Atlanta, Georgia (The Adobo Chronicles) – Okra, that bright green and slimy vegetable which is a main ingredient in the Filipino dish pinakbet and that popular fried delicacy in many U.S. southern states, has just been declared illegal by the American government.

Georgia police raided a retired Atlanta man’s garden last Wednesday after a helicopter crew with the Governor’s Task Force for Drug Suppression spotted suspicious-looking plants on the man’s property. A heavily-armed K9 unit arrived and discovered that the plants were, in fact, okra bushes.

“Okra looks a lot like marijuana (cannabis) plants so they have to be confiscated or destroyed and their owners prosecuted,” a spokesperson for the Georgia police told reporters.

Okra growers in California and other states were shocked at the new government policy and are planning a million march in Washington, D.C. sometime this month which happens to be Filipino American Heritage Month.

“No one can take away my pinakbet from me,” said Juan dela Cruz, an 88 year-old World War II Filipino veteran who lives in Delano, California.