Salvia divinorum

History

Salvia divinorum was first recorded in print by Jean Basset Johnson in 1939 as he was studying Mazatec shamen. R. Gordon Wasson later documented its usage and reported its effects through personal testimonials. It was not until the 1990s that the psychoactive mechanism was identified by a team led by Daniel Siebert.

The history of the plant is not known, but there are three possibilities as to its origin. Since it is found in one, small area and only one indigeneous group use it, it is either native to this area, is a cultigen of the Mazatecs or is a cultigen of another indigenous group. Wasson theorized that this plant was the mythological pipilzintzintli, the "Noble Prince" of the Aztec codices. However, this theory is not without dispute. The Aztecs were extremely knowledgeable in plant identification, and their records report that pipilzintzintli has both male and female varieties. Salvia divinorum, however, is monoecious, meaning it produces flowers of both sexes on a single plant. Skeptics of this theory report that the Aztecs would have known the difference between male and female flowers. Wasson gains validity, however, as a number of Aztec historical accounts classify plants as male or female in a metaphorical, rather than botanically anatomical manner.

Botany

Unlike other species of salvia, Salvia divinorum produces few seeds, and those seldom germinate. For an unknown reason, pollen fertility is reduced. There is no active pollen tube inhibition within the style, but some event or process after the pollen tube reaches the ovary is aberrant. Partial sterility is often suggestive of a hybrid origin, although no species have been recognized as possible parent species. The ability to grow indistinguishable plants from seeds produced by self pollination also weakens the hybrid theory of origin, instead implying inbreeding depression, or an undiscovered incompatibility mechanism. The plant is mainly propagated by cuttings or layering. Although isolated strands of S. divinorum exist, these are thought to have been purposely created and tended by the Mazatec people. For this reason, it is considered a true cultigen, not occurring in a wild state.

All known specimens are clones from a small number of collected plants. Two strains are in major circulation: the Wasson/Hofmann strain, obtained upon request from a Mazatec shaman in Oaxaca in 1962, and the Blosser ('Palatable') strain, obtained around 1980. The 'Palatable' strain is said to have a more acceptable taste than the Wasson/Hofmann strain, although most reports suggest that there is little difference.

Additional ‘commercial’ strains are in circulation, but all seem to be similar in potency, effect, and growth. The numerous different names that can be found have more to do with marketing than with the formal identification of botanically distinct strains.

Chemistry

The active constituent is a trans-neoclerodane diterpenoid known as Salvinorin A, chemical formula C. Unlike other known opioid-receptor ligands, salvinorin A is not an alkaloid — it does not contain a basic nitrogen atom.

Salvinorin A is the most potent naturally-occurring psychoactive compound known. It is active at doses as low as 200 µg. Recent research has shown that salvinorin A is a potent and selective ? (kappa) opioid receptor agonist. It has been reported that the effects of salvinorin A in mice are blocked by kappa opioid receptor antagonists. This makes it unlikely that another mechanism contributes independently to the compound’s effects. Salvinorin A is unique in that it is the only naturally occurring substance known to induce a visionary state via this mode of action.

According to Daniel Siebert in his Salvia Divinorum FAQ, the extraction and purification of salvinorin A should only be attempted by qualified researchers with experience in chemistry and the proper laboratory equipment, particularly as measurement of safe dosages is difficult. Though salvinorin A can be vaporized and inhaled, the overwhelming potency of even minute quantities of salvinorin A makes a sophisticated analytical balance essential for measuring a safe dose. However, rather than trying to obtain pure salvinorin crystals, many less technically qualified choose to produce a concentrate, starting from a given amount of leaf mass, for the purpose of making enhanced strength leaf. The resulting wax/crystal mix from such partial extraction is then returned to a smaller amount of leaf or a substrate. By choosing the amount of leaf or substrate to deposit the mix onto, the dosage is controlled by the ratio of substrate to original leaf mass.

Salvinorin's potency should not be confused with toxicity. Rodents chronically exposed to dosages many times greater than those to which humans are exposed did not show signs of organ damage.

Many other terpenoids have been isolated from S. divinorum, including other salvinorins and related compounds named divinatorins and salvinicins. None of these compounds has shown significant (sub-micromolar) affinity at the kappa opioid receptor, and there is no evidence that they contribute to the plant's psychoactivity.

A brief summary of extraction solvents and usage

Salvinorin is easily extracted from Salvia divinorum using many different solvents which salvinorin is soluble to because the psychoactive principal mainly coats the outside of the leaf . Salvinorin can be isolated from crude extract or "black wax" which remains upon evaporation of the extraction solvent, through the use of column chromatography techniques, partition (AKA liquid-liquid extraction) between aqueous methanol and hexane in a separatory funnel, or more simply by reducing the amount of impurities initially extracted from the leaf through the use of chilled acetone followed by washes of the evaporated extract solids using a solvent which has a low solubility to salvinorin.

As reported by C. Hazlett who is well known in the entheogen community for his extensive work with experimental Salvia divinorum extractions, soaking Salvia divinorum leaf in acetone, high proof ethanol, methanol, 99% isopropyl, acetonitrile, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane and several other solvents will each extract nearly all of the salvinorin in just a few minutes of stirring the leaf into solvent without the need to crush or powder the leaf but with one exception always pull over fairly large amounts of waxy impurities. That exception, first publically reported by Hazlett in December of 2000 through Siebert's SalviaD Yahoo group is to extract the dried leaf with acetone which has been chilled anywhere between the temperatures of minus -20 and +20 degrees F. (approx. -30 to -5 C.), the lower the temperature the purer the extract if the time is limited to under five minutes. The reason chilled acetone works so well is because its solubility for salvinorin at a temperature as low as (minus) -20 degrees Fahrenheit is still greater than any other room temperature solvent which can be used to extract salvinorin (except +27 deg. C. acetone @~23 mg per ml.) while at the same time having substantially reduced solubility to the waxy green lipids contained in the Salvia leaf. Extract purities as high as 30 to 50% salvinorin by weight can be achieved through this method if the fine micron sized leaf particulates suspended in the acetone and clouding the fluid are first completely filtered out of the solvent prior to full evaporation.

Further isolation of close to 98% pure salvinorin can be accomplished fairly easily without laboratory equipment using only common solvents and household glassware when combining the chilled acetone extraction method with a second processing solvent; 99% isopropyl which has a low solubility to salvinorin but a fairly high solubility to the waxy impurities from the leaf which allowed its use, in small amounts, to completely wash what impurities remained from the chilled extraction out of the extract, if processed far enough. Naphtha or hexane can be used in place of isopropyl which salvinorin is insoluble to but is not as effective at removing all of the dark waxy impurities. .

This summary does not contain nearly enough information to act as a Step-by-step or how-to guide for extractions, such guides are readily found on the Internet via search engines.

Traditional methods

Mazatec shamans use two methods of ingestion. Often they simply eat the fresh leaves by chewing and swallowing them. Sometimes they crush the leaves to extract the leaf juices, which they then drink (usually mixed with water). Reportedly, dosages vary from as few as 6 leaves to as many as 120 when using these methods.

Modern methods

Dry leaves can be smoked in a pipe but most users prefer the use of a water pipe to cool the smoke. The temperature required to release salvinorin A from the plant material is quite high (about 240°C). A regular flame will work, but the direct application of something more intense, such as the flame produced from a butane torch lighter, is often preferred.

Many people find that smoking the unprocessed dried Salvia leaf produces only light or unnoticeable effects, perhaps due to the large volume of plant material that must be smoked to produce psychoactive effects. However, responses vary widely. A concentrated preparation of Salvia leaf called Salvia extract, with relative strength suggested by terms such as 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x, 40x, etc, may be smoked in place of natural strength leaves; this reduces the total amount of smoke inhaled for a given dosage of salvinorin overall, and facilitates more powerful experiences.

Sublingually ingested tinctures constitute another form of prepared Salvia.

The traditional Mazatec method may also be employed. However, salvinorin A is generally considered to be inactive when simply ingested as the chemical is effectively deactivated by the gastrointestinal system . Therefore, the 'quid' of leaves is held in the mouth as long as possible in order to facilitate absorption of the active constituents through the oral mucosa. Chewing consumes more of the plant than smoking, and also produces a longer-lasting experience.

Attainment of effect

Some types of people seem to be particularly resistant to the effects even after repeated attempts. Others find their sensitivity quite variable from one experience to the next. Regardless of sensitivity which may be established in the longer term, many people fail to achieve significant effects with their initial attempts. Anecdotal reports suggest for some the possibility of increasingly stronger effects with repeated use of similar amounts of Salvia. This could be attributable to the practice and learning of more efficient ingestion techniques. Some suggest however that 'reverse tolerance' or increased sensitisation may otherwise be a phenomenon of the active principle.

Onset of the effects may be subtle and not immediately noticeable. There is often a few seconds of preceding latency. In any case, caution is advised if considering further ingestion before time has been allowed for prior amounts to clear the system.

Duration of effect

If Salvia is smoked the main effects are experienced quickly. The most intense 'peak' is reached within a minute or so and lasts for about 1-5 minutes, followed by a gradual tapering back. At 5-10 minutes, less intense yet still appreciable effects typically persist, but giving way to a returning sense of the more everyday and familiar until back to recognisable baseline after about 15-20 minutes.

Chewing the leaf makes the effects come on more slowly, over a period of 10-15 minutes, the experience then lasting for about 40-50 minutes but produce much milder and lighter effects than other methods of dosing. The bitter taste of the leaf is usually so objectionable most individuals will not chew the leaf long enough to obtain any kind of psychedelic effect.

Experience

Psychedelic experiences, in relating by definition to realms of mind, are necessarily somewhat subjective. Individual variations in reported effects are to be expected. However, from the many experience accounts posted to the Internet (Erowid has almost 700 entries) some general trends can be vouched.

Most people find that the effects of salvinorin are not conducive to socializing, thus those with any experience with the plant emphasize that Salvia is not a ‘party drug’. External stimuli can be distracting. The experience can be disorienting and dissociative. Getting up and moving around with motor-control affected thus could be troublesome. It is advisable to have a sober trip sitter present, particularly for initial experiences, prior to possible assessment of individual sensitivity.

The effects of Salvia are regarded by many to be highly spiritual. Many find Salvia useful for meditation. Consciousness is retained until the highest doses, but body control, awareness of the external environment, and individual personality may be affected with even modest amounts. Even those experienced with the use of other psychoactive substances may feel confused and out of control.

At lower doses spontaneous laughter, mild closed-eye visuals, stuttering or strobing visual effects, changes in depth perception, and a heightened sense of color and texture may be experienced.

Moderate doses appear trance-like. Time distortion and open-eye visuals become increasingly apparent. Fractal patterns and geometric shapes may be noticeable with eyes open, and can be confusing. Many people experience sensations of falling, similar to, but more pronounced than what is occasionally felt at the onset of sleep. The user may experience fully formed visions of other places, people, and events, especially with eyes closed.

At high doses the effects become more powerful and may additionally include reports of perceptions of dimensional distortion, vertigo, feelings of intense exhilaration and/or panic, sensations of wind or physical pressure, hearing voices, flanging of sound, significant open and closed-eye visuals, loss of speech, life changing experiences, dissociation and various hallucinations of experiencing alternate realities, out-of-body experiences, visiting parallel universes, dissolution of one's ego, as well as imagined contact with beings or entities. Many users report twisting or splitting feelings. Ordinary objects appear to morph into powerful visually animated creatures. It is also not unusual that, while experiencing the effects, a person will not remember that they have taken Salvia, which can cause the user to panic. A strong feeling of déjà vu is commonly reported as an effect of large doses of Salvia.

The experience is quite different from that of most other psychoactives and may be overwhelming, even with a conducive, reassuring and comfortable set and setting. Most Salvia practitioners recommend darkness and silence as the best environment; however, minimal, ambient or relaxing music can be helpful.

According to experience reports at Erowid and elsewhere, Salvia seems to produce visions which have a somewhat higher level of consistency than other substances. Reports of contact with an entity supposedly associated with the plant, ("the Shepherdess/Salvia Goddess") again with fairly consistent characteristics, are also common.

Many Salvia users, during high-dose out-of-body experiences, may suddenly 'merge' with objects. With the significant time distortion typical of Salvia, participants may report the feeling of living a lifetime as another person, or as an inanimate object, such as a wall or a piece of furniture.

The experiences can be pleasant, or frightening and confusing .

Interestingly, the effects of Salvia divinorum are often mistakenly described as 'LSD-like' by people who have not tried it, most notably politicians and reporters. Actual users on the other hand more often describe its effects as unique (38.4%), and more like meditation, yoga or a trance (23.2%). This compares to only 17.7% of users who liken it to any of the other serotonergic psychoactives (mescaline, psilocybin, LSD, etc.).

Expression

Salvia can shift perception into altered states of consciousness and sensation. Such powerful experiences may be interpreted as enlightening, frightening, or just plain strange. Many take time to integrate and try to make sense of their experience in the hours, days or weeks following. Some find it useful to be alone for an hour or so to gather thoughts and absorb the experience. Others find it is useful to talk through, sharing the imagery and ideas with another person. For some the experience is so far removed from everyday reality they find it difficult to describe. Recall may be likened to that of an elusive dream, with memory quickly fading on wakening.

Many feel compelled to communicate details of their experiences to a wider audience, as evidenced by the numerous reports posted on the Internet on various websites and forums. As well as such firsthand phenomenological accounts some may go on to write more extensive prose and/or poetry . A remarkable example of such inspired writing is Dale Pendell’s Salvia divinorum chapter from his book Pharmako/poeia which won the 1996 Firecracker Alternative Book Award.

Although Salvia experiences can be quite conceptual and abstract for some, many people describe their visions more pictorially. Rather than using words, for some temperaments the strong visual motifs are best rendered in the form of drawing or painting. Examples of such Salvia inspired artwork can readily be found on the Internet, , including music .

Short term

After the main intoxication normal awareness of self and the immediate surroundings returns but lingering effects may be felt. These short-term lingering effects have a completely different character than the experience of the main intoxication. About half of users report a pleasing 'afterglow', or pleasant state of mind following the main intoxication. Researchers (Baggot, et al) from the University of San Francisco conducted a survey of 500 Salvia users which identified that they 'sometimes or often' experience the following common (>20% occurrence) effects that linger following the main intoxication:

According to some notable sources (principally Daniel Siebert’s sagewisdom website) a few people report mild headache, insomnia, irritability or bronchial irritation after taking Salvia. These symptoms seem to be reported more often by smokers than by quid chewers.

Longer term

While 'improved mood' is one of the most commonly noted short-term effects following the primary intoxication, Baggot's Salvia user survey results also found that 25.8% of respondents reported antidepressant-like mood improvements lasting 24 hours or longer. These findings are in-line with known properties of K-Opioid agonists as well as anecdotal reports and findings of clinicians.

Both scientific and anecdotal user evidence indicates that chemical constituents of Salvia may have potential as therapy for drug addictions to dangerous stimulants (e.g., amphetamines) and opiates. Research has shown that the plant contains neoclerodane diterpenes that have therapeutic potential for helping people who have drug abuse problems. The neoclerodane diterpenes in Salvia are k-Opioid agonists. k-Opioid agonists, according to Tidgewell et al, (AAPS Journal), "possess utility in the treatment of opioid dependence and have been shown to have anti-depressant activity as well as block stress-induced behavior responses."

Most users report no hangover or negative after-effects the next day. This is consistent with the apparent low toxicity of Salvia indicated by research conducted at the University of Nebraska.

Some media reports have raised concerns about the possibility of LSD-like flashbacks occurring after use of Salvia. Reports of flashbacks have not been established. At least one user reported experiencing ongoing negative psychological effects, having three flashback experiences in four months after taking a concentrated form of Salvia (10x extract). Though the linked account does mention other drug usage in a couple of cases: "During one of them I had smoked absurd amounts of marijuana, and during another I was on shrooms". Salvia flashbacks may be true enough but also ordinarily quite rare phenomena.

Salvia has not been found to be either physically or psychologically addictive. The results of the Baggot survey, which used the standard psychiatric drug dependence diagnostic framework, indicate that Salvia has little if any potential as a drug of dependence. While there are no proven health risks associated with the use of Salvia as a psychoactive drug, medical professionals generally caution against the ingestion of smoke from any substance into the lungs. Salvia's long-term effects on the human body are not well known at this time. Further study of its indigenous use in Mexico and its effect on the health of the Mazatec people who have been using it for centuries would be useful in this regard.

Scientific studies

Results from a study by William A. Carlezon et al using ‘Forced-Swim tests’ (where rodents are forced to swim in a narrow cylinder from which they cannot escape) have been used to suggest that Salvia divinorum may have “Depressive-Like Effects”. However, extrapolation from the observation of temporary physiological effects in rats to suggest more serious psychological consequences is questionable, particularly given that Salvia’s short-term effects on motor-control have already been observed and well documented in human subjects.

A report on several Salvia species has looked at the efficacy of some ‘folk’ uses of the genus. Salvia divinorum, as one of the species included in the study, was found to work as a diuretic.

Controversy

The relatively recent emergence of Salvia divinorum in modern Western culture in comparison to its long traditions of indigenous use elsewhere contrasts widely differing attitudes on the subject.

The opinion that Salvia divinorum is a highly dangerous hallucinogenic drug appropriate for Schedule I or equivalent classification has been sufficiently prevalent amongst politicians to result in the enactment of various laws against its cultivation, sale or use in a number of countries and in some states in the US.

Opponents of such prohibitive measures argue that this is due to an inherent prejudice and a particular cultural bias rather than an actual balance of evidence, pointing out inconsistencies in attitudes toward other more toxic and/or addictive drugs such as alcohol and nicotine.

Those advocating consideration of Salvia divinorum’s potential for beneficial use in a modern context argue that more could be learned from Mazatec culture, where Salvia is not really associated with notions of drug taking at all and it is rather considered as a spiritual sacrament. In light of this it is argued that Salvia divinorum could be better understood more positively as an entheogen rather than pejoratively as a hallucinogen.

Other entheogenic plants with traditions of spiritual use include peyote (and other psychoactive cacti), iboga, virola, ayahuasca (an admixture of plants containing DMT + MAOI), and various types of psychoactive fungi.

In fact, US legislation specifically allows two of these to be used in a spiritual context. The Native American Church is allowed to use peyote and Uniao do Vegetal (or UDV) is permitted ayahuasca. Although not consistently granted (varying from state to state), the principal grounds for such concessions are constitutional.

Legal status

Press accounts of efforts to ban Salvia often quote law enforcement and government officials who exhibit an inaccurate knowledge of the plant's effects, and frequently characterize the drug as "chewable marijuana", or as "like LSD", two drugs with quite dissimilar effects to each other as well as to Salvia.

Unlike marijuana, Salvia has a nondescript appearance (being in the same genus as cooking sage), can be grown in a small space, has no odor and requires no elaborate lighting set-up. For these reasons, criminalization is likely to affect only the commercial sale of the plant, and not its private cultivation, which would be very difficult to police.

Before the late 1980s not many people knew about Salvia. The fact that the plant was not prohibited along with the rise of the Internet since the mid-1990s saw the growth of many businesses selling dried Salvia leaves, extracts and other preparations.

There are legislative controls of Salvia in one form or another in some countries including, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Italy, North Korea, and some states in the US such as Missouri, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Delaware.

References