Imagine for a moment a park, the most beautiful park that ever existed, while there, everything about it brought you a feeling of life enjoyment. The only negative thing about the park is the trek up the rough, steep, overgrown kilometre long path to get to it.

The first few times you visit the park, the novelty helps make the trek up the path no big deal and well worth every step to reach your place of "rejuvenation". After a while and more visits, the trek becomes a chore. You know the effort involved to get to the park. You have seen the park before, a few times now, and you feel that you will return to it many more times in the future.

The difference now is that the novelty has worn off. Even though the park is no less beautiful and it still has its full power of rejuvenation you find that you desire the trek up the path less than you desire to be in the park. Perhaps one day you may return but until then, you have the knowledge that you have been there and still have your memory of it. For you the park has fulfilled a purpose.

That is how I feel about using Salvia Divinorum.

The metaphor above best describes how many Salvia Divinorum users (Salvianauts) experience their usage patterns. Most who continue to use it past their first try may use it quite a few times for a short period then their usage slows down or completely drops off.

This kind of behaviour indicates that this herb is not ever going to be abused.

Yet, because of the little knowledge of Salvia Divinorum available to them the Australian National Drugs and Poisons Schedule Committee (NDPSC) and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) chose to ban Salvia Divinorum due to "the potential for abuse".

It is a terrible shame how Salvia divinorum was treated in Australia. The way it was placed in with crack, heroin, cocaine and the likes in schedule 9, the most restrictive of all the schedules, by the NDPSC (part of the TGA), has been exposed and can quite easily be seen as a dishonest inclusion into Australian Law.

At the same time, regardless of how you feel about government bodies exerting power over people, you must remember that these people at the NDPSC (TGA) feel that they have a duty to protect the community from dangerous substances and abuse.

With very little knowledge of Salvia Divinorum and a recommendation by the Office of Complementary Medicines (Also part of the TGA) to consider restricting access to Salvia divinorum on public health and safety grounds the NDPSC went ahead and placed it in Schedule 9. To be safe, the departments decided that the best way to deal with something you do not know about is to lock it away so no one will know, that way you prevent any "possible" harm even if there was little or no chance of harm in the first place.

Thomas Munro's Website http://thomas.munro.com documents the whole process that saw Salvia Divinorum included into Schedule 9. It is well written and researched. I recommend you visit it and read it for yourself and encourage you to tell others about it too.

Unfortunately for us all, the government has hoodwinked the majority of the population into believing that they are incapable of looking after themselves, and has convinced the population that only the government knows what is best for them also. It is this fraud which has allowed the guns and fist of the government to get its power.

The state of Oregon (U.S.) earlier in 2003 placed a ban on Salvia Divinorum but it was overturned successfully in September this year with the help of the CCLE (Centre of Cognitive Liberty www.cognitiveliberty.org). The CCLE put together a Great Salvia Divinorum Report and sent it to the Oregon Judiciary Committee who then killed the ban upon adjournment.

A tightly bound red tape process must be followed to overturn the ban in Australia. It could possibly take up to two years for the whole process to complete. Surely the NDPSC (TGA), with more knowledge and understanding will see that Salvia Divinorum has no place in Schedule 9, and remove the restrictions on this incredibly marvellous and sacred herb.

From my understanding of the plant, its effects, its non-abusive potential, low dangers and positive benefits to humans, show no reason for it to be restricted at all.

- Shayman
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