Topeka ? Kansas is now one of nine states in the country that have criminalized the illicit use of salvia divinorum, a hallucinogenic herb.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has signed legislation banning the possession, use or sale of the drug, which has long been legal in the U.S. and used in shamanistic rituals in southern Mexico.

Almost 20 other states are considering making the drug illegal as well.

Landscapers often use the broad leaf for ground cover. Smoking or chewing a concentrated extract of the plant produces hallucinations, a perception of overlapping realities, dizziness and impaired speech, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

It was mentioned as playing a part in the suicide of a Delaware teenager in 2006, which brought it to the notice of officials in many states.

Tom Stanton, president of the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association, said he became interested after hearing about the Delaware suicide and seeing videos on the Internet of teenagers under the drug’s influence.

Stanton said he didn’t have any statistics to show how widespread the drug’s use is, but he said the Internet videos were enough for him to determine its use needed to be controlled.

Jon Sloan, owner of Persephone’s Journey in Lawrence, disagreed, saying the bad behavior of a few teens on the Internet should not lead to the substance’s criminalization.

Sloan’s store sells salvia, and he said it could prove to have medicinal benefits.

Thomas Prisinzano, a medicinal chemistry professor at Kansas University, has participated in studies of salvinorum A, the psychoactive substance found in salvia. He has said salvia could be used to treat pain and possibly depression and Alzheimer’s disease.

Stanton, however, said few comprehensive studies have been conducted to determine salvia’s long- and short-term effect on the brain and the state shouldn’t take any risks.