Salvia Divinorum

Salvia divinorum is a plant-based hallucinogen that has come under increasing regulatory scrutiny and control during the beginning of the 21st century. It is a mint plant that has been used in traditional spiritual practices by the Mazatec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico. Although the use of Salvia divinorum by these indigenous people dates back hundreds of years, an understanding of the psychoactive effects of this plant by American users dates only to the mid-1990s. Users commonly refer to the substance as “salvia.”

The major psychoactive constituent of Salvia divinorum is salvinorin A, which is chemically unusual as a psychoactive drug because it does not contain nitrogen, and is therefore not an alkaloid. Salvinorin A is a highly selective agonist at the kappa opioid receptor in the ...