The news has spread like wildfire in the last week of August. In case you missed it, the DEA has decided to place kratom (mitragyna speciosa) under Schedule I effective as of September 30, 2016.
I will use this page to explain what this means, where you can learn more and what can be done at this point in time.
An awesomely huge number of people are working together to help overturn this decision. The DEA is hearing us loud and clear that we want to keep this herb unrestricted and available to people who truly need it.
How Kratom Has Helped
Text can hardly express the power of this amazing herb, though there are plenty of anecdotal reports.
Kratom has helped ordinary people, veterans, people with chronic disease, you name it.
Just see these testimonials:
What does Schedule I mean for kratom?
Schedule I means that kratom will be categorized and controlled much in the same manner as LSD and heroin.
In my opinion, drug and substance scheduling in America is a notorious black hole. Though the scheduling in this case is supposedly temporary to “protect people” while its safety is explored, it can be extended for another year after a two-year period, and extended every year after that initial year. This is supposedly to “protect the public” and allow time for research to be done. In practice however, scheduled substances become far more difficult to research.
This is why the sudden decision to ban this miracle herb must be overturned.
There are people out there who absolutely need kratom in order to live.
How does this affect kratom users?
Some have used it to uplift the mood, to ease pain, both chronic and acute, and to end an addiction to harder and more harmful drugs such as legal prescription painkillers and illegal heroin. (Yes, legal prescription drugs are far addictive and harmful too.) 1
The DEA Schedule I ruling, once it goes into effect on September 30th 2016, means that it will no longer be legal to sell or possess kratom.
For some of you, this is a minor annoyance.
For others however, this decision put forth by the DEA is devastating. People with chronic disease, people in pain, people with anxiety, people who are keeping sober off of addictive, deadly drugs will be without this wonderful herb.
Besides the fact that kratom might never be legal again (if we weren’t fighting as we are now to save it) it will also be a potential death sentence for some individuals.
Why This Decision is HORRIBLE — Look at DEA on Cannabis
This is all looking more and more like the legal nightmare surrounding cannabis.
For those of you who don’t already know, cannabis (marijuana) is another much-maligned herb vindicated thoroughly by scientific research for its ability to ease pain and improve mood among a laundry list of other things. 2
The DEA recently stated they would not be de-scheduling cannabis because they believe it has “no medicinal value” despite the literal hundreds of experiments and academic studies published proving that it does.
The harsh reality is that it took decades of fighting to ever allow the truth to come out about cannabis, which has barely been legalized and decriminalized at the state level in some places. It took entire decades of fighting, and all the DEA could say is that it has no medicinal value! Even in the face of objective scientific research!
Whether or not you care for it, the same fate WILL befall kratom unless you take action right now.
Commentary on the DEA proposed scheduling of kratom
I’ve selected some commentary from the Internet that I thought was insightful.
Even More Commentary on Kratom
Redditor /u/MisterYouAreSoDumb regarding kratom:
[T]he DEA cites that there have been 660 calls to US poison control centers about kratom in a 5 year period.
They seem to think that is a lot, when it is NOTHING in the grand scheme of things. Guess how many calls to poison control centers there are every year for antihistamines? 35,000! Thirty five fucking thousand in one year for antihistamines, and the DEA thinks that 660 calls for kratom IN 5 YEARS is an issue? So they say that emergency scheduling will give them time to study and assess the threat kratom is to public health and safety. Ohh, don’t worry about all the people that are going to DIE overdosing on heroin when they can’t get kratom anymore. The DEA needs time to assess the public health risk…
The DEA is going to kill people with this action, and for no reason. Kratom does not pose a public health risk, and massively helps people with chronic pain or to get off things like heroin. Just look at some of the kratom forums right now, and you will see people with multiple sclerosis and other disorders freaking out, because kratom is the only thing that has been working to help them.
So 660 calls to poison control centers in a 5 year period is justification enough to ruin thousands of other people’s lives. Just imagine a person with multiple sclerosis being put in prison because they are caught with some kratom. It’s insane!
Links, Reading and Resources
- Good Looking Loser — What You Can Do To Help Keep Kratom Legal If You Have Little Time or Money
[PDF] Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of Mitragynine and 7-Hydroxymitragynine into Schedule I
Forbes — The DEA Is Placing Kratom And Mitragynine On Schedule I
Forbes — DEA Argues That Public Comment Is Unnecessary Before Kratom Ban
I will keep this page updated as time goes on. Feel free to bookmark and share.
References
| 1. | ↑ | National Institute on Drug Abuse — Abuse of Prescription (Rx) Drugs Affects Young Adults Most |
| 2. | ↑ | Examine.com — Marijuana |
