Salvia concerns ‘balderdash’
February 17, 2009Prohibition: Banning drugs gives gangsters another trade item
Re: Minty herb sparks concerns, Observer, Feb. 4
“They think it’s a fun time but it’s a very dangerous drug. What are the long-term effects of Salvia?”
Saliva is non-toxic, non-addictive, and nowhere near enough fun to be habit forming. It is yet to kill anyone, yet junk food kills many times more Canadians every year than all illegal drugs combined.
Jones points to the risks that can result from being incapacitated for 30 minutes by a drug such as salvia. “There are STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), AIDS, just from being victimized as a young man or woman.”
More anti-drug fear-mongering propaganda designed to scare the public into believing that the only way to protect their children from “danger” (or “fun”) is to pass a new prohibition. What utter balderdash.
There is a misconception in our society that suggests that only drug abstinence is to be encouraged and admired. Telling kids to never use certain drugs is like telling them to never see a certain genre of movie, never go to an amusement park or exotic country, or never do anything at all that may be both risky and fun. It teaches them to be afraid of new things, instead of curious, and as history has shown, fortune favours the adventurous. Sensible, moderate, well-informed drug use is no more harmful, dangerous or immoral than any one of dozens of other activities humans participate in every day. And if you think drugs have nothing good to offer society, then throw away every CD you own.
Banning Salvia will likely be about as successful as the ban on marijuana: it will make Salvia more popular, potent, widely available, and contaminated than when it was legal. So yes, by all means ban Salvia, and give gangsters another commodity to trade for your kids allowance.
Russell Barth,
federally licensed medical marijuana user.
Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis
Source: Salmon Arm Observer