Salvia says high
Lab study documents effects of psychoactive substance in popular, largely legal hallucinogenic plant
Researchers are closer to understanding how a bong packed with leaves of Salvia divinorum gave Smiley Miley the giggles.
Although shamans in Mexico have been chewing the leaves of the hardy mint relative for centuries (and without any prompting from an infamous YouTube video of Miley Cyrus smoking it), little is known about what the plant’s psychoactive substance, salvinorin A, actually does to humans — despite its increasing popularity as a recreational drug.
A new study provides some data: The hallucinogen kicks off an unusually intense and short-lasting high, with no obvious ill effects, researchers report in an upcoming Drug and Alcohol Dependence paper.