Casselmana, Ivan & Michael Heinrich. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. – Download full text

The traditional use of the Hallucinogenic sage, Salvia divinorum has been of ethnopharmalogical interest for some time. This plant, endemic to Oaxaca Mexico and traditionally used by the Mazatec, is now utilized worldwide for its psychoactive effects. This use demonstrates a novel use pattern which is distinctly different from Mazatec use. This study offers a new methodology to study emerging global plant use and assesses the users experience with it. The aim of this research was to develop a new methodology to collect and analyze archived data on the World Wide Web, specifically videos which depict Salvia.Since the early 199’s the use of Salvia divinorum, a psychoactive sage, has been adopted outside of Oaxaca, Mexico where it is endemic. This novel use pattern, distinctly different from the traditional Mexican use, has strong links with the World Wide Web and User Generated Content web sites. Ethnographic data from YouTube was collected and analyzed to better understand the novel, ethnopharmacological use of this plant.