Good morning!
I had an interesting weekend. The house is a mess as it usually is after the kids spend time here but before I clean it up, I have got to tell you something. A friend of mine came by late last night while I was watching Family Guy. That can be annoying under the best of circumstances.
My friend walked in, sat on my couch and asked me if I had ever heard of "salvia". (At this point a bunch of you are saying "Uh oh!" and the rest of you are probably saying what I said.)
"Sure." I answered. "I've grown them in my garden."
"No." she responded. "Not the flowers, the herb."
Well, I've only heard of the flower salvia, not the herb so I told her that. She told me that it's something that is completely legal and it gives you a very short "buzz". That's what she said. She said, "It's perfectly safe, legal and only lasts for a few minutes and afterward you are perfectly fine."
Then she pulled the stuff out. It was in a small, thin brown bottle and it looked like large flakes of pepper. She told me that it was something like pot. Well, it's not. I've smoked pot...this was nothing at all like that.
I really didn't think anything at all would happen. How could a legal substance give you a buzz? I didn't believe that it would do a thing so when she asked me to try it, I thought to myself, "It's legal, it's safe and even if it does something, it'll only last for ten minutes and then it'll be fine." I had nothing left to do but go to bed so I decided to try the stuff.
Now, some of you live in one of the 8 states that have already criminalized this stuff. But most of you live in a place that has no law whatsoever against this "herb". It's legal in most of the countries on the planet and as I said, in all but 8 of the United States. The reasoning behind that is pretty logical...since the Internet has come out, apparently this stuff has been easy to get and has a become very popular. Ask your kids if they've heard of it, I hadn't. I don't know with whom it is so popular but it seems to be gaining in popularity and since the emergency rooms haven't mentioned any cases of salvia toxicity and the cops haven't reported any salvia related crimes, no on bothers criminalizing it.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. What happened to me was not a pleasant experience at all. It was also nothing at all like pot or booze, which is really all I've ever done except for a brief stint in the mid 80's when I dated a professional football player. Anyway, salvia is something totally different.
I never did any of the psychedelic type drugs. I was born a bit too late in the Baby Boom to be around while the kids were all doing the good acid in the 60's. I can safely say that I've never left my own world. For VERY close to 50 years, I have remained firmly footed to this planet. Salvia took me someplace that I've never been...a totally different dimension. I visited a place that I didn't know existed. In that world I am a wall.
I don't know how else to say it other than that, I became a wall. I didn't want to be a wall. I tried to leave the wall and find my body. It caught me so off guard that I tried quite hard to fight the feeling of being a wall because I didn't know how I had become a wall. I never considered the fact that the salvia had done it. It didn't last long at all and my friend was right, 10 minutes later I was fine.
I was sitting on the couch next to her and as I said, I didn't expect anything to happen at all. So, I stayed sitting up on the couch. When I was fighting being the wall, I was, on THIS planet, climbing on my friend. She was fine with it, I wasn't hurting her, I was just climbing on her.
When I regained my senses, I was absolutely stunned that this stuff was legal. It's not what happened to me that bothers me about that. I'm sure some people have a simply lovely trip when they do salvia. But, for the entire time I was a wall, I was 100% incapacitated. If someone started to strangle me, I wouldn't have been able to stop them until it was too late. I'll never let that happen to me again.
I read everything that I could find about the stuff and everything my friend said was true. It was legal and it was totally "safe" so far as the physiology of the herb is concerned. But what if I had been an outside wall? I could imagine jumping off of a balcony to stop being a wall. And what if some guy gave it to some young girl who hasn't learned enough about life to know that she needs to be alert at all times when she's away from her parents? I certainly wouldn't want to be on a date and try something like salvia. I would quickly become a dead wall.
I read about a young man who had become a desk and he panicked. His mother took him to the emergency room but by the time they got there, it was over and there's no test for the stuff and the kid had absolutely NO side effects whatsoever. There was nothing wrong with him. He had just spent about 5 minutes being a desk against his will. I can imagine how he must have felt I didn't like being an inanimate object one bit either.
If you have kids, you should be aware of that stuff. And if THAT's out there, what the hell else is out there that our kids can have it as easily as they can have a beer? What else is available on the Internet? I'm a big girl and salvia rendered me completely unable to defend myself. Neither beer nor pot has ever done that to me. Maybe it's because I haven't done anything at all in so long that I was extra sensitive to it. But I kinda doubt that's the case. I just think that there's a pretty dangerous drug out there that kids can purchase easily... And people are STILL going to jail over marijuana. This is one fucked up place.
I had an interesting weekend. The house is a mess as it usually is after the kids spend time here but before I clean it up, I have got to tell you something. A friend of mine came by late last night while I was watching Family Guy. That can be annoying under the best of circumstances.
My friend walked in, sat on my couch and asked me if I had ever heard of "salvia". (At this point a bunch of you are saying "Uh oh!" and the rest of you are probably saying what I said.)
"Sure." I answered. "I've grown them in my garden."
"No." she responded. "Not the flowers, the herb."
Well, I've only heard of the flower salvia, not the herb so I told her that. She told me that it's something that is completely legal and it gives you a very short "buzz". That's what she said. She said, "It's perfectly safe, legal and only lasts for a few minutes and afterward you are perfectly fine."
Then she pulled the stuff out. It was in a small, thin brown bottle and it looked like large flakes of pepper. She told me that it was something like pot. Well, it's not. I've smoked pot...this was nothing at all like that.
I really didn't think anything at all would happen. How could a legal substance give you a buzz? I didn't believe that it would do a thing so when she asked me to try it, I thought to myself, "It's legal, it's safe and even if it does something, it'll only last for ten minutes and then it'll be fine." I had nothing left to do but go to bed so I decided to try the stuff.
Now, some of you live in one of the 8 states that have already criminalized this stuff. But most of you live in a place that has no law whatsoever against this "herb". It's legal in most of the countries on the planet and as I said, in all but 8 of the United States. The reasoning behind that is pretty logical...since the Internet has come out, apparently this stuff has been easy to get and has a become very popular. Ask your kids if they've heard of it, I hadn't. I don't know with whom it is so popular but it seems to be gaining in popularity and since the emergency rooms haven't mentioned any cases of salvia toxicity and the cops haven't reported any salvia related crimes, no on bothers criminalizing it.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. What happened to me was not a pleasant experience at all. It was also nothing at all like pot or booze, which is really all I've ever done except for a brief stint in the mid 80's when I dated a professional football player. Anyway, salvia is something totally different.
I never did any of the psychedelic type drugs. I was born a bit too late in the Baby Boom to be around while the kids were all doing the good acid in the 60's. I can safely say that I've never left my own world. For VERY close to 50 years, I have remained firmly footed to this planet. Salvia took me someplace that I've never been...a totally different dimension. I visited a place that I didn't know existed. In that world I am a wall.
I don't know how else to say it other than that, I became a wall. I didn't want to be a wall. I tried to leave the wall and find my body. It caught me so off guard that I tried quite hard to fight the feeling of being a wall because I didn't know how I had become a wall. I never considered the fact that the salvia had done it. It didn't last long at all and my friend was right, 10 minutes later I was fine.
I was sitting on the couch next to her and as I said, I didn't expect anything to happen at all. So, I stayed sitting up on the couch. When I was fighting being the wall, I was, on THIS planet, climbing on my friend. She was fine with it, I wasn't hurting her, I was just climbing on her.
When I regained my senses, I was absolutely stunned that this stuff was legal. It's not what happened to me that bothers me about that. I'm sure some people have a simply lovely trip when they do salvia. But, for the entire time I was a wall, I was 100% incapacitated. If someone started to strangle me, I wouldn't have been able to stop them until it was too late. I'll never let that happen to me again.
I read everything that I could find about the stuff and everything my friend said was true. It was legal and it was totally "safe" so far as the physiology of the herb is concerned. But what if I had been an outside wall? I could imagine jumping off of a balcony to stop being a wall. And what if some guy gave it to some young girl who hasn't learned enough about life to know that she needs to be alert at all times when she's away from her parents? I certainly wouldn't want to be on a date and try something like salvia. I would quickly become a dead wall.
I read about a young man who had become a desk and he panicked. His mother took him to the emergency room but by the time they got there, it was over and there's no test for the stuff and the kid had absolutely NO side effects whatsoever. There was nothing wrong with him. He had just spent about 5 minutes being a desk against his will. I can imagine how he must have felt I didn't like being an inanimate object one bit either.
If you have kids, you should be aware of that stuff. And if THAT's out there, what the hell else is out there that our kids can have it as easily as they can have a beer? What else is available on the Internet? I'm a big girl and salvia rendered me completely unable to defend myself. Neither beer nor pot has ever done that to me. Maybe it's because I haven't done anything at all in so long that I was extra sensitive to it. But I kinda doubt that's the case. I just think that there's a pretty dangerous drug out there that kids can purchase easily... And people are STILL going to jail over marijuana. This is one fucked up place.
posted by Meg Kelso | 6:12 AM
3 Comments:
Legislation: Local legislation criminalizes possession, use, and paraphernalia and possession of greater than an ounce or within a school zone is a felony punishable by a mandatory minimum of 5 years in prison.
As of July 1st, 2007 it is now a felony to posses 14 grams of marijuana in the state of Georgia. On first offenders cobb county and several other county governments have adapted the Alcohol and Drug Diversion programs from liberal jurisdictions. Due to the volume of first time offender diversion allows an easy chrage dismissal with community service and some kind of drug or alcohol related class within 90 days. Courts here are becoming more hesitant to hand out probation terms now on an a charge for midemeanor marijuana which was commonly expected as recents as several years ago.
Law enforcement: Police here are very strict especially on weekend and summer nights. Its not rare for young people to be followed for miles waiting for an error to occur. The county has developed a humorous acronym (Count On Being Busted) for their notorious police force. Marietta and Cobb police are also critisized for their profiling practices which they still use to this day. Such as Black males, hispanic males, males under the age of 25, are often targeted for "suspicious behavior" or a more common term which really means nothing "Failure to maintain a lane". From the alleged reason the officer tells you he has pulled you over he immediatly requests more back up units than what is needed to make a simple arrest. Without hesitation they ask to search either claiming there's a slight odor of marijuana or alcohol coming from the vehicle. The area as a whole is a very upper class suburb where virtually no violent crimes occur so this creates and extremly bored p
olice force not to mention cobb's endless budget allows for the over-hiring of police especially young, inexpierenced white males. One nights comes to mind, July 3rd, 2006 14 cars were pulled over on Barrett Pkwy being searched, a 6 miles stretch of road.
another reporter added: "Smoke somewhere safe at home or a friends house, keyword house, apartments can be shady. dont smoke and drive, dont do it at a neighborhood pool, or a park, church or what looks like a safe patch of woods i cant tell you how many ppl have got busted. Dont admit to anything. Refuse a search and if they claim their getting the dogs out keep questioning the officer on when you can leave. They cant lie. Dont freak out. If they do find something, stay cool and be fairly honest bout you dont snitch dont talk to much and act like your prepared to deal with it. Some cops will let you go cause they like the impression you left on them."
There's another one for Cobb, "Come on vacation, leave on probation". It's amazing what goes on down here. I was working on an article and I had to speak to a real reporter to get some help. He actually verified that the cops here are rather "unethical". He wasn't talking about the Sheriff's, he was talking about Marietta cops. I had heard that before but never from anyone as reliable as a reporter.
I don't see how something that makes you feel like that can be in any way safe. It was really scary to read this. I have actually heard about this on a TV news program but they did not discuss how it affected someone.
Tracie
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