NC Senate Bill 138 is an act to classify Salvia Divinorum as a Schedule I Controlled Substance. I have created this group to express my opposition regarding Senate Bill 138. I hope you will please consider the following about Salvia Divinorum:

• It's not a problem in NC. No hospital or addiction treatment center admissions; no police reported salvia-related crime.
• It's been around for a while, 10 years at least, and is still not a problem. Look at what happened with meth in the same time span. If it was going to be a widespread problem, it would have been already.
• The bill's position on Salvia is being led by media misrepresentation of salvia which depends on unsubstantiated internet videos and the marketing claims of unscrupulous sellers. In essence they have been duped by media hype.
• There is substantial opposition to such bans and it is far from the cut and dried issue the media portrays. Thousands of years of use and not one death directly attributable to it.
• Bans fail more than they pass. Look at the history of bans in other states.
• An outright ban would put a stop to the promising research of Bryan Roth, a professor of pharmacology at UNC-Chapel Hill. By studying how it works, he hopes to find ways to treat Alzheimer's disease, depression and schizophrenia.

I hope you might consider a compromise position of regulating sales of Salvia to 18+, like with the much more dangerous drug, nicotine. This is the tactic that worked for passing legislation in both Maine and California where bans were introduced, yet amended to regulation during committee hearings after vocal public opposition.

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I AM ASKING FOR EVERYONE WHO AGREES TO PLEASE:

• Call your local NC State Senator and voice your opposition to NC Senate Bill 138!

• Write a letter to voice your opposition to NC Senate Bill 138, addressed to your local NC State Senator

• E-mail your Senator and voice your opposition to NC Senate Bill 138!

• INVITE LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE!!!

INFORMATION ON CONTACTING YOUR SENATOR CAN BE FOUND AT: http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=Senate (read less)

NC Senate Bill 138 is an act to classify Salvia Divinorum as a Schedule I Controlled Substance. I have created this group to express my opposition regarding Senate Bill 138. I hope you will please consider the following about Salvia Divinorum:

• It's not a problem in NC. No hospital or addiction treatment center admissions; no police reported salvia-related crime.
• It's been around for a while, 10 years at least, and is still not a problem. Look at what happened with meth in the same time... (read more)