Agree. Has the Government not learned anything from the "War on Drugs"? They plan on banning this come Sep 30th. So, after Sep 30th, if you are caught with this leaf, you will be arrested and charged with possession of a schedule 1 drug. Same as Heroin. Where are we living?
The DEA claimed the reasoning was based on 15 deaths in the past few years. However, they provided no documented evidence showing this. The Non-Profit that advocates for this herb hired someone to look into this and they discovered those 15 deaths had other drugs in the body (other known actual opioids) which were mixed with this herb. They also reported 600 calls to poison control in the past year. Let's remember that is out of millions upon millions. People call poison control more for laxatives or soap pods.
I think it's just sad to see this type of government control. Veterans, students, mothers, grandparents, and good people are going to be prosecuted for carrying an herb they make tea with. Where will people go who actually use this for pain due to legitimate reasons? They will go back to prescription drugs that cause terrible addiction...leading to heroin...and living a life feeling trapped.
That's my rant for the day. You should look up the issue more. There are a ton of articles, petitions, non-profit org, and supporters out there on the web telling the stories. All this will due is lead people back into street drugs or to their doctors for something.