A few minutes ago, I smoked a pipe of Salvia divinorum, a powerful hallucinogenic herb that I bought openly and legally from a shop near my home. Of the £25 I handed over, more than £4 will find its way into government coffers in the form of sales tax. And salvia was just one of dozens of powerful but entirely legal psychoactive substances that I could have chosen.
All of that was far from my mind, though, as the salvia took me on a consciousness- expanding journey unlike any I have ever experienced. My body felt disconnected from me, and objects and people looked cartoonish, surreal and marvellous. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. The visions vanished and I was back