Here's a piece of unsolicited mail that was sent to Acupuncture.com. Although the author did not include his or her name, their e-mail address is included should you want to contact them.

I am a party in the New York vs Ma Huang ordeal & would like to mention that the New York dept. of health has gone after several Ma Huang manufacturers based on advertising seen in High Times Magazine.

Although I cannot speak for all companies involved, I am familiar with the formula for X Tablets, Rave Energy & Legal Weed.

X Tablets & Rave Energy contain less than 25mg. of ephedrine per dose, well below the amount found in most herbal products sold in health food stores/ supermarkets. In fact the FDA's own view is that products below 30mg. ephedrine are safe. Legal weed is actually refers to naturally grown ma huang herb, just like what is being sold everywhere. It contains roughly 1.25% ephedrine alkaloids.

Although Riverdale Organics aka Hit Products Inc. -makers of X Tablets, Rave Energy & Legal Weed. and Global Media -makers of herbal xtc, appeared in court to refute the NY Dept. of Health's claims, the summary ban of ephedra remained in place.

As it stands, any company could make a lethal concoction of ephedrine & sell it legally in NY. The ban was simply a political action against several outspoken companies involved with marketing herbal products as alternatives to illegal drugs.

Ma Huang when consumed in moderation has been proven safe in study after study. Only when consumed in excess can Ma Huang/Ephedra become a problem. If the FDA would get their act together & take a position on the safe level of Ephedrine alkaloids in products, the health of everyone would be protected. Their own ad hoc working group has come up with guidelines (30mg./dose) but the FDA has so far ignored them.

That's the scoop, you should post this, in the next few years, more people will probably die from taking 100mg.+ ephedrine doses but if you attach a controversial name to a product with .0000001 mg. ephedrine, the state of NY will protect ya.

How much money have they spent protecting us from nothing?