Salvia divinorum has the active substance salvinorin A. It is the most potent natural psychoactive substance, second only to LSD. The semi-synthetic compound of the active substance of this sage, Salvinorin B ethoxymethyl ether, is the most potent psychoactive substance discovered to date in the world, with several times higher affinity than LSD.
The uniqueness of salvinorin A from a chemical point of view is that it does not have any nitrogen atom.
Salvia divinorum has mainly dissociative but also atypical psychedelic properties.
Pharmacology
It acts on a non-addictive type of opioid receptor, on κ (kappa) opioid receptors and also on dopamine receptors (specifically D2). It does not act on serotonin or NMDA receptors, which makes this substance exceptional. No other better-known and safe dissociative substance with similar pharmacology is known.
Menthol, the active ingredient in peppermint, also acts on κ opioid receptors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappa-opioid_receptor
(among the psychedelic substances acting on serotonin receptors, only LSD, in addition to increasing serotonin receptor activity, also increases dopamine receptor activity. As with salvinorin A, it is assumed that these dopamine receptors are also involved in the psychoactive properties of both substances)
Health
It has no health risks, there is no addiction to it, psychiatrists have never had to treat a person addicted to sage. This is confirmed by information from the largest organization dealing with scientific research on drug addiction, which also has the task of informing the public, the National Institute of Drug Abuse http://www.drugabuse.gov
From a legal point of view , salvinorin A is one of the few psychoactive substances (the only better-known and better scientifically researched substance) that is not banned in the USA, where the toughest anti-drug laws in the world apply. There is a harsh dictatorship in this area.
(Recreational use of a psychoactive substance that is less known and has been little scientifically researched can be dangerous, because all its effects (e.g. which receptors it affects) and the recommended dose may not be known).
In the US, laws are formulated in such a way that all derivatives and compounds of a given substance are declared prohibited, even though not all derivatives are psychoactive, meaning that derivatives that are not psychoactive are also prohibited. This is, of course, quite comical and amusing, how much American legislators "honestly" and fanatically fight for the persecution of citizens for possessing non-addictive psychoactive substances. In other states, only individual substances that are illegal are listed. In Slovakia, there are still quite a few relatively well-known psychoactive substances that are not prohibited.
Other substances that are not banned in this way are barely discovered, they do not even have time to be properly examined, but the US government very flexibly and quickly puts them on the list of banned substances. Even scientists are not clear about what this newly discovered psychoactive substance is, but the United States government is very clear about it.
List of prohibited substances in Slovakia
http://www.zakonypreludi.sk/zz/1998-139#f5585372
CR https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2013-463#prilohy
As for the promotion of psychoactive substances, according to the laws of the Slovak Republic, only the promotion and inducement of an addictive substance is punishable.
Drug precursors are also banned in the EU – these are also specifically listed substances (this was a uniformly proposed EU legislation). Of the non-addictive substances, only LSD precursors are banned. In the USA, all possible precursors are banned, including substances that are only indirectly involved in the production of psychoactive substances. According to Slovak law, the penalty for a precursor is the same as for a psychotropic substance, but in court, I think it is also necessary to prove that the person in question intended to use the substance to produce a psychotropic substance, which may not be so easy.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/SK/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32004R0273
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/SK/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32004R0273&from=SK