HR 5607 Archive

HR 5607 Status: The 107^th Congress has officially adjourned, and did not pass HR 5607. All indications, however, are that Representative Baca will introduce an identical Salvia divinorum scheduling bill when the 108th Congress convenes in 2003. Please visit the Salvia Divinorum Action Center for the latest information about legal threats to Salvia divinorum.

Archived Materials
A bill (HR 5607) introduced in Congress on October 10, 2002 seeks to make the Mazatec ceremonial plant Salvia divinorum and its active principle Salvinorin A the next outlawed drugs under federal law. The CCLE is organizing and preparing opposition to HR 5607, and is also calling upon all interested people to express their opposition to this unwarranted extension of the US war on drugs.

CCLE has created the Salvia Divinorum Action Center as well as our Salvia Divinorum Defense Fund, to help coordinate and prepare opposition to HR 5607.

Actions You Can Take:

1. Make a Tax Deductible Donation to the Salvia Divinorum Defense Fund
All funds are used to oppose HR 5607, the bill that threatens to schedule the plant Salvia divinorum and its active principle salvinorin A. Funds are necessary to prepare legal documents and to possibly fly experts to Washington DC to testify. Learn more, or donate now via Paypal:

2. Contact Your Representative

• California Residents: Send a fax, e-mail and/or letter to US Representatives Joe Baca (D-CA 42nd) and Grace Napolitano (D-CA 34th), expressing your objection to this unwarranted effort to outlaw Salvia divinorum and salvinorin A. Scroll down (or click here) for address and phone numbers. Also, use the Congressional database to send an e-mail to your own US representatives.
   
• If You Live Outside California: contact your representative using this Congressional database.
  
  Points to make:
   
• HR 5607 is an effort to bypass procedural safeguards established for determining which drugs should be controlled. Rather than make an end-run around these procedures, Congress, if it truly believes that Salvia divinorum meets the criteria for addition to Schedule I should refer the matter to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for his evaluation and recommendation. This is the procedure established by federal law.
   
• HR 5607 bill is a political effort to grandstand on the War on Drugs, when drug prohibition has been shown to cause more harm than good. See Drug War Facts for useful statistics on the failure of drug prohibition.
   
• HR 5607 targets a plant that has a well-established history of safe shamanic use by the Mazatec Indians of Mexico. The plant's beneficial medicinal properties are just beginning to be scientifically explored, and HR 5607 would make it all but impossible to continue these investigations. A recent scientific paper, for example, reported that Salvia divinorum may be an effective anti-depressant for some people.
   
• The plant does not present a danger to the public. According to the Toxic Exposure Surveillance System maintained by the American Association of Poison Control Centers, there has not been a single report of S. divinorum poisoning.  
   
• According to an updated report on Salvia divinorum and salvinorin A by the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (ccle), neither Salvia divinorum, nor salvinorin A, meet the criteria necessary for addition to Schedule I.

3. Spread the word about HR 5607.

• Please forward this e-mail or web page to other web sites, newsgroups, and interested people or groups. If you have a website, please link to this page.
   
• Write a letters to the editor making the above points, and objecting to further expansion of the "war on drugs." Here's a free online service that finds your local papers and sends their editors your e-mail message.

4. Subscribe to our e-mail announcements list to receive breaking news about efforts to outlaw Salvia divinorum and other cognitive liberty issues.

5. If you're not a supporting member of the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics, please join us! Our work in support of  cognitive liberty, including our Entheogen and Drug Policy Project, is only possible with your support. To learn about becoming a member, go here.
 

Resources:

Read and check status of HR 5607

Salvia Divinorum Defense Fund
Please make a tax deductible donation of any amount, now!

Salvia Divinorum Action Center
Learn what you can do to help oppose H.R. 5607

CCLE Report on Salvia divinorum and salvinorin A (pdf)

Web site of HR 5607's author Representative Joe Baca of California.

Web site of co-sponsor Representative Grace Napolitano, of California.

CCLE's Entheogen and Drug Policy Project

For information about Salvia divinorum and salvinorin A, visit:

CCLE's Ask Dr. Shulgin Online

Erowid.org's Salvia vault

Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center
 

Contact Info for Representatives Baca and Napolitano

Representative Joe Baca Email Rep. Baca

Washington, D.C. Office:
1133 Longworth House Off. Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515-0542
Telephone (202)225-6161

District Office:
201 North "E" Street, Suite 102
San Bernardino, CA 92401

Telephone (909)885-BACA (2222)

Representative Grace Napolitano   Email Rep. Nap

Washington, D.C. Office:
1133 Longworth House Off. Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515-0542
Telephone (202)225-6161
Fax: (202) 225-0027