FDA cracks down on natural solution to opioid crisis (write your congressman)

Dear Reader, 

There are a lot of mixed opinions surfacing about the widespread use of a substance called kratom. Kratom is a powdery green herbal supplement that is largely unregulated and virtually available everywhere.

This herbal supplement comes from the leaves of a tree in the coffee family, which is native to Southeast Asia. It has long been used for energy, mood boosts, pain relief, and recently for curbing opioid addiction.

In fact, it’s believed that a few million Americans are now using kratom.¹

According to an article published in the New York Times, Mr. Andrew Turner, a Navy veteran, discovered kratom and started using it daily to soothe symptoms of PTSD and herniated discs after multiple deployments.

Before he discovered kratom, he was using 20 different medications daily, including opioids.

“I was on the path to suicide, and losing hope,” he explained. After drinking kratom tea, “It was a night-and-day difference.”

Yet the pharma-funded FDA continues to say that kratom has no “medical use.”

In fact, the FDA warns against the use of kratom, stating that it “appears to have properties that expose users to the risks of addiction, abuse, and dependence.”

Yet a look at the statistics tells a very different story.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that out of 27,000 deaths by overdose over 18 months, kratom made up 91 of them.²

But keep in mind that nearly 48,000 people died in 2017 from opioid use.³

Out of the 91 kratom-related deaths, most of them involved other factors. Fentanyl was listed as the cause of death in roughly half, and almost all had other drugs in their systems.

The findings didn’t specify if kratom was used to fight off drug dependence in these individuals.

In only seven of the deaths was kratom the only substance found in their system.

But even with just these findings, several states have already outlawed kratom.⁴

Many are debating whether or not kratom should make its way to the DEA’s schedule I list of controlled substances. Several scientists and politicians are arguing that doing so would impede any research into alternatives to opioid addiction or treatment for withdrawal.

Though kratom is relatively new to the U.S., it has been popular in Southeast Asia for decades without reports of dependence, tolerance, or overdose deaths.

Some believe that outlawing kratom may cause more significant problems than it solves, including people turning to the black market or back to opioids.

In 2016, the DEA proposed a ban on kratom that received a lot of backlash.⁵ Citizen action prevented the ban from being put in place.

However, politicians and Big Pharma are still working to draft bills that would ban this promising natural alternative to deadly opioids.

It’s up to all of us, as citizens, to show our elected officials that we won’t allow corporate greed to override our best interests. So let’s all write our congressmen and tell them we support kratom.

To your health,

Alex Reid
President, Clear Health Now

¹ https://ufhealth.org/news/2018/uf-college-pharmacy-receives-35-million-nida-grant-bolster-kratom-research

² https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6814a2.htm

³ https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

⁴ http://speciosa.org/home/kratom-legality-map/

⁵ https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2016/08/30/dea-announces-intent-schedule-kratom