Saw this in the current issue of 'New Scientist':
Kratom ban rethink is a hint of sanity in failed US war on drugs
Public opposition has seen a proposed ban on the medicinal leaf kratom dropped for now. Criminalising it would have been madness, says Marc Swogger
Andrzej Krauze
WHEN the US Drug Enforcement Administration announced plans to criminalise the sale and possession of the psychoactive plant kratom, people across the country became interested in a leaf used medicinally for centuries in parts of Asia.
What the DEA did not seem to know is that hundreds of thousands of people in the US were already taking it to relieve pain and as a substitute for opiates and other drugs.
Kratom, related to the coffee plant, provides a caffeine-like energy boost at low doses and has opiate-like effects at higher doses, although it isn't an opiate.
In 2015, I led a study of people's experiences with kratom. Reports were largely positive: besides pain relief and success in quitting drugs such as opiates, it gave a sense of well-being and relaxation, and increased empathy and sociability. A minority reported negative effects, such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, chills and sweats. About 10 per cent mentioned withdrawal symptoms, mostly relatively mild.
Reviewing the literature, we read anecdotal reports of serious adverse effects coinciding with kratom use, including deaths involving use of multiple drugs. But the evidence is too sketchy to definitively link kratom with serious harm.
The DEA wanted to put kratom on a fast track to criminalisation, without seeking public comment. Nonetheless, comment ensued. Thousands wrote to politicians, petitioned the White House and talked to the media about what they saw as an infringement of the right to use a plant that helps them. Researchers expressed dismay that research into kratom's medical uses could be crippled.
My colleagues and I could only shake our heads at the insanity of the move. In a land that jails more people than any other, with consequences that include ruined lives and children growing up without parents, we choose to criminalise this.
In a country with an opiate-dependence epidemic, we try to remove a tool that people successfully use to quit opiates, and one they take for pain relief instead of hard drugs. In a country that has suffered in a costly and ineffective "war on drugs", we extend that war to a new substance and a new group of people, potentially worsening public health crises. It seemed cruel and irresponsible.
Then something amazing happened. The DEA listened. It withdrew its plan, citing public opposition, and sought comment from doctors and scientists.
The agency has long insisted, despite much evidence, that cannabis has no medical use. Does this uncharacteristic reversal over kratom signal it is giving a higher priority to facts? Let us all hope that it proves a positive development in the long, sad story of US drug policy.
This article appeared in print under the headline "A ban too far"
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")