Salvia can you smoke it

In this article, we find out what salvia is, how it works, and explain the effects and risks of taking it as a recreational drug. Salvia has become popular as a recreational drug among adolescents and young adults. It is fast acting and thought to have a low incidence of side effects. Also, it has a low addiction potential, people can easily obtain it, and they do not consider it highly toxic.

Mazatec Indians have used salvia for centuries for spiritual divination, shamanism, and medical practices. An agonist attaches to and activates specific central nervous system receptors that are mainly in the brain. The KOR seems to play a key role in regulating human perception.

Mazatec Indians have used salvia for centuries. People have reported visions of a woman or sacred objects during hallucinations. Mazatec shamans brew a tea from the leaves and drink the vision-inducing mixture during religious ceremonies. Recreational users may inhale the drug through water pipes known as hookahs, smoke it in cigarettes, or chew the leaves while holding the juice inside the cheek. The body absorbs the psychoactive components through the mucous membranes. People usually experience the most intense effects within 2 minutes after smoking.

They last for less than 20 minutes. However, like other legal highs, it may not be safe or legal. In some states in America, the law considers salvia a Schedule I drug and does not permit its sale.

This makes salvia different from other hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and mushrooms, which affect the brain's levels of a chemical called serotonin. As a drug, salvia usually comes as fresh green plant leaves or dried shredded green leaves. Salvia can also be a liquid extract. Traditionally, users chewed the fresh salvia leaves or drank the extract, but now people also smoke the dried leaves.

Salvia's effects come on quickly, sometimes in less than a minute. They usually disappear about 30 minutes to an hour later. Most participants said that the trip was pretty weird, but ultimately neutral—not especially good or bad.

Salvia is one of the most potent hallucinogens in nature, Addy says, and has a peculiar mode of action, acting on kappa opioid receptors. These neuronal receptors are thought to be involved in interoception, pain sensing, mood and consciousness.

Unlike many hallucinogens, salvia does not appear to affect levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Salvia might also have real potential to treat addiction, studies suggest, since in animals it appears to reduce cravings for substances like cocaine. In effect, it acts in the brain quite opposite to the way that most opiates do, Addy says.

Addy adds that salvia is powerful, but not particularly dangerous if treated with care; and due to its unique properties, it could teach us new things about the brain.

Though the drug remains legal at the federal level, it is currently outlawed in a number of states, and others have legislation in the works to ban its sale. From a scientific standpoint, says Addy, this is not a positive trend.

If you have questions about Salvia abuse or think someone might be having problems from using Salvia, call Poison Control at CALL An emergency physician called Poison Control because a year-old man had been brought in after being found wandering in a neighborhood. He did not know how he got there and said that he had been smoking Salvia. He was confused but had normal vital signs, and a panel of laboratory tests found nothing abnormal.

Since his symptoms were relatively minor, Poison Control advised the physician to watch the patient until his symptoms improved and he could be safely discharged.

A hospital psychiatrist evaluated the patient and he was able to go home about 6 hours later. Drug Enforcement Agency. Salvia Divinorum and Salvinorin A. Washington DC.