I don't know anything about the ban being lifted but from this thread I think there is some confusion. Ephedrine is a chemical. Ephedra is a plant. The chemical ephedrine can be extracted from ephedra but they are two different things. The best, read purist, ephedrine is synthesized in a lab not extracted from ephedra. The synthesized ephedrine is a snow white powder. The stuff extracted from ephedra is a dirty brown colour.