Since I was little girl many times I found myself standing outside the law. Not that I have a special homing device that takes me there. Often it is the only sane place to stand.
A recent event reminded me that even when I'm inside the law, the law can push me me out of its margins. In our Holy Scrap store we sell a plant extract called Mormon Tea. We wild harvest it and make an alcohol extract. It is legal. The same plant genus produces an Asian variety that is not legal. In spite of the fact that the variety that we sell is legit, Google, Ebay and Etsy have banned our product because the family name is the same.
Folks who use this medicine for asthma, weight loss, and as a stimulant can not find it or us. Parents who have successful taken their kids off of Ritalin by replacing it with this far safer plant extract, search but can not find it.
Sigh.
20130202
Outlaw Again - Legal Herb Banned by Web Merchandisers
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
When I Google mormon tea it seems to still be available in places like ebid. Why don't you write a series of articles on mormon tea - what it is, differences between it and the bad stuff, how to harvest it, how to use it, how to make it, etc. with mormon tea as your keyword plus other key words sprinkled throughout each article.
Each article should contain a link to your store and links to the other articles on mormon tea. It shouldn't take more than a few weeks for Google to highly rank your articles if they're informative and at least 500+ words. Once the articles are appearing on the first page of Search Engine Results, you should get a lot of visits from people interested in mormon tea. It will also help to include photos in each article, probably at least two to four photos, of what the plants look like, what the dry leaves look like, processing photos, photos of the bottles you sell, etc, the labels, etc.
Seems like it is more lucrative for people to buy direct from you anyway instead of having to pay ebay fees.
You might also consider making your articles on mormon tea into an eBook which you can sell on Amazon. Include the photos in the ebook and a link to your store.
Good points about organically growing traffic through traditional SEO methods and possible ebook.
C'mon Mikey, you're extracting ephedra along with other stuff. That falls directly in line with the ban on ephedra containing supplements that the FDA successfully defended back in 2007. Sure, Mormon Tea is legal and Ma Huang isn't since Mormon Tea is a weed that grows all over the place in the Southwest, but when you start extracting the weed, you get into banned territory.
I personally don't consider someone extracting the weed to provide a natural drug to informed people a problem. But when big companies like Metabolife do it and start advertising it all over the place, it really does present a problem. Especially when professional atheletes (not the smartest people in the world) overdo it and die from heatstroke; making the prime time news and stirring up the entire industry.
So, keep a low profile or risk a visit from the authorities.
Dave,
Selling the raw plant is also banned by google merchant / ebay / etsy under the name of Mormon Tea (no extraction) just dried plant. How do you feel about that scenario?
Actually, I firmly believe anything should be available over the counter and let natural selection take its course. The dumb will overdose, hopefully before they can reproduce.
However, the dried stuff is not as potent as the extract, but it is easier to do an extraction since it is almost there.
Nevertheless, the ban on ephedra bearing materials extends to all forms except the live plant. So, it's not my opinion that matters, it's whether or not one can stay under the radar of the enforcement agencies.
Heck, if cannabis was legal, I'd probably put the entire acreage under cultivation. Instead, I have to make do with my cool looking San Pedro cacti and Mormon Tea plants.
No, I never, ever extract the essential oils from these legal plants. All cuttings and such are carefully handled....
Post a Comment