On Jan. 27, the Nebraska Legislature unanimously gave first-round approval to LB123, a bill that would make it a felony to possess Salvia divinorum in the state.
Certain strands of salvia, a sage plant native to southern Mexico, cause hallucinations when the plant is smoked, chewed or ingested. If the plant is smoked, it can cause a person’s vision to vibrate before they even exhale. From there, the smoker goes into an all-out psychedelic trip for a few minutes or so.
The plant has been used for hundreds of years to put people in trances, sometimes for religious purposes. But making it a crime to get high on the plant is a 21st century phenomena that started with Australia in 2002 and has spread to other countries such as Belgium and Japan. Several U.S. states outlawed the plant, and Nebraska could be on pace to join them.
But salvia smokers shouldn’t let the Legislature’s 44-0 vote worry them yet.
“As of today, we would not arrest someone if we saw them ... with salvia,” said Katie Flood, public information officer with the Lincoln Police Department.
Flood said she isn’t sure when the police will start making salvia arrests.
“So many bills are put up every year,” she said.
In order for LB123 to become law, it needs to make it through a second round of debate and voting called Select File, during which amendments and compromises can be added to the bill. Some bills are postponed indefinitely in this process.
Christian Firoz, manager of Exotica, 2441 N. 48th St., was charged with selling the herb last March. Even though it was legal when he sold the plant, Firoz was charged with violating state statute 28-420. The statute makes it illegal to sell any substance if the intent is to intoxicate a person.
Firoz went to court just days before the Legislature debated LB123 and was found not guilty.
But Flood said LPD would still arrest someone if they were selling the plant.
Sen. Russ Karpisek of Wilber proposed the bill. In a January interview with the Daily Nebraskan, he said salvia is obviously a psychedelic drug.
“Really, I don’t know why it hasn’t come up sooner,” Karpisek said. “Right now, kids can go and get it.”
Kirsten Licht, a wellness educator at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Health Center, said the health center doesn’t give information about salvia to students.
But salvia’s legality isn’t why the health center doesn’t have a lot of information on the physical effects of smoking the drug. It’s because students aren’t asking about it.
“We’d be happy to talk to students about (salvia),” Licht said. “But there hasn’t been a need.”
Students going into the health center to get information on narcotics are usually there to look at alcohol or marijuana from a different perspective, Licht said.
“I’m not sure how the law will change our efforts,” Licht said. “We just want to educate students on topics that affect them.”
RYANBOETEL@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
