Brett's law

Brett Chidester was a seemingly promising but somewhat depressed American teenager who took his own life on 23rd January 2006. His death has been controversially linked to his prior experimentation with the vision inducing herb Salvia divinorum.

His suicide led to Senator Karen Peterson sponsoring Senate Bill 259 (aka "Brett’s Law"), state legislation classifying Salvia divinorum as a Schedule I controlled substance in Delaware.

It is difficult to determine how much Salvia divinorum really contributed to his death. In any case, other US states, including Tennessee (HB2909/SB3247), Oklahoma (HB2485), Alaska (SB 313), and New Jersey (S1867)[1] are following suit with proposals for their own individual legislations.

Some details of the case:

• Brett Chidester died of carbon monoxide poisoning. It has not been reported that he was immediately under the influence of Salvia divinorum at the time of his death.
• Contrary to some news reports, Brett’s suicide note did not mention Salvia. Brett had written earlier diary / journal entries about his experiences. - Some media stories have presented these as if they were written just prior to his death. In his earlier writings he wrote that Salvia made him realize "our existence here on earth is pointless". Further context is lacking however as his journals have not been fully published.[2]
• Brett's parents have conceded that he may have been suffering from depression. [3] [4]
• Brett also suffered from acne, which has a general association with depression. Acne causes depression??? Interesting, since when? Please site your sources.
• Brett had told his parents that he was no longer using Salvia divinorum (though they did not believe him).
• Brett’s parents divorced when he was three. Would that cause someone to commit suicide?
• Suicide is currently the third leading cause of death amongst 15-24 year olds in the US.
• The suicide rate for white males aged 15-24 has tripled since 1950 (source: National Center for Health Statistics, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)
• Brett was drug tested monthly (ask his employer). His drug tests were negative. He had never done any type of drugs previously. He had experimented several times with pot, but his "drug" of choice was Czech bought Absinthe.
  • Over three months after Brett's suicide, with no evidence of any trace of salvinorin being found in Brett's system, Delaware’s deputy chief medical examiner, Dr. Adrienne Sekula-Perlman, altered Brett's death certificate and added Salvia divinorum use as a contributing cause of his death. – She has subsequently refused to comment of her decision. [5]
• There have been no other reported cases of Salvia related suicides anywhere else in the world.