Letters
March 17th 2011
Re: “The salvia scare” (March 10, page 4)
This letter is in response to The salvia scare, published March 10th 2011.
As a past user of saliva, and advocate for the philosophical and self-helping benefits of drugs in general, I say we should think about what the possible consequences of banning salvia could be.
If the drug is made illegal, than I believe there will be a rise in uses and abuses of the drug, contrary to what the federal government seems to believe making it illegal will stop.
I fully support the research and learning of the long-term effects of this drug, and think it is necessary in human understanding as whole and especially about a drug such as this one.
Banning the drug might create an interest in the drug that was not there before or it might fuel the fires that seem to be kindled there already.
This interest might lead to people experimenting more with the drug than they are now, when we do, indeed, have a “lack of knowledge regarding the dangers or long-term effects of using the hallucinogenic substance” – to put it pessimistically.
This could create problems in the future for the drug culture and our general understanding of the human mind.
We should learn how these “drugs” react with the mind both physically and mentally—not just what chemicals they produce or inhibit, but what deeper insights into the user’s life they can uncover.
I don’t want this to sound too “new age,” but there are definite benefits to taking certain “drugs” and, for those same “drugs,” definite negative sides.
We need a responsible, rational, open-minded understanding of drugs before we should move to action.
I sound like a broken record preaching rationality and open-mindedness, but we don’t have it yet in many of our spheres of thought.
This letter appeared in Volume 65, Number 23 of The Uniter, published March 17th 2011.
