My experience with salvia. Should it be illegalized?

People are starting to know what the salvia herb is. Kids are filming themselves smoking it, like they film themselves doing every other human function possible. Lawmakers are placing the topic on the table, usually dismissing proposals to prohibit it. My first thought is, If they tried it, they would have a much better perception with which to make their decision.

I tried it. Last night. I'm a regular pot smoker, so the thought of having a safe, short and probably funny trip intrigued me. My husband and I went over to our friend Eric's apartment after hitting a downtown hotspot.

My husband was reserved, but a little excited. He did it for the first time three nights ago, when Eric got the guts to buy some at our local college headshop. My husband and Eric are in sales and lead professional lives, but smoke pretty regularly too. I'm a self-employed publicist, so the journalist in me would probably have tried it anyway had I been given an opportunity.

I had a very heavy trip. I mean, I sincerely thought that I looked around the living room and realized that neither the room, my husband nor Eric were real, like finding that Santa Clause isn't real early in childhood. And that I had actually been some sort of alien that was simply viewing them from far away this whole time. Or they never were. The same feeling I get when I dream the that I am trying to run away from something, because my legs are like slow and goopy like glue, helpless, disillusioned and anxious. It was actually very frightening.

My husband kept saying, "It's ok, Jan. It's ok...it's alright...are you ok?" They said that the look on my face an expression of deep fear.

It was also the strongest body buzz that I ever had to the point that I couldn't stand up, though I was trying very, very hard to.

I had the desire to try it again, but only if I'd 'go somewhere' much nicer the next time, pretty, calm and even insightful. Because where I went had more to do with hell than heaven.

I understand that many children today are left alone while their parents fight, work or otherwise ignore them. This in itself, the breakdown of the nuclear family, is enough to cause a depression in any teen. If they are able to bring home salvia from any headshop and smoke it, probably nothing would happen. But what if they were not in a good emotional place? Salvia is too intense for anyone under 18 to ingest.

A teen may not have the emotional maturity to interpret the feeling he experiences while he is on salvia, but he is mature enough to consider is choice of illegal and legal actions. He has developed a morality that causes him to consider the ethics of rules and laws. He makes those type of decisions daily when he puts his seatbelt on in the car, when he drives or not after the party, and when he is kissing his girlfriend after school. He knows that many laws are in place to protect him and keep order.

Knowing that salvia was illegal would tell most kids that the herb can be dangerous to ingest. That will keep most kids from ever considering using it, others to realize that taking it would be extremely risky.

Risk-taking teens are going to take risks. They're going to find alcohol, pot, drugs and sex even when it's not being offered to them over the counter. That type of behavior has to be prevented when they are very little.

I believe that making it illegal would prevent many kids who would've not, and the kids who break the law, make them responsible for disobeying authority. I were a lawmaker, I'd have it taken out of the headshops and guru stores this year.