Little-Known Drug Offers Legal High

It's a potent hallucinogen that's comparable to LSD. And while it's been around for centuries, it's just now catching on with college students and recreational users nationwide.

It's called salvia divinorum and it's easy and legal to purchase in most of the United States.

Despite its strong hallucinogenic properties and popularity with young users, salvia is not classified as a controlled substance by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

That means that in most places salvia can be bought straight off the store shelf or ordered on the Internet, where a one ounce of dried salvia leaves sells for $7.49.

Chris Barstow, a 28-year-old lawmaker from Maine, is out to change that, at least for his state. He has proposed a bill to the state legislature that would ban the sale of salvia.

"It's a very strong drug," Barstow said. "The idea that we have a hallucinogen of this nature out there without regulation when a low-grade drug like marijuana is banned -- I just don't see a balance with regard to the drug scheduling practices."

But if Barstow is fighting a crusade, it's against an enemy few people know by name.

A plant originally found in Mexico, salvia divinorum or "diviners sage" was used for religious and medicinal purposes by indigenous tribes.

When the leaves are chewed or smoked, they produce a hallucinogenic effect that lasts anywhere between 15 minutes and three hours.

Users describe its effects as an intense, psychedelic high: fingers changing color, a floating sensation, imaginary objects moving through midair.

"For a few hours after you do it, you feel really distracted and just plain stupid. But for about three minutes after you do it, you feel really elated and out of body," said one user, a student at Dartmouth College who asked not to be identified.

According to some users, effects of the drug include a sense of contemplative peace and intense calm. Others report a more negative experience, saying they were overcome with panic and depression, a loss of self-awareness and a lack of bodily control.