Frankly, I think that criminal penalties for lying to government agents are ridiculous. You could tell the USDA that you weren’t raising poppies, and if that were false. you could go to jail. I doubt that many people know that they face a legal penalty if they make false statements.
Sure, there could be penalties against lying while under oath, but giving the federal government the right to punish you for a lie or misstatement is gross overreach in my opinion.
then it should be illegal for government to lie too
Martha Stewart would agree.