What Happens to Brains Experiencing "One of the Most Potent Hallucinogens Known"

Salvia, also known as salvia divinorum, is a smokable hallucinogen that's still legal in most parts of the world. People order it via the internet and smoke tiny quantities to experience what many call an experience so intense that many people call it "spiritual." The high lasts for just a few minutes, and includes intense visual hallucinations and out-of-body sensations. Now a group of researchers with the United States Department of Energy are studying the drug, watching how it affects the brains of non-human primates, to find out if it has any therapeutic value. Here you can see the brains of several monkeys on salvia. Find out what the researchers discovered below. More »