quite the opposite. Epehedrine (herbal version) was banned in US because it's active ingredient which is actually Ephedrine HCL had unknown doses. Two 10 grams samples of the herb could differ in dosages as much as 10,000% !
Because it was hard to keep tabs on what was quality and what was an unknown/unsafe amount, only the Ephedrine HCL in known quantitative amounts is available.
Hope this helps!