Not many people know this about me (and I'm generally a private person so I'm struggling to admit this), but I was raised Mormon, and still attend a Mormon congregation each week with my own family. While I'm not as devout as I once was, I certainly still hold many of the tenets, one of which includes the idea that in most cases, you should abstain from things that alter your mind. The Mormon loophole in this frame of thinking nearly always comes with the clause, "unless directed by a doctor". I was diagnosed with GAD at one point, but had been using kava for years prior to the diagnosis being given, and while still being very active in the Mormon church.
I also never asked the church leadership about my usage of kava, but there's no official declaration from the church's headquarters on if kava is allowed by members. There are some areas (mostly the islands) that don't allow members to drink kava, and there are some areas that are fine with it. I'm not sure about my area, but I really don't care. I use it medicinally, and I'll be damned if anyone tells me otherwise.
It seems as though the author isn't discounting kava, but more the practice of abandoning your family for hours at a time, which I agree wholeheartedly with. I wish she would have gone into more detail as to the current, modern usage of kava in circles other than stateside Tongan circles. Perhaps I'll shoot her an email and see if she would be willing to talk.
I should probably do an episode of the KavaFlow on this subject, because these topics within Mormonism are super complex.
