The Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center - Shroomery

Daniel Siebert Speaks…
personally valuable and meaningful.
People who provide this herb to others must accept the
responsibility of educating prospective users. I am concerned
about the fact that there are unscrupulous entrepreneurs who
see this plant as nothing more than a way to make a fast buck
and seem to care nothing about what happens to the people
who use it. If these people begin exploitatively massmarketing
it as some sort of "great new high" to uneducated,
unprepared consumers, problems could arise that would bring
the plant some serious negative attention. Salvia divinorum is
a precious and sacred plant. It would be very sad to see it
criminalized.
Will: At the 1997 Mind States conference, Terence McKenna
had this to say about Salvia divinorum: "I don't believe the
establishment is interested in demonizing and criminalizing a
new, easily grown, widely available psychoactive plant. I
don't think the establishment needs a new Cannabis." Do you
agree with this statement?
Daniel: Well, I think it is rather difficult to anticipate the
interests of the establishment, but Terence is correct in the
sense that it would be impossible to enforce a law that made
Salvia divinorum illegal. It would be a tremendous waste of
resources and would not accomplish anything positive. Unlike
Cannabis, Salvia divinorum is both shade-loving and very
inconspicuous looking. By planting it amongst other plants or
beneath trees it can be grown almost invisibly. There are
several ornamental Salvia species that look almost identical to
Salvia divinorum, so identifying an illegal Salvia plant would
be a major problem. It is a rapidly growing, easily propagated
plant that can be harvested at any stage in its life cycle. It is
very easy to grow indoors, since there is no need for
expensive high-wattage lighting. If Salvia divinorum were
made illegal, most people would just move their plants
indoors. Unlike Cannabis, there would be no tell-tale odor or
high electric bills to worry about.
Will: What is your preferred method of ingesting Salvia
divinorum? Do you have a ritualized context that you take it
in?
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