Well the bill was brought up in the Judiciary II committee on Wed. The bill has been changed and adopted by them and re-referred to the Committee On Appropriations/Base Budget. The new text is as follows:


Short Title: Salvia Divinorum Unlawful.
(Public)

February 12, 2009

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to Create the OFFENSE of unlawful manufacture, sale, delivery, or possesssion of salvia divinorum.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1. Article 52 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

"§ 14‑401.23. Unlawful manufacture, sale, delivery, or possession of Salvia divinorum.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly or intentionally manufacture, sell or deliver, or possess with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver Salvia divinorum or Salvinorin A.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly or intentionally possess Salvia divinorum or Salvinorin A.

(c) A violation of this section is punishable as follows:

(1) For a first or second offense under this section, the person is responsible for an infraction and shall be required to pay a fine of not less than twenty‑five dollars ($25.00).

(2) For a third or subsequent offense under this section, the person is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.

(d) For purposes of this section:

(1) "Deliver" means the actual constructive or attempted transfer of Salvia divinorum or Salvinorin A from one person to another.

(2) "Manufacture" means the production, preparation, propagation, compounding, conversion or processing of Salvia divinorum or Salvinorin A by any means, whether directly or indirectly, artificially or naturally, or by extraction from substances of a natural origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis. Manufacture includes any packaging or repackaging of the substance, or labeling or relabeling of its container, except that this term does not include the preparation or compounding of the substance by an individual for the individual's own use.

(3) "Production" includes the manufacture, planting, cultivation, growing, or harvesting of a plant.

(e) The provisions of this section shall not apply to:

(1) Employees or contractors of any accredited college or school of medicine or pharmacy at a public or private university in this State while performing medical or pharmacological research for such institution.

(2) The possession, planting, cultivation, growing, or harvesting of a plant strictly for aesthetic, landscaping, or decorative purposes."

SECTION 2. This act becomes effective December 1, 2009, and applies to acts committed on or after that date.

Dear, Mr. William R. Purcell, I have noticed that a bill to restrict Salvia (Bill Reference- SB138 [http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009&BillID=S138]) has been brought forth. This deeply concerns me, while I do agree that it is a problem with Kids getting a hold of the herb and am working diligently here in our great State of N.C. to change the law to only allow sales to people 21+. However, I STRONGLY disagree with banning it for all people. There is absolutely no harm with adults using this herb responsibly. in fact it has been used by the Mazatecs in Mexico for thousands of years without any harm.
So far all medical research shows that the herb is non addictive, non habit forming, non toxic, and nearly impossible to overdose on. It's toxicology is incomparable to alchol, Not a single person has ever died of Salvia overdose.Salvia divinorum has been shown to have promising potential in curing diseases like Alzheimer's, depression, and even H.I.V. by leading doctors and scientists.
Some states like Maine and California have passed common sense legislation which leaves the herb legal for adults while banning sale and possession of the herb to anyone under 18. This allows important medical research to continue while keeping out of the hands of our kids. Georgia and Tennessee have also decided to pass legislation to keep it legal for anyone who wants to landscape with it or keep it for research purposes. I also think that the religious use of this plant is not to be overlooked, many people consider this plant sacred and restricting it will infringe upon their rights of religious freedom. Please feel free to contact me if you need any information on where I get my facts from. There are many published scientific papers I can refer you to.

In short, Salvia divinorum is a non-addictive and non-toxic and safe for ADULT use (at least as safe, if not more safe than alcohol) so I encourage you to not ban the plant outright, but set an age limit of either 21 or 18 as we do with other drugs like alcohol and tobacco.