Posted by State lawmakers are pushing for a crackdown on Salvia divinorum, a widely available hallucinogenic herb that plunges users into a bizarre dreamscape world.
Under a bill introduced in the Senate, New Yorkers possessing the leafy plant could face Class B misdemeanor charges, punishable by up to three months in prison. The sentence for dealing the drug would be a Class A misdemeanor, which comes with a maximum penalty of a year behind bars.
The legislation is one of hundreds of new bills circulating in Albany in the last weeks of session, a time when lawmakers, having wrapped up the budget, tend to turn their attention to other issues. Lawmakers are also trying to ban public urination, permit the sale of wine and beer in movie theaters, and name a highway after the top American commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus.
The Senate sponsor of the anti-salvia legislation, George Maziarz, who represents a district in Western New York, said he had his staff draft a bill after he received calls from parents upset that their children were smoking the herb.
The senator said he was convinced that the drug should be banned after he and his aides watched YouTube videos of people smoking salvia and having psychedelic experiences.
One video he watched showed a man falling under a table. Another one ? shot by amused friends gathering in a ramshackle backyard ? shows a teenager taking a hit from a pipe and then stumbling around in a trance, before collapsing on the ground as if he were zapped by a stun gun.
