Are there other species of Salvia that are also psychoactive? #
Although there are hundreds of different species in the genus Salvia, many of which are available at nurseries and garden shops throughout the world, to date none of these have been shown to contain the same salvinorin compounds that are found in Salvia divinorum. S. divinorum is considered a "specialty plant" and it is highly unlikely to be available through a local nursery or garden shop. Some have argued that Salvia splendens (which contains the neo-clerodane diterpenoid compounds salviarin and splendidin) is also psychoactive, but the effects are thought to be more Valium-like (very mildly sedating) and not visionary. An informal, controlled study that looked into the putative activity of S. splendens showed that there were no more effects from this Salvia than from the placebo herb (Sage Student 2009). Others insist that it is indeed psychoactive, and the paper that identified kappa-opioid activity of salvinorin A suggested that there may yet be more to the story about splendens:
Interestingly, a three-dimensional search of the National Cancer Society Database using the pharmacophore features and geometries derived from salvinorin docked with the KOR model produced splendidin... Splendidin was originally isolated from Salvia splendens... (Roth et al. 2002).
The common culinary sage, Salvia officianalis, has been said to provoke "intoxication and giddiness" if smelled for a prolonged time (Duke 1987 in Ott 1993). Indeed, S. officianalis does contain terpenoid thujone compounds, which are psychoactive components also contained in Artemisia absinthium (used in the infamous alcoholic preparation absinthe). While it is possible that there may be more psychoactive Salvia plants, today's state of knowledge places S. divinorum as one of a kind. If one sees a plant that is merely labeled "Salvia" in a store, it is highly unlikely that this plant is S. divinorum.
