Title:  Salvia
Producer: Emily Halevy
Feed: CWKN #385, May 14, 2008
Time: 1:33
SUGGESTED LEAD:  TODAY MORE AMERICANS- INCLUDING TEENAGERS- ARE SMOKING A POWERFUL HALLUCINOGENIC HERB NATIVE TO MEXICO.  IT IS A POWERFUL DRUG, THE EFFECTS ARE ALMOST INSTANTANEOUS AND, BECAUSE IT IS LEGAL IN MOST PLACES, IT HAS CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF LAWMAKERS AROUND THE COUNTRY.  CONNECT WITH KIDS HAS THE STORY.
<<PKG>>

NARR: IT IS A DANGEROUS DRUG …

HENRI (Henry) AND THOMAS SAY THEY HAVE A FRIEND WHO’S TRIED IT. (:06)

SUPER: Henri Hollis, 18 years old (:06)
“He smoked it, and then went to scratch his head…and can’t remember anything after that.”

SUPER: Thomas Steed, 18 years old (:12)
“And his friend said he was just going like that (flailing arms) for like twenty minutes straight.”

NARR: AND, IN MOST STATES, IT’S LEGAL … (:02)

SUPER: Nick Nehf, 18 years old (:19)
“My friend just brought some over one day, and I was like, ‘Alright.’  I mean I’d never heard of it before- but he said he had bought it down the street at the head shop and I was like, ‘Alright, whatever.’”

NARR: IT’S CALLED SALVIA. (:02)

SUPER: Heather Hayes, L.P.C., Drug Counselor (:29)
“Salvia divinorum is a perennial herb that grows wild in Mexico.  It’s a hallucenigenic.  It’s what back in the 60’s we used to call a psychodellic.”

NARR: EXPERTS SAY IT AFFECTS THE BRAIN NEARLY 10 TIMES FASTER THAN COCAINE AND TARGETS THE PARTS OF THE BRAIN RESPONSIBLE FOR MOTOR FUNCTION. (:06)

SOT: Heather Hayes, L.P.C., Drug Counselor (:46)
“They feel very out of control, it’s very scary. They will literally have blackouts, and what we are seeing is a lot of people having accidents because they lose their coordination.  They aren’t able to think clearly- so we are seeing people fall stumble, hurt themselves and have driving accidents.”

NARR: MANY STATES ARE NOW CONSIDERING LEGISLATION TO BAN SALVIA.

IN THE MEAN TIME, EXPERTS SAY, EXPLAIN TO YOUR KIDS THAT JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS TEMPORARILY LEGAL- DOESN’T MEAN IT’S SAFE. (:11)

SOT: Heather Hayes, L.P.C., Drug Counselor (1:13)
“Initially when ecstasy was developed it was not illegal, but shortly after it was, and now we know that ecstasy is extremely damamging to the brain, we have people who die after one use.  So that would be the analogy I’d give.”

SOT: Thomas Steed, 18 years old (1:27)
“Anybody who I’ve talked to who’s done it, says they are never going to try it again because it was too much for them.”

SUGGESTED TAG:   THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY HAS SALVIA ON ITS LIST OF DRUGS AND CHEMICALS OF CONCERN.  IT IS ALSO REFERRED TO AS MAGIC MINT, SALLY-D AND DIVINER’S SAGE.