diff --git a/gstlal-inspiral/debian/control.in b/gstlal-inspiral/debian/control.in
index 14a9ebda65ad78d2e088a941d6d43031a891a253..88b9773a95288ea314bea20550579c7f9ad9d97d 100644
--- a/gstlal-inspiral/debian/control.in
+++ b/gstlal-inspiral/debian/control.in
@@ -53,8 +53,6 @@ Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}, ${python:Depends},
  python-ligo-gracedb (>= 1.11),
  python-numpy,
  python-scipy
-Recommends:
- ligo-gracedb
 Description: GStreamer for GW data analysis (inspiral parts)
  This package provides a variety of gstreamer elements for
  gravitational-wave data analysis and some libraries to help write such
diff --git a/gstlal-inspiral/python/inspiral.py b/gstlal-inspiral/python/inspiral.py
index 3db1622707c4d5c95124cd560effe313b22caf70..89094c5bfa564f2a11aeb3a8e7c71ec740ea225e 100644
--- a/gstlal-inspiral/python/inspiral.py
+++ b/gstlal-inspiral/python/inspiral.py
@@ -74,11 +74,6 @@ from gi.repository import GObject, Gst
 GObject.threads_init()
 Gst.init(None)
 
-try:
-	from ligo import gracedb
-except ImportError:
-	print >>sys.stderr, "warning: gracedb import failed, program will crash if gracedb uploads are attempted"
-
 from glue import iterutils
 from glue import segments
 from glue import segmentsUtils
@@ -99,6 +94,7 @@ from lal import LIGOTimeGPS
 from lal import rate
 from lal import series as lalseries
 from lal.utils import CacheEntry
+from ligo import gracedb
 
 from gstlal import bottle
 from gstlal import cbc_template_iir