ANNAPOLIS – Experts from around the state and the Mid-Atlantic came to Annapolis to testify about a House Judiciary Committee bill to ban the sale and use of salvia in Maryland yesterday.

Del. Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio and Addie Eckardt (R-Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot and Wicomico), who introduced the bill in the House of Delegates, called for Salvia Divinorum – a perennial herbthat is known to cause psychedelic reactions when ingested – to be classified as a Schedule I drug like LSD and marijuana.

Sen. Richard Colburn (R-Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot and Wicomico) sponsored an identical bill in the state Senate.

Ocean City Police Capt. Robert Bokinsky, representing the Maryland Sheriffs’ Association and Maryland Chiefs Association, testified on behalf of the billl.

“We’re greatly concerned of the popularity and unrestricted access,” he said. “Some have claimed it’s more potent than LSD.”

But opponents of the bill, like Naomi Long of the Drug Policy Alliance, argued if salvia were made illegal it would create an underground economy for the drug and restrict needed research.

“Drug dealers would then be in control of selling salvia,” she said. “It would create an underground economy.”

She called for the committee to oppose the bill and instead focus on restricting the drugs’ use from minors – a concern also expressed by proponents of the bill.

“To keep substances out of the hands of our youth, we actually have a very good model – cigarettes,” Long said. “In the majority of the world, this is a legal herb.”

Legal, but arguably dangerous. The medical community continues to argue over whether there are physical effects associated to the ingestion of salvia. Effects of ingesting salvia are said to include psychedelic perceptions, dysphasia, uncontrolled laughter, a sense of loss of body and overlapping realities and hallucinations.

“It’s certainly not your kitchen variety herb…you can chew it, you can smoke it, you can make a drink of tea out of it,” said Haddaway-Riccio, who sells botanical products. “We’re not just talking about physical addiction but psychological addiction as well.”

In 2006, a Delaware couple said salvia caused their son, 17-year-old Brett Chidester, to commit suicide. Chidester zipped himself inside a tent in his father’s garage, lighted a charcoal grill and asphyxiated himself, according to a 2007 ABC News report.

Chidester’s death led to the passing of “Brett’s Law,” which bans salvia in the state of Delaware. Several other states have banned the herb, as well as a few countries including Austrailia.

Rose Chasum, a professor at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, testified for the bill, saying the rise of the Internet in the late 1990s – which brought about the sale of salvia online – led to increased sales of the herb.

She said most of the published reports on salvia are subjective and based on stories from people who have tried the drug; there have been no human control studies.

Del. Todd Schuler (D-Baltimore County) said the committee should reach a decision in “a matter of a few weeks.”

“[The committee] was asking all the right questions,” Schuler said.

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