George:

Criminalizing the use of plants is one of our society's desperate attempts to control the behavior of "other people"... We may have some faith in the goodwill and good sense of many of the individuals we happen to know - even those who may have addiction problems with alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs. But, we worry about those "other people" we don't know and tolerate repressive, police-state measures to have the illusion of keeping the uncontrollable in check. Of course, the cure seems worse than the disease, but we just don't seem to be brave enough to change something like this.

Bill Davis (electronic mail, January 16, 2001).