Sadly, the mendacity of this article manifests immediately in the profoundly misleading title. While suggesting that salvia divinorum may be a "legal marijuana" will surely provoke public interest, it is a blatant lie. Salvia and marijuana bear virtually no correspondence in their pharmacological effects, chemistry, or mechanism of action. Furthermore, the vast majority of those who experiment with salvia find it to be unpleasant and do not seek its effects again. Those who do generally use it for meditation purposes, as it is not an intrinsically euphoric experience. Your assertion that marijuana and salvia can even be uttered in the same breath (excepting cases of juxtaposition) is absurd.

Salvia is strikingly disparate from illicit drugs in an almost comprehensive sense. While most illicit drugs are alkaloids, salvinorin A is a neoclerodane diterpenoid-- a major distinction. Salvia hardly yields a "high," as it does not bestow euphoria upon the user. It's effects do not appeal to many. Ergo, it poses no threat of pervading the drug culture. It is clear that you have but a paucity of knowledge of this plant.

It is a tragedy of our titillated, mentally pliable society that the importance of truth has been lost in favor of galvanizing the public and cultivating the spores of fear that repose inside American minds. Only when we dispel this seduction to sensationalism will the propagation of ignorance be curtailed.