Kids and their cameras ruin it for everybody

There is a new recreational drug making headlines and sparking concerns for our youth.

It's called salvia divinorum, or salvia, and the psychoactive herb has been used for centuries by the Mazatec Indians to treat ailments from headaches to burns. But judging from these Youtube videos that began popping up at the end of last year, it is now being used by American teenagers to get goofy.

The catch is saliva is legal as of today. Because of the videos it will soon not be.

Contrast that to MDMA (ecstasy), which became the completely legal drug of choice for well-heeled Dallas yuppies during the Texas oil boom of the early eighties. Not only was the ecstasy sold openly in North Dallas bars, but dealers advertised 800 numbers.

This all ended in 1985 when popular national talk show host Phil Donahue dedicated a show to the phenomenon. Not soon after, the DEA classified MDMA as a schedule one drug like LSD or heroin.

Which should act as lesson for the kids. Remember, we are all Phil Donahue now, and all the glib little video reports on this fun new legal high only mean the next kid who wants to enjoy uncontrollable laughter and an intense connection to nature will have to do so in violation of the law.