The Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center - Shroomery

Daniel Siebert Speaks…
Daniel Siebert Speaks…
Interviewed by Will Beifuss
The Entheogen Review. 1999 V. 8, No. 3.
The Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center
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Daniel Siebert
Will: When did you first become interested in Salvia
divinorum?
Daniel: It might be more fitting to ask, "When did Salvia
divinorum first become interested in me?" I first came across
a description of Salvia divinorum in 1973 in a little booklet
entitled Legal Highs, which described the effects of Salvia
divinorum as being similar to psilocybin, but shorter-acting.
This caught my attention immediately, since I was a young,
"hip" teenager at the time, with a lot of curiosity about
psychedelics, and the comparison to psilocybin was
seductive. I probably would have tried it immediately if I
could have gotten my hands on it, but back then Salvia
divinorum was quite rare and very hard to obtain. The Church
of the Tree of Life owned a large plant and was offering
rooted cuttings as a premium for donating $100.00 or more to
their Church, but that was more money than I could possibly
afford at the time. Nevertheless, I was interested enough that I
wrote to the Church for more information, but that was as far
as it went. It was not until the early '80s that I came across the
plant again. I was browsing through The Redwood City Seed
Company's catalog and noticed that they were offering Salvia
divinorum plants. I think they were charging around $25.00 at
the time, and I ordered one. Unfortunately the plant died
within a few days after I received it. About a year later, I
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