Email sent against Florida's HB 1363

Frank Ramirez Saturday May 10, 2008

Kalizhada Inc.

13 Palomar Hills

San Antonio, TX 78238







Attn: Charlie Crist



First let me thank you for taking time to read my email. I’d like to take this opportunity to give my opinion into the adoption of HB 1363 regarding Salvia Divinorum and its legality.



In my personal and professional opinion, being a current graduate student focusing my study into the possibilities and benefits of salvia divinorum’s chief component salvinorin-A, a ban is not the right decision and I hope this email can help shed some light. I also retail salvia products online and only accept credit card payments through paypal to ensure all buyers are card holders 18 years old and above. In fact 100% of all funds generated from our sales go into further study into salvinorin-a pharmaceuticals and research. I do understand that videos on youtube have distorted the truth about salvia divinorum and have prompted many media vultures to create a sensationalized panic on its threat to “our children”. I personally was televised in March on “The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet” in New York to debate the issue. However I was ambushed in a one-sided event to condemn salvia. You know as a politician that the American media is always looking for a scandal or to blow an issue out of proportion and right now salvia divinorum is the current focus. In fact the youtube videos represent only a small percentage of actual salvia use, and many of those videos are also mostly people over the age of 18. But put into perspective there are more videos (3 to 1) of underage alcohol intoxication on youtube that salvia, but that fact is never represented on the media.



Salvia is not the “dangerous” drug that the media claims it to be. I have been personally experimenting and researching this plant for over 8 years now. I have read published reports and have submitted my own research for study in the hopes that salvia divinorum and salvinorin-a can be used to help provide a new era of clinical research and application towards treating an array of ailments. I have been using salvia divinorum in research to help heroin users curb their addiction. A personal family member who has been battling heroin addiction for over 10 years has been my focus and a willing participant into an addiction cure. Since starting treatment over 18 months he has been free and clear of any illegal chemical intoxication and has been verified by probation officers and lab results. In fact he will be removed from salvia testing in August. Not even methadone works that effective in the treatment of rehabilitation. Now this might be a unique case, however I have documents and affidavits of other salvia users who have stopped heroin, crack, and even methamphetamines use and have signed professional witnesses statements who attest by this result. Think about it, would saving 1 person from the horror of heroin or meth addiction be worth it? Would salvia’s fight be justified?



We have been using Salvinorin-a in research with Alzheimer’s to some promising results. 2 routine buyers in Seattle have been using our form of liquid salvia in a controlled study with Alzheimer’s testing and have recorded ground breaking results which are to be published. A letter was written to me from a buyer suffering from multiple sclerosis and has used our salvia to aid in her pain relief. She, among many of our Americans don’t have insurance to help alleviate the burden of high cost prescription pain medication but she has written many letters of thanks to a natural pain reliever at a fraction of the cost of inflated pharmaceutical prices. As children of God we are put here on earth to help each other to the best of our abilities, in any event please weigh the facts evenly, not as a political figure but as a human being.



The addiction factor of salvia is an issue most media likes to scare “little town America”, so lets look at the facts. I have personally used salvia for 5 years, first I used salvia up to 2 times a week and decreased to 1, and the effect was not the dramatic scene you see on Headline News but a more controlled relaxed and tranquil elevation during my personal prayer. Today, I use salvia on average once a month during my prayer session, and many times I go months without ever doing it. Simply put salvia is 100% non addicitive. FACT: Salvia divinorum, is not an alkaloid (does not contain a nitrogen atom) like other chemical substances i.e. cocaine, heroin, or even tobacco and coffee. This fact simply put is this, salvia or salvinorin-a does not attach itself to these receptors of the brain that crave addiction, in fact these opoiod receptors are blocked by salvinorin-a, making “the crave” of such narcotics such as crack, meth, or heroin decrease substantially. An addiction cure? Perhaps, however without further study due to illegalization will we ever know? Please consider these facts.



Fact: Salvia is a Hallucinogen, it does alter perception, temporarily. Acid aka LSD is also a hallucinogen but it is a man made hallucinogen that contains an array of chemicals that DO contain alkaloids. Salvia is 1 element (salvinorin-a) and carries 0% dependence. FACT: 95% of salvia first time users report they will never do it again because an irresponsible user will most likely experience bad visions comparable to a bad nightmare and ward off any future use. This would actually help deter them from even considering Acid on a future experiment. On average salvia can last as little as 1 minute and last as long as 10. Motor functions such as walking are a near impossibility so the threat of someone driving while on this is absurd. Anyone shown on video walking around while on salvia is faking it and trying to grandstand for friends. Again there are more kids on youtube intoxicated on alcohol which last much longer than the average salvia effect, and nearly 2,000 kids are killed every year due to alcohol intoxication. Fact: Salvia divinorum has not killed 1 person, however the case of Brett Chidester of Delaware is a case that is completely using salvia divinorum as a scapegoat. No parent likes to assume responsibility when something as tragic as this occurs, of course in every suicide almost every parent will claim their child was “perfect” “happy” on “honor roll” or even “popular” to offset the real unspoken problems with their child’s psychological stability. How did this child even purchase Salvia from Canada without a credit card? Fact: Alcohol is the #1 cause of death for children under 18, #3 is suicide so will parent looks for the easiest point of blame other than themselves? We will never know exactly what went through Brett’s mind, or even if a pre-existing mental condition existed. Since these records are sealed the parent(s) can use the excuse of salvia to the cause of death which was in fact added into the death certificate 3 months post-mortem.



Salvia was primarily used to achieve spiritual enlightenment from the Mazatec peoples of Mexico and for other remedies. Women would use the leaves in a tea to help rid menstrual cramps, many people would chew leaves to aid in pain relief or as a analgesic. My mother would make an elixir for me as a child to help with colic and minor infections. Hispanic and people of Mexican descent have been using salvia for generations and has been a part of Mexican culture for at least 200 years so for media outlets to blast this as an threat is very insensitive and irresponsible. I understand that up in the sparsely Hispanic populate Northern States salvia is being banned without any input from Hispanic or Mexican-American, so I would like for you to consider these points from an educated and responsible Hispanic-American. These points were brought up when the state of Texas had Salvia divinorum on its docket in SB 2347 when Charles Anderson tried to ban it. The state concluded: not to have salvia available to children or minors under the age of 18, which has been a strict guideline and non-negotiable term for years. 99% of all salvia retailers accept credit card payment as the only method of payment available to ensure this term is met. Please take into consideration that banning salvia is not the answer, regulating it is the responsible method for understanding.



Please feel free to contact me regarding this and would even love to discuss this further if you would like, but please consider that banning is not an answer to a problem, education is the best weapon to ridding any fear from misunderstanding.



Thank you for your time.



Sincerely,



Frank Ramirez

CEO

Kalizhada Inc.

 

Well written, hopefully it makes a difference.

 

Simply put, you presented the facts to him in a very persuasive way. If he's got at least a tiny bit of common sense he will consider your message to him. After reading it, while I was surprised at some of the facts that I haven't heard of before I was thinking at the same time: "Goddamn, if I was that guys I would cancel the whole process of ilegalization and immediately inform the media of the true facts." People need to finally realize, that the anti-psychedellic propaganda for the last 30 or more years was simply all a lie. We should hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. I wish you the best of luck in protecting the name of Salvia and later hopefully even other psychoactives.

P.S.:

I suppose you were talking about Salvia officinalis or some strain of Salvia, or am I wrong?

 

Did he respond?

 

Dude I guess people here don't care about activism, maybe these guys here at hip forums are all posers! I support you Kali!
Steve