So, I wonder if we should start looking for the ' Hanna Montanna ' branded salvia pouches being peddled at Walmart , anytime soon?
While I do believe it is true that anyone that looks up to Miley Cyrus as a role model has no business even getting anywhere near salvia, the fact of the matter remains: Kids will experiment. Many will search for ways to alter their consciousness, as kids (and adults) have done since the dawn of man. Some will go a bad route, abusing substances to their own detriment. Most will 'grow out of it', and look back on those experimental times with fond, often humorous, memories.
Personally, I'm glad she chose salvia to use, and hence, bring into popular culture, for it is, by far, one of the least menacing, or harmful of substances that can be used to alter consciousness, of the many available. Trust me when I say, any really young fan of Ms. Cyrus who decides to give salvia a go, will probably scare themselves so badly that they will swear off all drugs for life. The stuff is intense, for a very short duration, with almost no ill physical effect. And, it is not something on which you can become addicted.After a hit of salvia, you do not feel like doing it again for a while, You may try it again, for its unique, novel effect, but as a matter of choice, not out of any kind of need, or dependence.
If she were banging heroin,smoking tobacco or even drinking alcohol, I'd be much more alarmed and worried for the future of our impressionable young children. People really should educate themselves about things before flying off the handle and freaking out about stuff like this.
The worse thing I see happening is a kneejerk public reaction that may make this once obscure, relatively safe herb, completely illegal, thereby taking away a bit more of our freedom, and sending law enforcement on a new costly search and destroy mission in yet another battlefront of the already failed war on drugs.
Education, not prohibition, is the answer. Please people, think with your heads and inform yourself before lashing out from fear of the unknown.
And Miley, use your position and voice to market freedom and education, as America was founded on, instead of crumbling to the demands of 'the machine' to speak out against this very normal teenage act of experimentation, that many would/will do with, or without, your influence. Thanks.
