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Herbal craze for clubbers highs
Tens of thousands of clubbers and festival-goers are turning their backs on traditional narcotics and switching instead to so-called 'legal highs' following the introduction of a number of new products on the market that outshine their predecessors - because they actually appear to work.
Packets of dried leaves claiming to provide a marijuana-like high and boxes of tablets that allegedly produce an amphetamine-like buzz have been around for decades but until recently they were generally dismissed as being ineffective. But in recent months new herbs like Salvia, a rare Mexican plant related to sage, and Kratom, an obscure Thai herb, have produced legions of devoted users, many of whom claim they are just as effective as illicit drugs. Business in the multi-million pound legal high trade is now booming with the number of products on offer having quadrupled in the past five years.
One of the most popular products is Salvia, used for centuries by Mexican Indians in religious ceremonies, which produces a powerful hallucinogenic effect when chewed, drunk in an infusion or smoked through a pipe. Also known as Diviner's Sage and Sally D many users claim to have vivid out-of-body experiences, though others suffer only terrifying nightmares.
Banned in Finland, Australia and Denmark, Salvia currently remains legal in Britain and the rest of the world with the Home Office having no plans to take any action against it. The So High SoHo shop in central London is one of hundreds of outlets openly selling the substance in the UK. Salvia is available at £10 for a bag of leaves or £30 for a bag of the more powerful "extract" version.
'It takes you to an incredible place,' says the enthusiastic saleswoman. 'It's a real trip, like coming out of anaesthetic. You'll have a great time, it's really, really good.' Devotees fear the increasing popularity of Salvia may lead to a ban. Spiralling use in Italy, Germany and the Baleric Islands has caused concern to local law enforcement agencies. The US Drug Enforcement Administration includes the plant in its list of 'drugs and chemicals of concern' and has spent the past two years monitoring its use. 'It is currently under review by the medical and scientific community to determine if it should be a controlled substance,' a spokesperson told The Observer.
Kratom, a tree native to Thailand and other parts of southeast Asia, has been available in the UK for the past six months and is proving popular. 'It's really taking off,' says Mark Evans, head of the web-based retailer Everyone Does It. 'It's spreading by word of mouth. People are trying it, liking it and coming back for more.'
Believed to work on the same receptors in the brain as heroin, Kratom initially induces alertness, increasing physical energy and the desire to interact with others. At higher doses it becomes a sedative, constricting the pupils and desensitising the user to physical and emotional pain. The effects last for up to six hours. A packet obtained by The Observer states that Kratom will 'induce a unique and relaxed dreamy sensation.' The manufacturers recommend that the product is used no more than twice a month in order to ensure it does not become habit forming.
'There are several reasons why the herbal products are becoming more popular,' says Evans. 'One is the price - they are often cheaper than the stuff you can buy on the street. Another is quality which tends to be more consistent. In the past some of the products have been a bit hit and miss but, with something like Salvia extract, it is almost always going to have an effect.'
Started on a market stall with just £500, Evans's company now turns over more than £3 million each year and offers 22,000 products including numerous legal highs, cannabis seeds and drugs paraphernalia including bongs, scales and specialist books. The firm's website receives 2.5 million hits each month.
The massive growth of the legal high market mirrors the recent growth in the market for magic mushrooms, currently on sale at more than 300 outlets across the UK. Under the current law the magic mushroom is not a controlled substance but the hallucinogen, psilocin, that it contains, is classified as Class A drug. Provided the gatherer does not commercially 'prepare' the mushrooms - by freezing them, drying them or using them to make tea - before selling them they are not committing a criminal offence.
The peyote cactus is also widely available. Used by native Americans for centuries, peyote produces effects similar to LSD. Like mushrooms the cactus can be sold as it becomes illegal only when prepared as a hallucinogenic.
Evans admits that natural products are also popular because many users see them as safer than their chemical cousins - use of ecstasy has declined by 20 per cent in the last year according to Home Office figures. However, this is not always the case. Magic mushrooms have been linked to psychosis while a key component of many herbal ecstasy tablets was banned in the US this year after being linked to 155 deaths.
Another natural drug, the hallucinogenic wild flower known as Angel's Trumpet, which is becoming increasingly common in the UK, has been linked to several deaths in America. Last October an 18-year-old student in Halle, Germany, used a pair of garden shears to cut off his tongue and penis after drinking a tea made from the plant.
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