
A global fight looms over Kratom, a possible opioid alternative
The U.S. government has twice tried to classify kratom as a controlled substance, but public outcry and pushback from Congress thwarted those efforts.

The U.S. government has twice tried to classify kratom as a controlled substance, but public outcry and pushback from Congress thwarted those efforts.
2017 survey of about 2,800 self-described kratom users in the U.S. showed that they're typically middle-aged and white, and use the substance to treat the symptoms of anxiety, depression, pain and opioid withdrawal.
A World Health Organization meeting next week could determine the future of kratom, a widely available herbal supplement some tout as an alternative to opioid painkillers, in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Kratom, a plant indigenous to Southeast Asia, produces narcotic-like effects when smoked or taken in liquid or capsule form. Its advocates say the substance is a promising replacement for opioids that could help wean people addicted to those drugs, which killed nearly 70,000 people in the U.S. in 2020.
The FDA recently awarded a $2.3 million contract to Altasciences in Overland Park, Kan., to study kratom dosing to determine its abuse potential. But under the terms of the solicitation, the FDA holds the rights to all of the data and documentation produced by the contractor, which is subject to a confidentiality agreement.
That could allow the FDA to keep the study's results under wraps, Haddow said.
“We believe science ought to dictate this policy," he said.