What is Salvia?
Salvia divinorum is a soft-leaved green plant, native to Southern Mexico that contains a powerful psychoactive compound known as Salvinorin A. In Mexico, Salvia has been used traditionally for healing and divination and became available in the underground psychedelic culture around the world as from the beginning of the 1990's. There are quite many species and varieties within the genus Salvia and plants commonly found in garden stores are almost certainly not Salvia divinorum unless specifically labelled as such.
Attaining strong effects after smoking dried leaves could be difficult, but extracts and potency-bred leaves can cause dramatic, sometimes frightening, and completely enfolding entheogenic states of mind. Therefore, many people who try Salvia divinorum do not find the effects pleasant at all and choose not to repeat the experience.