Salvia divinorum elicits a variety of reactions.

The most common: What is it?

"South Park" spoofs it. Web sites shill it. Lawmakers think it should be banned.

Salvia divinorum elicits a variety of reactions.

The most common: What is it?

"I've been trying to get the word out there for three, four years," said Bill Phillips, who oversees a statewide drug education program, New Beginnings, based at Framingham's Keefe Technical High School.

"People look at me like I'm crazy" because they haven't heard of salvia, he said.

"The first time we started hearing about it was about a year and a half ago," said Ashland Police Sgt. Greg Fawkes, who warned parents about the plant at a recent forum at the middle school.

Salvia has been used in shaman healers' rituals in the plant's native Mexico for centuries.

"It was extremely obscure," when he began studying it 20 years ago, said Daniel Siebert, a Los Angeles-based researcher who created the Web site sagewisdom.org.

"The effects vary from nothing to extremely intense."

Its different forms can be smoked, ingested or inhaled, and potency levels vary widely, depending on the concentration of salvinorin A, which gives the plant hallucinogenic properties.

"It's a powerful high, but short-lived," said Fawkes. "It's extremely available and it's extremely potent."

"It's probably the most hallucinogenic thing you can use," said Sean, a senior at Framingham State College. "It's a pretty wild experience."

"It's overblown," said Brian, also a Framingham State senior who said he's familiar with the drug. "It's a 10-minute high and then it's over.

"No fun," he said.

Neither thought salvia was likely to cause addiction. Although it smells like potpourri, its taste is reportedly unpleasant.

"Pretty much people take it once and the problem solves itself," said Brian.

"The effects of salvia don't appeal to most young people," said Siebert. "Most people feel the effects are disorienting."

However, one of the dozens of Internet sites offering salvia, for prices ranging from $8.99 to $96.99 depending on quantity and potency, posted the following message last week: "Since the site has been featured on Yahoo.com we have experienced a huge surge in orders, and are not accepting new orders today."

"I think now that the news is talking about it, people will be going out looking for it," said Melissa Helliwell, a Framingham State junior who "hadn't heard of it until it was on the news."

"When something's on television, kids are going to go out and try it," said Phillips.

Particularly since it's not illegal to do so in Massachusetts, a fact state Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, and Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, hope to change.

Earlier this month, the legislature's Joint Committee on Public Health, co-chaired by the local lawmakers, recommended salvia be classified a controlled substance.

"I knew of salvia as a popular bedding plant you put in your garden," said Fargo. "This is obviously not the same.

"We heard testimony about three of these herb plant-like substances available on eBay or convenience stores. ...They seem innocent, but they're not."

"It was extremely troubling to see young people inhale salvia... and lose complete control of their bodily functions," Koutoujian said of the video committee members were shown. "It's identical to other hallucinogens that are illegal."

"It's disturbing a lot of this is marketed to children," said Fargo. "It's marketed to look attractive" to youngsters.

Siebert, of sagewisdom.org, agrees.

"I'm concerned about young people using it recklessly," said Siebert. "I'm concerned about irresponsible marketing.

"A lot of vendors seem to be targeting minors. A lot of them are selling what I consider excessively concentrated extracts. It's really just dangerous. It's like going to the liquor store, buying two bottles of vodka and drinking them both.

"It's a shame that something that can be used responsibly... some people are using it recklessly."

California has a bill pending that would make it illegal to sell salvia to minors.

"I think that's appropriate," said Siebert.

Koutoujian hopes to make salvia, and similarly legal substances catha edulis and kratom, illegal for all.

"I believe we should act on this with all due speed," he said, hopefully before "that story about someone getting really sick from this."

That's already happened, said Phillips, who runs New Beginnings.

"I had a kid come in here, saying this is the best stuff and it's legal. A month later, he came back sick as a dog," said Phillips.

But local hospitals haven't seen the evidence.

"We have not seen anyone come through our emergency department having taken salvia," said Milford Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Terri McDonald. "No one has come in with that noted in their records."

At MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham and Natick, "we've not seen any effect from it in the ER," said spokeswoman Beth Donnelly.

Many local police departments also say they haven't seen evidence of the drug.

"I haven't seen it" in Hudson, said Capt. David Stephens.

"I'm not aware of us coming across that," said Bellingham Police Capt. Gerry Corriveau.

"We have come upon high school students with it in their possession," said Ashland's Fawkes. "When we happened upon (the students), they acted very nervous and suspicious.

"They said they had purchased it at a Chinese herb shop in Boston," and "that vial cost them 50 bucks."

"We haven't come across it yet," said Franklin Deputy Police Chief Steve Senerjian, but that "doesn't mean it isn't out there."

"We've seen a small amount, and heard some talk, but it really hasn't made an impact at this time. But it has the potential," said Bill Horne, executive director of Genesis Counseling Services in Framingham.

"It hasn't shown up here," said Sgt. Richard MacLean of Sudbury, and that's fine with him. "We've got enough problems with what's already out there. We don't need anything new."

Horne agrees.

"I'm a zero-tolerance guy. I don't like anything mind-altering. Period. Paragraph," said Horne.

Youngsters already use computer cleaners as inhalants and share attention deficit disorder prescriptions with friends, said Horne.

"We just don't need kids, or any person for that matter, trying to add to the list of chemical substances."
