When it comes to forbidden herbal remedies, you might immediately think of cannabis or other such mind-altering substances. However, there are many plants that are prohibited due to their intoxicating effects, but also their invasive growing habits.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) lists as many as 112 species that it classifies as ‘noxious weeds.’ It is illegal to cultivate these plants as they can seriously damage our local ecosystems. This situation is unfortunate since many of them have powerful medicinal uses.
In this article, we discuss the potential benefits of five plants that are banned for various reasons. But should these forbidden remedies be legal?
Mormon Tea
Ephedra Viridis, more commonly known as Mormon tea or joint fir, is the first plant on our list. It also has the most confusing legal status.
Traditionally, native tribes used Mormon tea as a natural remedy for a variety of issues, including backache, colds, weight loss, energy boost, and kidney problems. It can also lower blood pressure, which may be the result of certain antioxidants found in this tea. Some tribes also used it as a general tonic and blood purifier. Nowadays, the herb is better known as a decongestant.
This species is native to the south-western desert regions of the USA and its green, upright branches stand out against the barren landscape. It is these branches which may be brewed into the beverage known as Mormon tea.
This plant is a close relative of Chinese ephedra, which contains active compounds called alkaloids. They have a stimulant effect and were, at one point, a common ingredient in diet pills and performance enhancers.
However, in 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the sale of products containing ephedra alkaloids. They stated that the supplements “present an unreasonable risk of illness or injury.” However, the plant itself is not prohibited and still grows freely throughout its natural habitat.
How To Make Mormon Tea
Ingredients
- 10 grams of dried leaves
- 2 cups of water
- sugar or honey (optional)
Instructions
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Bring the water to a boil and then add the tea leaves.
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Allow the mixture to steep for 10 minutes.
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Remove from heat and allow the tea to cool for 2-3 minutes.
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Strain the mixture into teacups, add sugar or honey if necessary, and enjoy!
Kratom
Kratom has received a lot of press in recent years. It comes from a tropical tree known as Mitragyna speciosa and is often sold in powder form. While not technically illegal, this substance is frequently abused and is certainly one to watch.
It contains compounds called mitragynine and 7-a-hydroxy mitragynine, which influence the body in a similar way to opioids. Mitragynine also interacts with other biological systems to act as a stimulant.
In low doses, kratom can increase energy levels and alertness. In higher doses, it may relieve pain and produce sedation. Worryingly, while some people enjoy these effects, kratom may also pose some serious dangers to health.
Its side effects include nausea, sweating, hallucinations, and seizures. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has also linked several deaths to kratom use. However, in most cases, it was used alongside other dangerous drugs. Find in this article how to identify and use kratom (with pictures)
Creeping Buttercup
Buttercups are a common plant and there are many different species. Their yellow flowers are a frequent and much-loved sight throughout the summer months. However, the creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) may not be as innocent as it seems.
This particular species is highly invasive and may be harmful too. It contains a toxin called protoanemonin, although the levels of this compound vary in different plants. There have been reports of livestock dying after eating creeping buttercups. Other ill-effects include excessive salivation and diarrhea.
However, this plant may also have useful antibacterial effects. Research has shown that it may help to combat several species, including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella typhi, among others.
The vast majority of illegal plants have received their status with good reason. It could be that they are potentially harmful to human health or the environment. However, some of these plants do possess very real benefits, should they be given the chance.
If you do decide to harvest and consume any of these plants, just be sure that you are 100% confident in your identification. We also recommend that you speak to a qualified herbalist prior to use to ensure that these remedies are suitable for you.
Related: You Pass by This Plant Everyday Without Knowing How to Use It When SHTF
Dodder
Another potentially useful plant with ‘noxious weed’ status is the dodder of the genus Cuscuta. This plant is highly unusual in that it does not possess roots or leaves. Instead, it acts as a parasite, relying on its host to provide it with nutrients. Although it rarely kills its host plant, dodder can reduce the yield of crops such as alfalfa. Therefore, this strange species is prohibited in a number of states.
Even so, dodder could have some benefits for human health. Its seeds are a popular ingredient in Chinese medicine, which uses it to nourish the liver, kidneys, and spleen. Modern research has found that dodder could have anti-hypertensive properties, reducing both blood pressure and heart rate.
Saint John’s Wort
St. John’s wort is a common herb that many people may be surprised to find in our list of forbidden remedies. Its Latin name is Hypericum perforatum and it is a small, shrubby plant with yellow flowers.
It is one of the most famous herbal remedies for depression, with several studies backing up its use. However, experts have urged caution when using St. John’s wort as it can interact with many other medications. It is also possible to use the herb as a topical preparation to aid wound healing. Other uses include sunburn, nerve trauma, sore muscles, bruising, burns, and varicose veins.
The plant is thought to originate from Greece and since its introduction to U.S. soil, it has become highly invasive. It has an aggressive root system and is known to crowd out more delicate local species. For this reason, it is classified as a noxious weed in several different states.
Oil can be made from St. John’s wort as applying St. John’s wort directly to the skin is risky. It can cause severe sensitivity to sunlight.
Ingredients
- St. John’s Wort fresh flowers and leaves (not dried)
- Olive Oil (Extra Virgin)
Directions
The flowers are traditionally picked on June 24, on the Feast of St. John. Typically this is the time of year they are the most common. Pick the flower buds that are just about to open, or simply snip the flowers, buds and top few leaves from each plant and place them loosely in a canning jar. (Be certain there is no plant matter above the level of the oil or it will spoil) and tighten the lid.
Now put the jar in the sun for 4-6 weeks. As often as possible, shake the jar to get everything mixed properly. After 4-6 weeks strain the oil and store it in your medicine closet.
Take the tincture for a prolonged period as needed to cure chronic conditions.
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I like your emails. But I’m disappointed in my order of Lost Book. I received it but did not receive the other 2 books that was suppose to come with the book. Please advise me when I will get the 2 books as promised. Thanks Doug Cox
I believe I was told that the other books are online, not physical books
Well Doug, I hate to sound like Broken record but I also ordered The Lost Ways and never received the 2 free books. Being so disappointed in the book due to finding it to be 60% American history for filler info., I just wrote it off as a bad deal!
Hi Lloyd,
Thank you so much for purchasing The Lost Ways.
I have just sent you an email with your order details. If there is anything else I can help with, please let me know.
God bless,
Claude
Hi Doug, I’m not associated with this site but I also purchased the Lost Book. What I found out was the other two “books” or “reports” as they are often called are digital items to be downloaded and/or printed for a physical copy. Have a grand day.. CHEERS
Im going to grow a medicinal garden this year.Where do i go to find out what is illegal to grow in ohio?
Kim: New laws went into effect in 2018. I would get a hold of the country ag rep and ask. He or she is your best one. they have to stay up on what’s legal and what’s not. I have family there, and one brother said doctors told him they’re trying to get people who need cannabis a license to raise it. Other things: https://www.mipn.org/plantlist/ niio
Thanks red appreciate the information.
Interesting thing about St John’s wort… I have heard that it counteracts birth control.
I had the same problem, the books I was missing, I was able to download on the computer instead.
I guess you guys did not read what is mailed and what you download I have all three of the books that are mailed out and several of the pdf books. I just do not understand the people that complain when it is there in black and white.
Hi Doug,
Thank you so much for purchasing The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies.
I have just sent you an email with all your order details. If there’s anything else I can help with, please let me know.
God bless,
Claude
I do not like ephedra/Mormon tea. It messes with the body’s ability to control heat and cold. For asthmatics, it’s a good herb, but again, there are side issues for me. But, it’s called woman’s plant. Men prefer chia and tobacco. And, you should add tobacco to soon-to-be outlawed herbs. Hitler claimed it causes cancer, so the US does, without proof. Only the UK and MX make this claim. It’s been used for centuries as a calmative, antimicrobial, and symbol of peace. Anything you inhale, you inhale at your own risk. niio
Ephedra antisyphilitica is a beautiful plant, it contains the stimulant ephedrin which is a major precursor in the manufacture of Meth. The 19th century Mormons, forbidden by scripture to drink coffee, drank Ephedra tea instead, because everybody needs a wake up. The early Mormon practice of Polygamy offended other Americans and they spread the falsehood that syphilis was rampant among the Believers and that they drank Ephedra (Mormon Tea) to cure it. Thus, antisyphilitica became a species name for the plant.
Interesting that you say it interferes with the control of heat and cold. My Primary Care Physician is a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and one of the main wellness practices in TCM is manipulating hot and cold in the body through herbs (Ma Huang is a much used herbal prep of Chinese Ephedra) and acupuncture. But I have not heard of managing heat in the body being part of Southwestern Traditional Medicine, although it gives sense to the Sweat Lodge tradition.
The Choctaw Nation has a very active anti smoking campaign in Eastern Oklahoma based on the idea of restoring tobacco to ts traditional role as sacrament. I begin to get the idea that the European usurpation of tobacco for use as a narcotic did a great deal of harm to the American indigenes. You have motivated me to try it next time I have bronchitis, hopefully not for a long time.
Trying to love two women is a ball and chain, but ephedra helps. 🙂 But, it can (does in me) make it harder for the body to control cooling/heating. Use with caution. Test to make certain it’s not going to cause other problems, like death. We never used it in a sweat. Every Healer I know says the same, use with caution. It’s a very powerful herb with side effects.
Bronchitis is not an allergy. Cloves (smoked) kill it. Bronchial asthma, I use medicated scotch snuff. It’s ground snuff with camphor and oil of peppermint added. A small pinch in each nostril opened air passages, forced drainage to the front sinuses and not the back, where they get inhaled, cause the throat to swell shut, and can kill. This is the only med 100% successful against allergic asthma attacks. And, of course, the neolibs outlawed the sale of it. but, this is why clove cigarettes and menthol were developed by doctors, to stop attacks.
The People of the Bear, Chocs, are right. But, if tobacco were as deadly as Euros claim, why are there only 3 nations against smoking it? I switched from white paper to natural and lost most of the asthma associated with smoking. Switch from paper to hem and now am no longer getting asthma attacks. coming home to Arizona helped, as well, but Trump would like to see bleached paper outlawed for health reasons. Why aren’t the dems demanding it? Hitler hated tobacco smoke, a sign of a demoniac according to Native Americans, and dems always grab ankle for Hitler. peace.
I agree red. I was taking a weight loss supplement back in the 90s with ma wong in it. That has ephedra. Damn near got heat stroke one day working in the barn during spring/summer in FL. Combination of lack of water, temp regulation issues like you said. A friend told me it works by drawing out excess water. Don’t know if that’s true but after that close brush I never took it again.
That’s easy to answer, Red. Most countries tax tobacco very heavily. One of the reasons why American cigarettes were always such a hot black market item in every country where GIs were located is that the cigarettes from the PX were so incredibly cheaper that they could be sold at significant mark-ups and still be cheaper than the various inferior native cigarettes.
As with drugs, making tobacco products extremely expensive vis prohibitive taxes is a losing proposition. It leads to smuggling. As far back as when I was in high school, a long, long time ago, I used to smuggle cigarettes from Delaware (home of good ole’ Two-Shot Joe) to PA because I could buy cigarettes very cheaply in Delaware and mark them up enough to make buying and selling cartons of cigarettes a profitable pocket money sideline.
I went to high school in Delaware and lived in PA so made daily trips to Delaware and back.
Back when I was on the board of directors of the local lung association and they were going bananas over a huge tax increase on tobacco products in the PDRK, I warned them that it would only increase tobacco smuggling in the PDRK.
The busybodies who want to ban smoking will crow that smoking is reduced in the PDRK based on cigarette tax revenues which are down markedly. Wrong, Cricket. It doesn’t mean smoking is down, it just means cigarette BUYING in the PDRK is down. Check the cigarette tax revenues in adjacent states, especially where the price of cigarettes is significantly reduced such as in Indian(native American Indians, not the other kind) tobacco shops where they don’t collect all the taxes that otherwise are attached to tobacco products.
I don’t know how many people trek to Reno and Vegas every weekend but I wouldn’t think six figures would be an exaggeration. With 100,000 people coming back form Nevada which has Indian tobacco stores conveniently located in various locales in both cities, how many cartons — no, how many cases of cigarettes do you suppose cross the border every weekend?
I suspect that even cops, if they smoke, bring back at least cartons of cigarettes with every Nevada trip. It’s legal if you pay the PDRK tax on them. Ha Ha Ha Ha. That happens so infrequently that I would suspect the various franchise tax offices wouldn’t know what to do if you popped in and said, “I brought back two cartons of cigarettes from Nevada and I want to pay the tax on them.”
Other governments aren’t bound by the tortured thinking that American pols are. I think many of them are more realistic. For a poor third world country, the tobacco tax is a major source of income. Without it the leaders wouldn’t have as much money available to steal.
With all the lawsuits against the tobacco companies for misleading the apparently brain dead Americans into thinking that smoking was good for you. I always wondered when someone was going to file again the U.S. ggoobermint for supplying free cigarettes to U.S. servicemen in the C-rations and addicting them to that horrible weed, tobacco. When I was a kid, again, long, long ago, we called them “coffin nails”. Gee, I wonder why we did that? Certainly not because we thought they were good for us.
LCC: Yes, but, if smoking were all that bad–and there are some ugly things in it–why is smoking still popular in most nations? Any totalitarian regime would have banned tobacco, not increased production. A friend from Beleriorussia works on a tobacco commune. They raised 2 crops a year and covered I forget how many square kilometers, and it was increased shortly before the USSR went down. Russian tobacco is rough, closer to wild than what Euros and Americans demand.
I do know one thing, dems hate tobacco because Nazis fought it.
Good one, running to Delaware for smokes for the PA black market. 🙂 niio
If they were just digital then why did I have to pay for shipping on them?
“in 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the sale of products containing ephedra alkaloids. They stated that the supplements “present an unreasonable risk of illness or injury.””
And they’re right. Be very, very careful with Mormon tea. It MAY lower blood pressure with long-term use. In the short term the alkaloids it contains cause a rapid RISE in blood pressure that can lead to a stroke or heart attack.
Claude: when using it when driving truck, I had a problem adjusting to heat and cold, something that under normal circumstances isn’t a problem, showed that I already had a heart problem. Anyone at-risk for problems should avoid all plants in the ephedra family, even pulling it from the garden.In Arizona, it’s a common flower garden plant and if you don’t mind, I’ll post this on living in Arizona. niio!
HI DOUG , I PURCHASED 4 BOOKS FROM YOU AND ASKED FOR THE HARD COVER FOR ALL, I ONLY RECEIVED 2 OF THE BOOKS, STILL WAITING FOR THE OTHER 2 , ITS BEEN A LONG TIME. PLEASE HELP !