Dear fellow Testies,
I'm a young man living in western Pennsylvania. I've been a member of TEST Squadron for a long time now. There is something going on right now with the DEA that profoundly affects me and my health and I just want to make a plea for your help. The DEA is trying to ban yet another plant. This time it's kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), a plant from Southeast Asia related to the coffee plant. People have used it for thousands, if not tens of thousands of years for physical pain, fever reduction, diarrhea, coughs, hypertension, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and fatigue among other things. Many veterans use kratom to help with PTSD. Countless people have used it to help break their alcohol or opiate addiction. Kratom has saved many lives in this way.
In lower doses it's stimulating like caffeine and in higher doses it's sedating. Most people take it in their morning tea. Though some take it in capsule form because it is so bitter. You do not become inebriated from kratom and it is not an opiate. It does not cause respiratory depression and is not a hallucinogen. It is about as habit forming as coffee. The primary alkaloid in kratom, mitragynine, is also present in the coffee plant. Kratom's effects are mild at most. Millions of Americans (estimated 3-5 million by the American Kratom Association) are using kratom today and have been for decades. There are thousands of (possibly more than 10,000 estimated by the Botanical Education Alliance) American kratom small businesses.
The DEA tried to emergency schedule (ban) kratom in September. They cited as their reason 15 deaths over a two year timespan. They later admitted that those deaths involved other substances, which were undoubtedly the cause. Compare this to the literal millions of poisonings and deaths caused by things like prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco, Tylenol, Aspirin, caffeine, food allergies, laundry detergent pods, etc. every year. This is actually a record of amazing safety not danger. If kratom was actually dangerous as the DEA is currently portraying then there would be millions of dead people. They were going to put kratom into Schedule I with heroin and meth which is beyond absurd and frankly insane.
After the large public backlash the DEA temporarily retracted the ban. This has never happened before in the entire history of the DEA. It is historic. They are now doing a public commenting period on the Regulations.gov website (on track for the most comments ever) until December 1st while the FDA does an 8 factor analysis on kratom. You can read the thousands of personal testimonials from people who use kratom there.
As an example of how kratom is treated in other places, in Canada, kratom is completely legal and classified as a NHP or Natural Health Product under Schedule 1 item 1 (plant or plant material) of the NHP Regulations. In 2015 the Florida Department of Law Enforcement studied kratom and determined that "Kratom does not constitute a significant risk to the safety and welfare of Florida residents." The Florida Department of Health added that, "there are no pervasive health issues that can be attributed to the ingestion of kratom products in Florida."
If you would like to do something about this issue then you can sign the Whitehouse.gov petition (complete) or Action Network petition. The American Kratom Association and the Botanical Education Alliance are asking for donations. You may also contact your Senators and ask them to sign Senator Orrin Hatch's letter to the DEA which has 9 signatures or Senator Ron Wyden's letter which has 3 signatures. You may also contact your Representative and ask them to sign Representative Mark Pocan's/Matt Salmon's letter to the DEA which has 51 signatures. You can also contact the White House directly here. There is also a kratom subreddit.
I personally discovered kratom years ago as I was searching for natural and safer alternatives to pharmaceutical opiates, which I have become tolerant to due to my many hospitalizations. I have had health issues since birth (1988) and have had multiple abdominal surgeries. I've been hospitalized four times in the last three years alone. I experience severe and debilitating pain sometimes and kratom has been very helpful in helping to control my pain when I get it. If kratom is banned I will have to suffer in terrible physical pain, have to go onto increasingly higher doses of pharmaceutical opiates, or risk going to jail for using a natural herbal health supplement.
If you have personal experience (not required) with kratom then I highly suggest you leave a comment to the DEA on the Regulations.gov website or alternatively here.
The community must stand united on issues like this. We can't allow millions more Americans, especially veterans, who have done nothing wrong and hurt no one to be turned into criminals and become victims of the Drug War for using a natural herbal health supplement.
I'm a young man living in western Pennsylvania. I've been a member of TEST Squadron for a long time now. There is something going on right now with the DEA that profoundly affects me and my health and I just want to make a plea for your help. The DEA is trying to ban yet another plant. This time it's kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), a plant from Southeast Asia related to the coffee plant. People have used it for thousands, if not tens of thousands of years for physical pain, fever reduction, diarrhea, coughs, hypertension, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and fatigue among other things. Many veterans use kratom to help with PTSD. Countless people have used it to help break their alcohol or opiate addiction. Kratom has saved many lives in this way.
In lower doses it's stimulating like caffeine and in higher doses it's sedating. Most people take it in their morning tea. Though some take it in capsule form because it is so bitter. You do not become inebriated from kratom and it is not an opiate. It does not cause respiratory depression and is not a hallucinogen. It is about as habit forming as coffee. The primary alkaloid in kratom, mitragynine, is also present in the coffee plant. Kratom's effects are mild at most. Millions of Americans (estimated 3-5 million by the American Kratom Association) are using kratom today and have been for decades. There are thousands of (possibly more than 10,000 estimated by the Botanical Education Alliance) American kratom small businesses.
The DEA tried to emergency schedule (ban) kratom in September. They cited as their reason 15 deaths over a two year timespan. They later admitted that those deaths involved other substances, which were undoubtedly the cause. Compare this to the literal millions of poisonings and deaths caused by things like prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco, Tylenol, Aspirin, caffeine, food allergies, laundry detergent pods, etc. every year. This is actually a record of amazing safety not danger. If kratom was actually dangerous as the DEA is currently portraying then there would be millions of dead people. They were going to put kratom into Schedule I with heroin and meth which is beyond absurd and frankly insane.
After the large public backlash the DEA temporarily retracted the ban. This has never happened before in the entire history of the DEA. It is historic. They are now doing a public commenting period on the Regulations.gov website (on track for the most comments ever) until December 1st while the FDA does an 8 factor analysis on kratom. You can read the thousands of personal testimonials from people who use kratom there.
As an example of how kratom is treated in other places, in Canada, kratom is completely legal and classified as a NHP or Natural Health Product under Schedule 1 item 1 (plant or plant material) of the NHP Regulations. In 2015 the Florida Department of Law Enforcement studied kratom and determined that "Kratom does not constitute a significant risk to the safety and welfare of Florida residents." The Florida Department of Health added that, "there are no pervasive health issues that can be attributed to the ingestion of kratom products in Florida."
If you would like to do something about this issue then you can sign the Whitehouse.gov petition (complete) or Action Network petition. The American Kratom Association and the Botanical Education Alliance are asking for donations. You may also contact your Senators and ask them to sign Senator Orrin Hatch's letter to the DEA which has 9 signatures or Senator Ron Wyden's letter which has 3 signatures. You may also contact your Representative and ask them to sign Representative Mark Pocan's/Matt Salmon's letter to the DEA which has 51 signatures. You can also contact the White House directly here. There is also a kratom subreddit.
I personally discovered kratom years ago as I was searching for natural and safer alternatives to pharmaceutical opiates, which I have become tolerant to due to my many hospitalizations. I have had health issues since birth (1988) and have had multiple abdominal surgeries. I've been hospitalized four times in the last three years alone. I experience severe and debilitating pain sometimes and kratom has been very helpful in helping to control my pain when I get it. If kratom is banned I will have to suffer in terrible physical pain, have to go onto increasingly higher doses of pharmaceutical opiates, or risk going to jail for using a natural herbal health supplement.
If you have personal experience (not required) with kratom then I highly suggest you leave a comment to the DEA on the Regulations.gov website or alternatively here.
The community must stand united on issues like this. We can't allow millions more Americans, especially veterans, who have done nothing wrong and hurt no one to be turned into criminals and become victims of the Drug War for using a natural herbal health supplement.
