What Does Salvia Do to Your Brain

Salvia is a plant that can cause very strong hallucinations, and its effects on the brain are unusual because they arrive fast, feel intense, and then fade quickly. The plant is Salvia divinorum, a type of sage, and its active substance is salvinorin A. Unlike many other substances that affect the brain through the same systems as common medicines or stimulants, salvinorin A works mainly on a part of the brain called the kappa-opioid receptor system. That system is involved in perception, mood and the sense of self, which helps to explain why salvia can change how a person sees the world, how they feel in their own body, and how clearly they can think. The experience is often described as strange and confusing rather than pleasant, and the confusion itself is one of the main dangers.

This article explains, in plain words, what salvia does to the brain: how it changes perception and thinking during the experience, how it affects memory, judgement and mood afterwards, what is known and not known about lasting harm, and why even a short experience can carry real risk. It is general information only, not individual medical advice. If you are worried about your own health, or about someone else, a qualified health professional is the right person to talk to.

How Salvia Reaches the Brain and Changes Perception

When salvia is used, salvinorin A reaches the brain quickly and attaches to kappa-opioid receptors. Those receptors are found in several parts of the brain that help a person make sense of what they see and hear, know where their body is, and keep a steady sense of who they are. When those receptors are strongly activated, the normal signals in those areas are disrupted. The result is not a gentle change in mood. It is often a sudden break from ordinary awareness, in which colours, sounds, shapes and the sense of time can all feel distorted, and the person may feel detached from their body or unsure whether what they are seeing is real.

People who have used salvia often report that the world seems to shift or melt, that their body feels as if it is being pulled or stretched, that they have lost track of where they are, or that minutes feel like hours. Some feel as if they have become part of an object or a surface, or as if they are watching themselves from outside. These are not small changes in perception. They are a loss of the brain’s usual ability to put information together in a stable way, and while that loss is happening, the person cannot rely on their senses to guide them. A step, a road, a staircase or a hot surface can become a danger simply because the brain is no longer reading the world correctly.

The speed of the change matters too. Because the effects come on within seconds or a minute or two, there is very little time to prepare or to decide that the experience is too strong. A person can go from feeling normal to feeling completely disoriented before they have had time to sit down or to make sure they are in a safe place. That suddenness is one reason health guidance treats salvia seriously even though its main effects are short-lived. The brain does not get a gradual warning. It is pushed into a very different state all at once, and the person has to ride that state out while their thinking and coordination are badly impaired.

It is also important to understand that the strength of the effect is hard to predict. The plant itself varies, different preparations vary, and different people react differently. A person who had a mild experience once cannot assume the next experience will be the same, because the amount of salvinorin A, the way it was taken, the person’s mood, tiredness, mental health and surroundings can all change the result. That unpredictability is part of the risk. The brain is being exposed to a powerful chemical that changes perception in a way that cannot be reliably controlled, and the person using it has no way to turn the effect down once it has started.

Thinking, Attention and the Loss of Clear Thought

While salvia is active, clear thinking becomes very difficult. Attention, which is the brain’s ability to hold on to one thing at a time and to follow a thought through to its end, is one of the first things to go. A person may start a sentence and lose the thread of it halfway through, or hear a question and be unable to hold it in mind long enough to answer it. Simple tasks that normally need no effort, such as following instructions, finding a door, or remembering why they stood up, can become confusing. This is not the same as being tired or distracted. It is a temporary failure of the brain’s working systems, and it lasts for as long as the substance is active.

Reasoning is affected in the same way. The brain normally checks ideas against reality: does this make sense, is this safe, what will happen if I do this. Under salvia, that checking process weakens. Thoughts can feel certain even when they are not based on anything real, and ideas that would normally be dismissed as strange can feel true. A person may believe they need to move suddenly, or that they are in danger when they are not, or that something ordinary is deeply important. Because the brain cannot test those thoughts properly, it cannot correct them, and the person may act on them in ways they would never act on when clear-headed.

Language is often affected too. Some people find they cannot speak, or can only speak in broken phrases, while under the influence. Others speak a great deal but what they say makes little sense to anyone listening. This happens because the parts of the brain that turn thoughts into words are also disrupted. The person may know roughly what they want to say but be unable to find the words, or may produce words that do not match what they meant. For people watching, this can be frightening, and for the person themselves it can be deeply confusing, because the link between thinking and speaking, which normally feels effortless, has broken down.

After the strongest effects fade, thinking does not always return to normal straight away. Many people feel foggy, slow or unsettled for some time afterwards, and find it hard to concentrate on work, study or conversation. That fog usually passes, but it is a reminder that the brain has been through a major disruption and needs time to settle. The length of that unsettled period varies, and it can be longer if the person is tired, anxious, or has used other substances at the same time. Anyone who needs to drive, work with machinery, study for an exam or make an important decision should understand that their thinking may still be below its normal level even when the most dramatic effects have gone.

Memory During and After Salvia

Memory is one of the areas most affected by salvia, and the effect shows up in two ways. First, during the experience itself, the brain often fails to lay down clear memories. A person may remember only fragments afterwards, or remember the experience as a blur, or be unable to say in what order things happened. This is because the brain systems that record new memories need stable attention and a stable sense of time, and both are disrupted by salvia. The gaps are not the same as forgetting something small. They can cover the whole period of the experience, leaving the person unsure what they did, where they went, or what they said.

Second, in the hours after use, short-term memory can still feel weak. A person may walk into a room and forget why, lose track of a conversation, or need to be told the same thing twice. This is usually temporary, and for most people it improves as the brain settles, but it can be unsettling, especially if the person has work or study that needs a clear head. The effect is stronger when the person is already tired or stressed, because the brain has fewer reserves to draw on. It is also stronger when salvia is combined with alcohol or other substances, which add their own effects on memory and make the combined disruption worse.

Long-term memory, the store of things learned over years, is not usually erased by a single use of salvia. A person does not normally forget their own name, their family, or skills they have practised for years. What changes is the ability to use that stored knowledge in the moment, because the brain cannot reach it clearly while it is disrupted. That distinction matters, because it explains why a person can seem confused and forgetful during the experience and yet still know who they are afterwards. The knowledge is still there, but the access to it is temporarily blocked, and that block can make even familiar tasks feel strange.

There is much less reliable evidence about whether repeated use of salvia causes lasting memory problems over months or years. Research on salvia is limited compared with research on alcohol, cannabis or tobacco, partly because salvia is used less often and partly because its effects are so short that long-term studies are hard to run. Health guidance therefore does not claim that salvia definitely causes permanent memory damage, and it would be wrong to present that as a proven fact. What can be said honestly is that repeated disruption of memory and thinking is not harmless, that people who use salvia often report that their concentration and recall feel worse after a period of regular use, and that the absence of proof is not proof of safety. The careful position is that the risk is real enough to take seriously, and that the long-term picture is still unclear.

Judgement, Risk and the Danger of a Distorted Mind

The most practical danger of salvia is what it does to judgement. Judgement is the brain’s ability to weigh risk, to recognise danger, and to stop itself from doing something harmful. Under salvia, that ability is badly weakened. A person who would normally avoid walking near traffic, climbing, swimming, or handling something hot may not recognise the danger at all, or may recognise it too late. Because the experience is short, people sometimes assume the risk is short too, but a fall, a burn, a road accident or a drowning can happen in seconds, and a few minutes of poor judgement is more than enough time for a serious injury to occur.

This is why the setting matters so much, and why health guidance stresses that a person under the influence of salvia should not be alone, should not be near hazards, and should not be in a position where a sudden movement could cause harm. The person cannot be relied on to judge their own safety, because the very part of the brain that does that judging is impaired. A sober person nearby can help by keeping the environment safe, by staying calm, and by getting help if something goes wrong. That does not make the use safe, but it reduces the chance that a short period of confusion turns into a lasting injury.

Judgement is also affected after the experience, in a quieter way. A person who has had a frightening or confusing experience may feel shaken and make poor decisions in the hours that follow, such as deciding to drive before they are fully clear-headed, or deciding to use again quickly to try to understand what happened. A person who had a mild experience may draw the opposite conclusion, deciding that salvia is safe and that they can use it again without worry, even though the next experience could be much stronger. Both are errors of judgement, and both come from the same source: the brain trying to make sense of an experience that it could not properly record or understand while it was happening.

There is also the risk of doing something the person later regrets, not because it caused physical injury, but because it damaged trust or relationships. Saying something hurtful while confused, behaving strangely in front of family or colleagues, or making a promise or a decision while not thinking clearly can have consequences that last long after the effects have worn off. The brain’s poor judgement in the moment does not excuse the outcome, and it does not undo it. That is one of the reasons people who have used salvia sometimes describe the experience as embarrassing or upsetting even when nothing physically dangerous happened. The loss of control itself is the harm.

Mood, Anxiety and Mental Health

Salvia can have a strong effect on mood, and that effect is often unpleasant. Many people report feeling anxious, frightened or panicked during the experience, especially when the change in perception is sudden and they feel they have lost control of their own mind. The fear is not always tied to something real in the room. It can be a free-floating sense that something is wrong, or that the person will never return to normal, or that their body is no longer theirs. For someone who is already anxious, that feeling can be overwhelming, and it can last longer than the hallucinations themselves.

After the experience, mood can remain unsettled. Some people feel low, flat or emotionally drained. Others feel irritable or restless, or find it hard to sleep that night. Some feel a lingering sense of strangeness, as if the world is not quite solid, or as if they are still slightly detached from themselves. That feeling, sometimes called a sense of unreality, usually fades, but while it is present it can be very distressing, and it can make ordinary life feel unreal in a way that is hard to explain to other people. Anyone who feels that way for more than a day or two, or who feels it getting worse rather than better, should talk to a health professional rather than waiting and hoping it will pass on its own.

For people who already live with a mental health condition, such as anxiety, depression, or a condition that involves hearing or seeing things that are not there, salvia carries extra risk. A powerful hallucinogen can make existing symptoms worse, or can bring on a period of distress that lasts longer than the drug itself. Health guidance is clear that people with such conditions should be especially careful, and that the safest course is to avoid substances that disturb perception and mood in this way. This is not a judgement about the person. It is a recognition that a brain that is already struggling to keep perception and mood steady is more vulnerable to a substance that disrupts both.

There is also a risk that is less talked about but still important: the experience can leave a person with lasting fear or with unwanted memories that return later. A frightening experience under salvia can become something the person thinks about again and again, especially at night or in quiet moments, and that can affect sleep and mood for weeks. This is not the same as a formal diagnosis, and most people do not develop a lasting condition from one use, but the possibility of a bad experience leaving a mark on mood and confidence is real. It is one more reason why the idea that a short experience cannot do lasting harm is misleading. The chemical effects may be short, but the memory of fear can last much longer.

What Happens When Salvia Is Used Again and Again

Salvia is not usually described as addictive in the same way as nicotine or opioids, and most people who use it do not develop the kind of physical dependence that causes severe withdrawal. That does not mean repeated use is safe. A person can still fall into a pattern of using salvia often, of thinking about it a great deal, of spending time and money on it, and of finding it hard to stop even when it is causing problems. That pattern is sometimes called psychological dependence, and it matters because it can take over a person’s time and attention, and can crowd out work, study, relationships and rest.

Repeated use also means repeated disruption of the brain. Each experience pushes perception, thinking and judgement out of their normal state, and the brain has to recover each time. If those experiences happen often, the brain gets less time to settle between them, and the person may start to feel that their thinking is never quite as clear as it used to be. Concentration may feel weaker, memory may feel less reliable, and mood may feel less steady. These changes are hard to measure in a single person, because life has many other influences, but the pattern is consistent with what is known about how the brain responds to repeated chemical disruption: it adapts, and that adaptation is not always in the person’s favour.

Tolerance is another issue. With many substances, the brain becomes less sensitive over time, and the person needs more to get the same effect. With salvia, the evidence on tolerance is limited, but the risk is that a person who wants a stronger experience will use more, or use more often, and that increases the chance of a very strong and frightening experience, and of an accident while impaired. Chasing a stronger effect is a dangerous path with any hallucinogen, because the stronger the disruption, the less control the person has, and the greater the risk of harm.

It is also worth saying plainly that mixing salvia with other substances makes everything worse. Alcohol, cannabis, stimulants and other drugs each affect the brain in their own way, and when they are combined, the effects do not simply add up. They can interact in ways that are hard to predict, making confusion, anxiety, heart strain and the risk of accidents all greater. A person who is already impaired by one substance is less able to judge the effect of another, and the combined impairment can last longer than either substance alone. Health guidance is consistent on this point: mixing substances is one of the clearest ways to turn a risky situation into a dangerous one.

Recovery, Help and What Is Still Unknown

For most people, the main effects of salvia fade within a short time, often well under an hour, and thinking gradually returns to normal over the following hours. Sleep, rest, food and water help, and avoiding driving, work that needs concentration, or important decisions until the fog has fully lifted is sensible. If a person feels anxious or unsettled after use, talking calmly with someone they trust, staying in a safe and familiar place, and avoiding further use can help. These are general steps, not a treatment, and they do not replace professional help if the person feels unwell or frightened.

If someone has a bad reaction, the priority is safety. If they are confused, agitated, or unable to respond normally, they should not be left alone. If they have injured themselves, if they are having trouble breathing, if they have chest pain, or if they seem to be losing consciousness, urgent medical help should be called straight away. It is important to tell the medical staff what was taken, as honestly as possible, because that helps them give the right care. There is no shame in asking for help in that moment. The medical staff have seen these situations before, and their job is to help, not to judge.

The honest truth is that much about salvia is still unknown. Compared with substances that have been studied for decades, salvia has a small research base, and many questions about its long-term effects on the brain have not been answered. That uncertainty should not be used as a reason to assume it is safe. It should be used as a reason to be careful. When a substance strongly disrupts perception, memory, judgement and mood, and when the long-term consequences of repeated disruption have not been fully studied, the sensible conclusion is that the risk is not worth taking, especially when there is no medical benefit to balance it against.

Anyone who is using salvia regularly, or who finds it hard to stop, or who notices that their thinking, memory or mood feels worse since they started, should talk to a health professional or a substance-use support service. Help does not have to mean a formal programme. It can start with a single honest conversation, and from there the person can work out what support fits them. The earlier that conversation happens, the more options there are, and the easier it is to stop the pattern before it causes more harm. That is true for salvia, and it is true for any substance that changes how the brain works.

My Take:

I will start with the thing that worries me most about salvia, which is how fast it takes clear thinking away. Most risks in life give you some warning. You feel tired before you fall asleep at the wheel, you feel ill before you become seriously unwell, you feel the heat before you burn yourself. Salvia does not work like that. One moment a person is thinking normally, and the next moment their sense of the world has broken apart, and they cannot trust their eyes, their ears, or their own thoughts. That sudden loss of control is frightening to think about, and I think it is the core of the danger. It is not only what the substance does, it is how quickly it does it, leaving no time to sit down, to get safe, or to change your mind.

I am also struck by how little control a person has once the experience has started. With many choices in life, you can stop halfway through if you realise you have made a mistake. You can put down a drink, you can walk away from an argument, you can turn back from a path that looks wrong. With salvia, once the effect has begun, you cannot turn it down or switch it off. You have to wait for it to pass while your brain is not working properly, and that waiting can feel very long when you are frightened. That lack of an off switch is something I think people should understand before they ever consider trying it, because it is the difference between a risk you can manage and a risk that manages you.

The memory question is one I keep coming back to, because it is easy to dismiss. People say the effects are short, so the harm must be short too, and that sounds reasonable until you think about what memory actually does. Memory is how we learn from experience, how we keep ourselves safe, and how we hold our lives together from one day to the next. A substance that stops the brain from recording what is happening, even for a short time, is taking away the very tool we use to protect ourselves. A person who cannot remember what they did while impaired cannot learn from it, cannot explain it, and cannot be sure they did not do something dangerous. That gap in memory is not a small side effect. It is a real loss, and it matters even if it only lasts for minutes.

Judgement is the other part I cannot let go of. I have written about many substances, and the pattern is always the same: the substance damages the very ability that is supposed to protect the person from the substance. Salvia does this more dramatically than most, because it does not just lower inhibitions or make a person a little reckless. It can remove the sense of reality altogether, so that danger does not even register as danger. A person who would never walk into traffic when sober might do so without hesitation while their perception is distorted, not because they have become brave, but because their brain can no longer tell them that traffic is dangerous. That is a terrifying thought, and it is why I think the safest place for a person under the influence of salvia is nowhere near any hazard at all, and why being alone in that state is such a bad idea.

I think about mood a lot when I write about salvia, because the experience is so often described as frightening rather than enjoyable. People sometimes go into it expecting something interesting or enlightening, and come out shaken, anxious, or low. That gap between expectation and reality matters, because it means people are taking a risk for a reward that often does not arrive. If the experience were reliably pleasant, the calculation would still be bad, because the risks would still be there, but the fact that it is often unpleasant makes the calculation even worse. You are risking your thinking, your judgement, your mood and your safety for an experience that many people describe as confusing and frightening. That does not seem like a fair trade to me, and I would rather people understood that before they tried it than discovered it afterwards.

The uncertainty about long-term effects is something I want to be honest about, because I do not want to overstate what is known. It would be easy to claim that salvia definitely causes permanent brain damage, and that claim would scare people, but it would not be honest, because the research is not strong enough to support it. At the same time, it would be wrong to say that the absence of proof means there is no risk. The research is thin, the substance is powerful, and the brain is delicate. The honest position is in the middle: we know it disrupts the brain badly in the short term, we do not know enough about the long term, and that combination is a reason for caution, not a reason for confidence. I would rather give you that honest uncertainty than a false certainty in either direction.

I also think about the people around the person who uses salvia, because they are often the ones who have to deal with the consequences. A partner who watches someone become confused and frightened, a parent who finds their child behaving strangely, a friend who has to stay calm while someone else is lost in a hallucination, all of them carry a burden they did not choose. They may not know what is happening, they may not know how to help, and they may be frightened themselves. That is a cost that does not show up in a list of side effects, but it is real, and it is one more reason to think carefully before taking a substance that can change behaviour so suddenly and so completely.

Repeated use is where my concern grows, because a single bad experience can be a warning, but a pattern of use can become a way of life. A person who uses salvia often may start to feel that their thinking is never quite as sharp as it was, that their memory is less reliable, that their mood is less steady. Those changes are hard to notice day by day, which is why they are dangerous. They creep in slowly, and by the time the person notices them, they have already lost something. I think that is the saddest part of the story: not a single dramatic event, but a slow erosion of the very things that make a person feel like themselves. Clear thinking, good memory, steady mood, sound judgement, those are not luxuries. They are the foundations of a good life, and they are worth protecting.

If you are someone who has used salvia and felt frightened, confused, or low afterwards, I want you to know that you are not alone, and that feeling that way does not make you weak or foolish. It makes you a person whose brain was disrupted by a powerful substance, and who is now dealing with the aftermath. Talking to someone you trust, or to a health professional, can help, and it does not have to be a big formal step. It can be a single conversation, in which you say honestly what happened and how you feel. That conversation can be the start of feeling better, and it can also be the start of deciding not to take the risk again. Both of those are good outcomes, and both are worth pursuing.

For parents, I would say this plainly: talk to your children about salvia before someone else offers it to them. You do not need to be an expert, and you do not need to use frightening language. You need to be honest about what it does, how fast it works, how little control a person has once it starts, and how it can affect thinking, memory and judgement. Young people are often curious, and curiosity is not a fault, but curiosity without information is dangerous. A calm, honest conversation at home is far better than a first encounter with the substance itself, because the substance does not explain itself. It simply takes over, and by then it is too late to ask questions.

I want to end by saying something simple, which is that your brain is the most valuable thing you own. It holds your memories, your plans, your relationships, your sense of humour, and your ability to make sense of the world. Everything else in your life depends on it working well. A substance that can switch it off, even for a few minutes, is not a small thing, and it should not be treated as one. There are many ways to relax, to have fun, to explore your mind, and to feel good, and most of them do not involve handing control of your brain to a chemical that you cannot control. I hope you choose one of those ways instead, and I hope you protect the clear thinking that makes everything else in your life possible.

Talking to a doctor about salvia can feel awkward, and I understand why. People worry that they will be judged, or that the conversation will be recorded in a way that follows them, or that the doctor will lecture them. In my experience, that fear is usually worse than the reality. Doctors and health workers hear about substance use every day, and their first concern is health, not blame. A short, honest conversation can give you information that is specific to you, rather than general information from an article, and it can open the door to support that you did not know existed. You do not have to have all the answers before you go. You only have to be willing to say what happened and how you feel, and to listen to what comes back.

If a friend is using salvia, I think the best thing you can do is stay calm, stay nearby, and stay honest. Do not argue with them while they are confused, because they cannot follow an argument in that state, and do not leave them alone in a place where they could hurt themselves. Make the space safe, speak in a steady voice, and wait for the effects to pass. Afterwards, when they are clear-headed, you can talk about what happened and how it made you feel. That conversation matters more than any lecture in the moment, because it is the one they will remember. Friendship is not about approving of every choice. It is about being there when a choice goes wrong, and helping the person find a better path next time.

Curiosity is a normal part of being human, and I do not think curiosity about how the mind works is a fault. The problem is that salvia does not satisfy curiosity in a useful way. It does not give you clear insight into your mind. It gives you confusion, and then it takes the memory of that confusion away, so you cannot even learn from it properly. If you are curious about the mind, there are far better ways to explore it: reading, talking, learning a new skill, spending time in nature, or simply paying attention to how you think and feel in ordinary life. Those ways are slower, but they leave you with something real at the end, which is more than salvia can offer.

Stress is often the reason people reach for a substance, and I think that deserves attention. When life feels heavy, when work is hard, when sleep is poor, when relationships are strained, the idea of escaping for a short time can feel very tempting. Salvia does not solve stress. It adds confusion to stress, and when the confusion fades, the stress is still there, often joined by anxiety, poor sleep, and a feeling of having lost time. A better response to stress is slower and less dramatic, but it works: rest, movement, talking to someone you trust, and dealing with one small problem at a time. Those steps do not feel as dramatic as a powerful experience, but they build a life that feels better day by day, rather than a life that needs escaping from.

Sleep is one of the first things to suffer when the brain is disrupted, and it is one of the most important things to protect. A brain that has not slept well cannot think clearly, cannot remember well, and cannot judge risk properly, even without any substance involved. If you have used salvia and your sleep feels disturbed, give yourself time to rest, keep a regular sleep pattern, and avoid further disruption until you feel settled. If sleep problems continue, or if anxiety or low mood continue alongside them, talk to a health professional. Sleep, mood and thinking are connected, and when one improves, the others often improve too. That connection is a reason for hope, because it means that small, steady improvements can add up to a real change.

I want to finish this part by returning to the value of a clear mind, because it is easy to take for granted until it is gone. A clear mind lets you enjoy a conversation, remember a good day, learn something new, make a plan and keep it, and be present for the people you love. Those are not small things. They are the things that make a life feel like your own. Salvia takes that clarity away, even if only for a short time, and it does so without giving anything lasting in return. Protecting your clarity is not boring, and it is not a sign that you are afraid of life. It is a sign that you understand what matters, and that you are choosing to keep the very thing that lets you enjoy everything else.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Salvia change the way you think?

Yes. Salvia can change thinking sharply while it is active, making attention, reasoning and language difficult, and it can leave thinking feeling foggy for some time afterwards. The change comes from its effect on brain systems that handle perception and awareness, and it usually fades as the substance wears off, though the unsettled feeling can linger for hours.

Can Salvia affect memory and learning?

Yes. Salvia can make it hard to form clear memories during the experience, and short-term memory can feel weak in the hours afterwards. Long-term memories are not usually erased, but the brain’s access to them can be blocked while it is disrupted. There is limited evidence about lasting memory harm from repeated use, so the long-term risk is still unclear and should not be dismissed.

Why does Salvia make it hard to focus?

Salvia disrupts the brain areas that hold attention and follow a thought through to its end. A person may lose the thread of a sentence, forget why they stood up, or be unable to hold a question in mind long enough to answer it. Focus usually returns as the effects fade, but it can feel slow and foggy for a while afterwards, especially if the person is tired or has mixed substances.

Does Salvia damage the brain permanently?

There is no strong proof that a single use of salvia causes permanent brain damage, and it would be wrong to claim that as a fact. What is known is that it disrupts the brain powerfully in the short term, and that research on long-term effects is limited. Repeated use that keeps disrupting thinking, memory and mood is a real concern, and the lack of long-term evidence is a reason for caution, not a guarantee of safety.

How long do Salvia brain effects last?

The strongest effects are usually short, often fading within an hour, but thinking can feel foggy or unsettled for longer, sometimes for the rest of the day. How long the after-effects last depends on the amount used, the person’s health and tiredness, and whether other substances were also used. Anyone who still feels confused, anxious or detached after a day or two should talk to a health professional.

Does Salvia change judgement and decisions?

Yes, and this is one of its main dangers. Salvia weakens the brain’s ability to recognise danger and weigh risk, so a person may do things while impaired that they would never do when clear-headed, such as walking near traffic, climbing, or handling something hot. Judgement can also be poor afterwards, for example deciding to drive too soon or to use again quickly. A sober person nearby and a safe setting reduce the risk, but they do not remove it.

Sources

This article is general information only. It is not individual medical advice. If you are worried about your health, talk to a qualified health professional.