Starting Monday, U.S. Customs agents no longer will seize Canadian prescription drugs mailed to Americans, federal officials announced. The drug imports are still illegal but customs will let them through.

According to the Mineapolis Star Tribune, “The Department of Homeland Security, which operates Customs, told members of Congress in e-mails Monday that it will stop seizing Canadian drugs and instead will conduct random sampling to identify those that are counterfeit or unsafe.”

This reverses the aggressive blockade of recent months during which, according to KansasCity.com, “seizures that have claimed at least 40,000 packages nationwide.”

“Now it looks like the government is getting out of the business of harassing these consumers,” Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who had called for an investigation into the destruction of drug orders, told Reuters.

“We’re still seizing any pharmaceutical coming in that is high-risk for being counterfeit. We’re still concerned that if something is counterfeit it’s not legal or safe,” Customs spokeswoman Lynn Hollinger told Reuters.”