To the Sixth Dimension and Back

I have a phrase on my backpack. It reads, "To 42 Below and Back." I wrote that after a bottle of 42 Below vodka was broken in my backpack while spending the night in the Auckland airport. My bag, books, notebooks...everything was soaked in the sweet, sweet nectar of New Zealand's finest alcohol. It was a long night of drying everything under the hand dryer in the men's bathroom. For what my backpack went through, it was given that illustrious phrase.

After Wednesday night's experience with salvia, I feel like tattooing the subject line somewhere around my abdomen. Salvia, officially called Salvia Divinorum, is a legal psychoactive herb that comes from Mexico, and can be traced back to Mayan shamen using it for spirit journeys and the like.

Now Greg, psychoactive, you say? From something you can buy at your local head shop? Laugh away, fooligans, I thought the same thing until I got my hands on some (one of the many benefits of working for a magazine sent to smoke shops, and also working behind one, too). Well, we had done an article in Headquest back in June about the kraZiness that is Salvia, and we always have a bunch of vendors in the magazine selling the stuff, so I was curious. I kept hearing about it causing slight hallucinations, like the colors are more vibrant, textures start to move, you see the world in a different way kind of thing. It sounded like doing mushrooms, but this high peaked after five minutes and trailed off for about another hour. Whatev. They also STRESSED having a sober sitter if it's your first time trying it, which I thought was a tad overdramatic. Check the links above to read a little more about it (Don't worry, the Wikipedia article's a short read).

So like I was saying, I got my hands on some 10x extract of salvia...Purple Sticky Salvia, to be exact (but it was neither purple nor sticky, just a bunch of ground up leaves that looked like shake). My friend insisted I lead off, so I put some in a bong, as they said the smoke is hot and needs to be cooled, and I took a single hit. Granted, it was a big hit, but a single hit nonetheless. Best to play it safe and see what this salvia was all about. What happened next surprised the both of us.

I exhaled my hit, stood up and set the bong on the counter, then sat back down. The last thing I remember is drooling on my leg before blacking out. The next few minutes, what I remember, was a horrifying episode of utter blackness and fighting for my very existence. I remember hearing voices, completely forgetting where I was, and having the feeling I was in this dark cell, light years away from where I was but seconds ago. Few times I managed to break through the darkness and see flashes of my friend's apartment, and by this time I'm on my knees leaning against my friend's chair, looking at him, asking where I was and where the voices were coming from (I was told I spoke a LOT of gibberish). I was convinced that I was pleading my case to exist and my friend was the one person who helped keep me in this realm. I wish I was kidding. I can't remember the last time I was so scared. Once the blackness started to subside, I started to piece together where I was, but the visuals, including my friend's face, were horribly streched out horizontally. I'd slowly look around, trying to find familiarity, but for five mintues I was in another dimension. This I'm convinced of (I can only imagine what was going through my friend's head at the time). I'd go into more details, but I'm having trouble even talking about it, let alone writing it out.

After I came to, I still felt weird. I had The Fear. I sat down in the chair, made my friend turn off the TV, and had to sit and keep reconfirming to myself that I was here in the present. It lingered for another forty minutes, and I had this all-over body buzz, like shrooms without the visuals. I asked my friend if he wanted to try it. I think you know his answer.

I've never had a drug hit me like this before. Maybe it's because I tried a very potent mix as my first time, or maybe because I took too big of a rip, but it was unlike anything I had ever done. In looking at what I've written so far, I realize I'm rambling. I apologize, but this stuff is crazy. If I try it again, I'll be sure to half the dose and hope for a calmer peak. But for now, I'm still a bit dazed from the experience and happy to be among my fellow denizens of Earth. To the brave souls who have tried it, let me know if you've had this same trip from salvia. Until next time, have a good night, fooligans.