“The whole thing about the dreaming and the alternate reality, I can see where he can kinda get so absorbed into that, that he’s not actually living in reality,” Osler told the Associated Press.
“I know that he was experimenting with the drug or herb or whatever it is – Salvia Divinorum – and from what I hear he used it quite frequently.” Osler stated.
Salvia Divinorum is an organic herb with hallucinogenic effects. It is a psychoactive plant which can induce dissociative effects and is a potent producer of "visions" and other hallucinatory experiences. Its native habitat is within cloud forest in the isolated Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca, Mexico, growing in shady and moist locations.[5][6] The plant grows to over a meter high,[1] has hollow square stems, large leaves, and occasional white flowers with violet calyx. Botanists have not determined whether Salvia divinorum is a cultigen or a hybrid; native plants reproduce vegetatively, rarely producing viable seed.[7][8]
Media stories generally raise alarms over Salvia divinorum's legal status and are sometimes headlined with generally ill-supported comparisons to LSD or other psychoactive substances. Parental concerns are raised by focusing on salvia's usage by younger teens—the emergence of YouTube videos purporting to depict its use being an area of particular concern in this respect. The isolated and controversial suicide of Brett Chidester received much media attention.
Salvia divinorum remains legal in most countries and, within the United States, is legal in the majority of states. However, some have called for its prohibition. While not currently regulated by US federal drug laws, several states have passed laws criminalizing the substance.[16] Some proposed state bills have failed to progress and have not been made into law (with motions having been voted down or otherwise dying in committee stages). There have not been many publicized prosecutions of individuals violating anti-salvia laws in the few countries and states in which it has been made illegal.[nb 1]
