A bill that would ban the sale of the hallucinogenic drug salvia divinorum passed out of an Assembly committee Wednesday.
Assembly Bill 477 stops the manufacturing, distributing or delivering"" the active chemical in the drug, which is currently legal in the state.
The penalty is a $10,000 fine, though there is no crime for possession in the bill and the charges would not be considered a misdemeanor.
""Too many young people have been lulled into experimenting with this drug because it can be legally sold in stores and over the Internet,"" said bill author state Rep. Sheldon Wasserman, D-Milwaukee, in a statement.
State Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, chair of the committee that passed the bill, said it was likely to pass in the full Assembly. The bill passed in the Criminal Justice Committee 10-0.
Kleefisch said laws have not been passed against the drug before now because it is still relatively obscure, though use is increasing in some parts of the state.
