Effects of Salvia Divinorum

Tokyo, 20 September 1997

The effects of salvia divinorum, here described, are a bit like the effects of a mild dose of Haschisch (cannabis sativa) but with added effects not found in the cannabinic experience. Those additional effects are reminiscent of some other psychotropic molecules, such as:

Opiates, minaprine, fluvoxamine and mitragynine.

In this experimentation I found, interestingly, no similarity of psychotropic effects between salvia divinorum and the traditional "hallucinogens", such as the reference psilocin(e) .

The cannabinic quality of a mild salvia experience has been described by other observers.

Also, at higher doses, another phenomenon, linking salvia divinorum and haschisch, is the perceptive echo ("stroboscopic effect" of time perception) described by other observers. This perceptive echo has also been described, in the litterature, with dextromethorphan, a NMDA receptor antagonist, and with muscimol, a GABA agonist and the active principle of Amanita muscaria. The author has postulated, in 1979, that this perceptive echo is the reflexion of a subsystem of the central nervous system, called the Attenuator (see URL) , which is functionnally disturbed by cannabis, etc. Specifically, what is disturbed by drugs inducing perceptive echoes, is the speed of attenuation.

At still higher doses, salvia divinorum seems to induce pre-sleep phenomena and flashes of partial or full conscious dreams.

Salvia divinorum is a sacramental plant ("entheogenic" plant) used in Mexico and it is gaining some popularity through the Internet.

Haschisch-like psychotropic effects:

  1. Intensification of the brillance of the environment:for instance the sky, clouds, trees, etc, seem sharper, like after a rain. Such an effect can be seen with gabaergics drugs, such as clonazepam or lorazepam, or with dopaminergic drugs such as amineptine or nomifensine. Also prominent under haschisch.
  2. Slight echo phenomenon (which gives rise to time lenghtening with haschisch) .
  3. A sense of novelty when perceiving things, typical of small doses of haschisch.
  4. Slight alteration in the perception of movements of let, say, twigs and branches in the trees, reminding either haschisch or gamma-oh.
  5. A peculiar sensation in the eyes, typical of haschisch.
  6. A feeling that the head is light or "empty", at the top of the cranium.

Dr Joseph Moreau de Tours (1845) reported that with haschisch he felt like if his head would open at the top of the cranium or something alike!

Other feelings are reminiscent of serotoninergic re-uptake inhibitors, especially fluvoxamine:

  1. A sense of lightness and tranquillity in the chest. This effect is typical of all anti-depressants, gamma-oh included. What is interesting is that I have one report of a treatment resistant depressive who was cured with salvia divinorum.
  2. A sense of indifference to exoreality.
  3. Inhibition of verbal thought.
  4. Indifference to sex and the beauty of surrounding women. . .

Another effect reminds mitragynine, an alkaloid from the Rubiaceae Mitragyna speciosa (mitragynier) :

  1. A feeling of laziness to think or to move. Lack of motivation.
Another effect could remind of different medicines:
  1. Feeling heavy.
  2. Feeling unstable when walking:equilibrium disturbances.
There is also some resemblance with Minaprine (Cantor) , a drug devised by Dr Henri Laborit, in France. Minaprine was an anti-stress and atypical anti-depressant with some cholinergic properties.

Additional comments:

In the beginning of the experience (of which the psychotropic effects are described above) I lied on my bed, breathing slowly and focusing my attention, with no movement, exactly what I do in order to enter a conscious dream.

I observed slight visions:three Japanese in blue kimonoes, a girl, dressed in orange, in a sitting position, and seen from beneath. She moved and "flied" away, like in typical hypnagogic imagery. No reiterations.

I could feel slight "presences", like with the reference opiate I experimented:buprenorphine or with the indolalkylamine psilocine.

Then I left my room and walked outside and noticed the above described phenomena.

First, I felt very quiet. After about 20 minutes I started to feel more this feeling of mitragyna-like laziness and the effects of a difficulty in thinking verbally or thinking at all. This is also encountered with mitragynine.

I felt a bit prostrate, like with buprenorphine, indifferent to the outside world. Such an indifference can also be induced by captopril, by the way.

While walking I had the feeling that I was grinning but I could not smile or find anything funny such as with gamma-oh or whisky, may I say!

Just a feeling of grin, without inner rejoice or happiness.

Conclusion:Not a pleasant experience. It reminds me, overall, the unpleasant effects of opiates, associated with a cannabis component.

Nowhere I noticed any similarity with psilocine, a molecule which I favour as much as gamma-oh!

These observations indicate that salvinorin A, the active principle of salvia divinorum, is certainly worth to be extensively studied by a certain number of pharmaceutical companies, as it may enlighten us on a variety of psychological disturbances.

Salvinorin A has an unsual psychotropic profile, indicating possible advances in the field of the neurosciences.

Claude

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