In Salvia's Defense

Chris Kaplan
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On Monday the New York Times posted a piece about the Arizona shooting suspect Jared L. Loughner and his link to the legal psychedelic substance known as Salvia Divinorum. Although the Times started the piece by clarifying that they are not suggesting that his use of the hallucinogenic herb had any direct correlation with his violent mental breakdown, they did make it easy to draw such conclusions.

To blame the herb itself while ignoring whether our culture even utilizes the plant in a "correct" way by taking it out of its sacred and serious context, and polluting it with foreign chemicals to "enhance" its effects, is leaving out half the story. In the case of Saliva, when used in a native setting, the plant is moist with life, not dried out like in U.S. production. Its green leaves are chewed or made into a tea by the Mazatec shamans (which the Times did care to report). These are people who have incorporated the uses of the plant in a ritualized context, and are working with the plant, exploring and nourishing their souls and expanding their consciousness. But such acts require work, and this practice is extremely difficult to come by in the U.S., where typical usage stems from a polluted and stigmatized point-of-view, so much so that it is difficult for true work to be distinguished from recreational play, where fear is amplified and such actions are vilified.

In this case, let us recognize the fact that an individual caused this horrific act, whether or not he was motivated by other forces, and in this regard, by seeing our shadow, we can live in an interconnected light as individuals.

 

Image: "Healthy Saliva Divinorum" by Halcyon_Daze- on Flickr courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing.

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Comments

Man that Times article is

Submitted by Lunk Rat on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 17:21.

Man that Times article is bad news for cognitive liberty efforts worldwide. We all know what happens when a drug becomes associated with an incident like this. The whole nation is looking to blame someone, something--anything--and "get to the bottom" of the criminal behaviour. At the very peak of public outrage, when the heat is turned up, way up, we discover an easy blame-target--a drug--and and easy solution: crusade against said drug. Scrub the streets of the demon drug! Do everything in our power to prevent "the Salvia" from corrupting the minds of our people and seducing our children (and our children's pop music heroes) into deceptive, "shredded" drug-realities where they commit horrible murderous acts . . .

And so begins the battles and bans against yet another ancient plant sacrament. But as you point out, it ceases to be an "ancient plant sacrament" when we buy it from a gas station and blast it into our lungs at artificially concentrated dosages in the name of our own personal thrill carnival. This, as you say, is quite different from the traditional use of chewing the fresh leaves in the context of a traditional vision quest.

The unfortunate part is that salvia drags down other psychedelic drugs with it when it gets this kind of negative public attention, because the effects of salvia are inevitably (and inaccurately) described as "similar to marijuana, mushrooms, or LSD" in the media.

Without succumbing to anti-drug hysteria, it is important to note that using hallucinogens is dangerous. When unstable minds abuse psychedelics, scary stuff can happen. Freaky salvia experiences repeated daily are not likely to improve your psychological stability. Even the most sacred of molecules can push people off the deep end.

Couldn't have said better

Submitted by Chris Kaplan on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 19:20.
Couldn't have said better myself Lunk. They are definitely trying to target a scapegoat for this, and that kind of sweeping-under-the-rug behavior completely ignores the causing factors.

So they said it's effects can mimic psychosis,

Submitted by Jedi Mind Traveler on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 20:10.
and yet they also say it's marketed with: "promises of producing a transcendental spiritual journey: out-of-body experiences, existence in multiple realities, the revelation of secret knowledge and, according to one online seller, "permanent mind-altering change in perception." They seem to be calling these experiences psychotic, and thus of course relegating them to something that should be avoided and prevented, rather than thoroughly researched and integrated. It's interesting simply to see these somewhat esoteric ideas injected into mainstream news - think how many people will be talking about these things and wondering if they're possible. I think the tone is slightly different from the 60's anti drug propaganda, and the idea that they can produce transcendental spiritual journeys, is on the same table as the old standby of mimicking psychosis. It's a good sign to see more discussion of these nonlinear, nonordinary dreamlike states - it points to their eventual integration into our linear logical Western psyche (or perhaps to welcoming the psychedelic and letting the left brain chill out).

agreed

Submitted by headyorganic on Thu, 01/20/2011 - 13:23.
very well said, and nice catch. I have long given up on the new york times and equivalents but this is a great example of why we need to read them; to keep em in check! Its absolutely ridiculous that those in control cross check current events, especially tragedies, with their "to do" lists to see how they can utilize them. In this case, making salvia illegal is still on the to do list, so why not channel some of the nation's anger from the shooter to something they can use! I heard Loughner smoked a cig before the tragedy, we should make those illegal @headyorganic

perhaps

Submitted by thepatient89 on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 05:16.
maybe forces did drive him to this. but not the plant itself, fear and evil linger....

his

Submitted by riley on Mon, 01/24/2011 - 01:21.

mugshot looks like his 8th grade teacher just called him out for farting really loud in class, smiling with rebellious pride but just underneath the surface is a child afraid of everything, who knows?it's really too bad he did what he did, especially to that little girl

 

from Kokomon's song “Hope for the Children.”

let the children play,

let the children laugh, 

let the children dance,

let the children sing

a thought

Submitted by ralphzoontjens on Tue, 02/01/2011 - 12:10.
I don't know the case but I know the psyche quite well. I have tried psychedelics and used them in full openness, to help answer questions and transform emotional patterns. This includes salvia although it didn't have a very profound effect as some other substances have had. Anyway, I can see that someone would have the urge to murder. One thing I've experienced is that the drug can confront you directly with fear of death, and you can become severely paranoid. This is a way to be confronted with the inner workings of the mind. To then say to forbid these substances will keep us safer in the normal sense of the word, but more lost mentally because we are never confronted with our own psyche - that always starts out as being very afraid of death. Another explanation could be that this was not an action in the spur of the moment - again, I know nothing about the case - but that the person was more existentially confused and questioning the value and truth of what 'normal society' calls reality. I can see that the drug (or healing substance, depending on the perspective you take) would make a person see that everything he has been doing in his life - the control, the continuous tenseness - has been irrelevant. So then what is the relevance of being someone, of that ego, that self inside? To try to confirm its existence in the world, such an action might be the result. I can see that the substance helped catalyzing this process and such a crisis moment occurred. But that doesn't mean we need to restrict use of these plants, so we can all live as robots under the safe and comfortable program called 'normalcy'. Western minds still need to be healed, taken out of the continuous stress of everyday life, and brought to peace, and these plants are just another precious gift of nature.