This is exactly what I wrote:
I have used kratom from time to time for a few years now to help with my herniated discs and spinal stenosis. I was prescribed opioids from a doctor years back and became dependent on them. I was forced to take them or I would go into withdrawals. The opioids I was on for a few years stopped being effective, but I still had to take them or go into opioid withdrawals. Prescription opioids were a dead end trap for me, but I over came that and stopped taking them. I had to suffer through lengthy debilitating opioid withdrawals and the subsequent PAWS.
Then after a few years of being opioid free a friend of mine suggested trying kratom for back pain. I was hesitant at first, because I read that it interacts with the opioid receptors as a natural partial agonist, as well as well as interactions on other receptor sites in the brain. I did not want to become dependent and a slave to another substance.
I gave it a shot and purchased some. I took 6 grams like I was recommended to, and had substantial pain relief for about 4-6 hours. I have been taking it periodically for last two years and have not developed any dependency to kratom in that time. I can take it freely without worrying about any physical withdrawals, I’m happy to say.
I have not heard of anyone that has overdosed from it, at least not from the powdered kratom I use. It is my understanding that because of its partial opioid agonist properties it never allows itself from fully agonize the opioid receptors like full opioid agonists do, like morphine. Besides, if you take too much powder kratom you will vomit it up, like I unfortunately did one time. It has a very low chance of causing life threatening respiratory depression like classic opioids do. In fact, many people have successfully used kratom to taper off more powerful true opioids like heroin and fentanyl and have then completely tapered off of kratom relatively painlessly. The withdrawals are extremely mild (or none at all in my case) compared to the severe withdrawals I suffered from full agonist opioids, like morphine.
You could learn a lot about kratom from experience reports from harm reduction sites like Erowid.org, drugs-forum.com, and bluelight.org. Those sites have been used track current drug trends and can predict future drug trends and have been used as sources in many scientific studies. You can read tens of thousands of peoples experiences using kratom. From these sources you can read how many peoples lives have benefited from kratom, and in some cases saved their lives from dangerous fentanyl addiction. I read very little negative experience reports for people taking kratom.
If kratom is banned, many peoples lives will suffer, including my own, from a substance that has never given me a negative side effect in the two years that I have used this all natural tree leaf. Because of the opioid crisis, and doctors refusing to prescribe opioid painkillers, people will be forced to once again illegally acquire illicit narcotics off the streets and the dark web for pain relief. Any action by the government or international agencies to ban kratom, will cause irreparable harm to millions of people that rely on this relatively harmless tree leaf that has been used for 1000’s of years by people for it’s all natural pain relieving and mood enhancing properties. All it is, is dried kratom leaves picked from a tree and made into a powder. There are no other processes or chemicals needed in the manufacturing of powder kratom. It is 100% natural and is relatively safe.
I am a disabled American citizen, and kratom has given me back my life and has allowed me to live. I never want to be forced to go to a pain management doctor and be put back on those much more dangerous and addictive opioid prescription painkillers. I plead with you to not ban a tree leaf that is helping so many Americans deal with pain. Please don’t force us into having to go to expensive pain management clinics, or having us resort to buying dangerous illicit narcotics. I speak as one of the millions that have used kratom to adequately treat chronic pain safety for years now:
KEEP KRATOM LEGAL FOR AMERICANS
www.protectkratom.org
www.federalregister.gov