I think it's only a matter of time before monsanto or one of the above manages to GMO it, then it'll become legal real quick.
...having retained and maybe even greatly augmented the inebriating effects, perhaps with elements of sedation added while largely attenuating or even eliminating the positive medical and nutritive aspects. In such a case, it would become universally available, perhaps addictive, and stands to serve Themme well as a means of relieving a sufficient proportion of the population of their desire to give a tinker's damn about anything, so long as their high is available.
And when Theye need a little help from their friends in response to some small niche population of unrulies, Theye can by various means cause the right local population of Gammas to be denied their soma, causing endless agitation, blame it on the "trouble makers" and let nature take its course. Who needs large shows of formal, armed, and uniformed government force when one can simply let the crazies go into spey fury from withdrawal? Just point them in the right direction and the job gets done. The worst that happens is a buttload of Gammas are killed, which is really no loss at all, given they probably reproduce like... well, Gammas, meaning there are plenty more where those came from.
Were I seeking a king's dominion over a people in this modern world, I would take this route. To have such control over a drug-addled mass is a tyrant's wettest of dreams and our current state of technology is either at or very close to that capability. I can easily see terrors no generation prior to ours could have regarded as even remotely achievable. But now... Brave New World. It's here... now or very soon, and arrives at the door with a gentle whisper and a kind, smiling face. It puts the common man immediately at ease and offers to lift his burdens. And he accepts gratefully.
