Salvia Controversy - News media raises alarms over Salvia's legal status

The relatively recent emergence of Salvia divinorum in modern Western culture in comparison to its long continuing traditions of indigenous use elsewhere contrasts widely differing attitudes on the subject. Opinions range from veneration of the plant as a spiritual sacrament or "a gift from the gods", to the idea of it as a dangerous threat to society, needing to be banned as quickly as possible in order to "spare countless families the horror of losing a loved one to the relentless tentacles of drug abuse."

Media Stories

News media has taken an escalating interest in Salvia divinorum - particularly in the United States - where an increasing number of newspaper reports have been published and television news stories broadcast. These stories generally raise alarms over Salvia's legal status. Headlining for example with comparisons to LSD, or describing it as "the new pot" for instance, with parental concerns being raised by particular focus on Salvia's use by younger teens. Without necessarily providing much further context or supporting evidence, story headlines may also include 'danger' keywords, such as - "Dangerous Herb is Legal..."or "Deadly Dangers Of A Street Legal High". Such reports may mix journalistic opinion and prejudgment of the issue. - In a major ABC news report aired on July 11, 2007, the anchors are seen to exchange expressions of incredulity when referring to a Salvia story with the following introduction - "Now, an exclusive I-Team investigation of a hallucinogenic drug that has begun to sweep the nation. What might amaze you is that right now the federal government is doing nothing to stop it."
Another reported issue of concern has been the emergence of YouTube, about which, in an interview with California based newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, published on June 27, 2007, Daniel Siebert was quoted as saying - "Those videos are certainly not going to help the situation. They make Salvia look like some horrible drug that makes people nuts and dangerous [...]" and "The sad thing is it creates this public image where people don't realize there are sensible ways to use something like this."
Despite its growing notoriety in some circles, media stories generally suggest that the public at large are still mostly unaware of Salvia, with the majority perhaps altogether having never even heard of it. With regard to their coverage of proposals to make Salvia illegal in the US state of Maine, Bangor Daily News ran an on-line poll which posed the question "Do you think the state should outlaw the sale of the drug salvia?" While this has ~300 reader responses it should however be noted - as the poll itself says, that it's - "not a scientific survey and should not be used as a gauge of public opinion. It reflects only the opinions of bangordailynews.com readers who have chosen to participate."

Again, although published responses may not necessarily be representative of public opinion as a whole, some news agencies generally support reader and viewer feedback in connection with their stories.

Brett's Law

Main article: Brett's law

A particular focus of many US media stories is the long-running coverage of the case of Brett Chidester. Chidester was a 17-year old Delaware student who committed suicide in January 2006 by climbing into a tent in which a charcoal grill was lit. He died of carbon-monoxide poisoning. Reportedly, some months before this, Brett's mother had found out and questioned him about his Salvia use. Brett said that he had ceased his experimentation, but his parents do not believe that he was telling the truth. They have argued instead that Salvia caused depression and must have been largely to blame for his death. Some of Brett's earlier writings about his Salvia experiences have been used to suggest that it made him think "existence in general is pointless". Some media stories have referred to these earlier written experience reports as if they were part of Brett's suicide note. In any case, law was soon passed in Delaware classifying the herb as a Schedule I controlled substance in that state. This legislation was named "Brett's law" (formally referred to as Senate bill 259).

It was reported on August 3, 2007 that Chidester's parents intend suing 'Ethnosupply' - a Canadian based Internet company that sold Salvia divinourm to Brett some four months before his death. The parents allege that the distributors knew Salvia could be dangerous and failed to warn their son. The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive damages for their pain and suffering, lost future earnings, funeral expenses, etc.

Although the Chidester story has been given continued exposure by US media, there has not been anywhere else, either before or since this controversial incident, any other reported cases involving or alleging Salvia divinorum as a serious factor in suicide, overdose, accidental, or any other kind of death.