Fox News and other agencies are reporting that sales of the drug have tripled in some U.S. states such as California, where people are specifically asking for "the stuff Miley was smoking."

But Vancouver Seed Bank owner Rebecca Ambrose says Salvia has long had a following of perhaps a few hundred people locally.

"People come in fairly steadily asking about it and the effects from it, but we haven't seen a big influx," Ambrose said. The East Hastings shop sells live cuttings and a concentrated form. "We sell out of it quite regularly."

"A wide range of people are interested in its psychedelic effects and don't want to be out of it for a long time," she said. "It's not like mushrooms or LSD where you are in for an eight-hour journey."

"In its extract form Salvia causes an intense hallucinogenic effect for about 15 minutes," she said.

The drug is widely available on the Internet in both Canada and the United States as a dried leaf, a tobacco-like form fortified to enhance its potency, an alcohol-based tincture and a nearly pure crystalline form, used mainly for research purposes.

The leaves of the plant have been used for centuries by Mazatec Indians in Oaxaca, Mexico, mainly by shamans seeking to induce visions.

A powerful hallucinogen in its concentrated form, the plant and its derivatives are completely legal in Canada, according to the RCMP. Fifteen U.S. states have banned it.

Cyrus was videotaped smoking the herb from a glass pipe known as a bong on her 18th birthday. She soon begins to laugh hysterically and is heard to say "Omigod, I'm having a bit of a bad trip."

Cyrus remains badly disoriented for the duration of the five-minute video.

"I always recommend that people do it with someone who won't be smoking it so you have someone there to make you feel secure," said Ambrose. "You do for 15 minutes lose all sense of time and space."