Could Salvia’s Next Trip Be as a Cure?

A video of singer Miley Cyrus smoking salvia from a bong made its way onto TMZ and YouTube.

Image: TMZ

With teen pop star Miley Cyrus among the experimental users of salvia, the herb is under a new wave of criticism. But just as the singer's youthful escapades are getting fresh attention, so too is some recent research that suggests the natural psychedelic can be put to good use.

Salvia divinorum, a member of the mint family, contains a potent hallucinogen called salvinorin A. Its use purportedly dates back centuries to shamans living among the Mazatec people of Oaxaca, Mexico, who used the plant for spiritual healing purposes.

These days, its legality varies from state to state, but it is sold in stores that sell herbal supplements, and via online companies such as United Naturals of Vancouver, which offers it as part of a "Relax Trip Combo" pack that includes other “ethnobotanicals,” such as Chill, described as a natural sedative.

Last month, a YouTube clip showed Cyrus at a party in California, where salvia is legal, doing bong hits of the herb a few days after her 18th birthday on November 23. The Hannah Montana star claims to see her ex-boyfriend (not present at the party) and points to her head, asking a friend, "Is it me tripping? Is it me tripping?"

This may make salvia usage sound sketchy, but there’s a flip side. A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University Medical School led by Matthew W. Johnson, a psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry, said learning about salvia's effects on the brain could lead to medical advances in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, chronic pain, and even drug addiction. The October 2010 study, which was chronicled in the medical journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, showed that the drug has no physically adverse effects on otherwise healthy people and is not addictive.

"It might be a longer-acting version of the drug and one without the strong psychedelic effects, just the analgesic effects," Johnson told ABCNews.com. "We have done the first human study with the drug, and it could be the first examination of a whole new line of drugs that have a therapeutic potential."

He did acknowledge that because of the hallucinogenic effects of the drug, people can “have accidents or do foolish things,” but from a physiological perspective it is safe.

Come to think of it, accidents and foolish things serve as the basis for many a country song. Maybe that's something Cyrus can write about next.

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