvia ... will be relatively small, especially in the context of an [Ohio] prison population that currently totals around 50,000 inmates.” The report also stated that “it seems probable that the bill’s fiscal effect on the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections ... could increase in excess of $100,000 or more per year for the state.”
Locally the House Committee reported that it expected that miscellaneous drug offenses involving salvia would be “relatively small in any given local jurisdiction. Assuming that were true, then the annual costs for any affected county of municipal criminal justice system (investigation, prosecution, adjudication, defense if the individual is indigent, and sanctioning) to resolve these cases seems unlikely to exceed ... no more than $5,000 for any affected county.”
The report concluded that “anecdotal evidence suggests that [salvia abuse] does not appear to be a widespread activity.”
