Ive heard that Salvia divinorum is not orally active; is this true?
Some authors have said that Salvia divinorum is not at all active when swallowed, but this appears to be a misunderstanding. One traditional Mazatec use of S. divinorum involves swallowing a liquid infusion / tea which causes strong effects lasting several hours. Daniel Siebert attributes the low activity of oral preparations to inactivation of salvinorin A in the stomach (Siebert 1994), but he has not proposed a mechanism for this inactivation. Leander Valds postulates a possible mechanism for inactivation (if it occurs) as “I can theorize a possible deactivation mechanism–acid catalyzed hydrolysis of the acetate in the stomach, converting salvinorin A to salvinorin B plus acetic acid (and possibly base catalyzed hydrolysis in the intestines). But taking an infusion of leaves can give a pretty strong experience which can last several hours (up to 4-6 or so).” Recently research shows that the major metabolite of salvinorin A is salvinorin B, and it has been suggested that metabolism i
