Watchdog Group CRE Investigating Pending Kratom Ban; Urges Action

Many have become resigned, feeling helpless and hopeless when it comes to keeping kratom legal. But there is reason for hope! In fact, a recent letter issued by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) offers several rays of hope. There are also a few additional developments that offer further reason to believe in the possibility that kratom could remain legal beyond September 30, 2016. In fact, the CRE is calling upon the DEA to take several actions, including delaying the Schedule I classification of kratom until July 1, 2017.

The CRE has sent a letter to acting DEA administrator Charles P. Rosenberg, informing him that “when 100,000 members of the public express outrage with a regulatory decision, it deserves a second look. Consequently, CRE, in its role as a nationally-recognized regulatory watchdog, is going to investigate this matter.

The CRE has reportedly received hundreds of letters, written by kratom advocates just like you who took the time to share your experiences with kratom. And your voice has been heard!

The CRE is now calling for The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) parent agency, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to take action. This agency has the ability to intervene with regulatory agencies such as the DEA. The CRE cited “a sharp disagreement among a number of federal agencies” as grounds for the proposed intervention. The CRE wrote, “If there were ever a time for an OMB intervention, this is it.”

The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness cites several compelling arguments in favor of kratom.


So do your bit and let them know how you feel!!! If you sit on your hands then there is no chance at all.

Yeah man, lot's of good stuff happening with this. Typically nobody fights any of the nasty drugs that they want to ban. But now we have another basically harmless tree leaf and people are voicing their opinions. I have never seen anything like this. Keep up the good work all.

How do we "let them know how we feel" beyond signing the petition??

I already signed the Kratom petiton.

And does anyone know how the Kratom march in D.C. went yesterday??

No one has said anything about it.

You can contact the Attorney General's office and or your state congressmen.

Mycophile said:

How do we "let them know how we feel" beyond signing the petition??

I already signed the Kratom petiton.

And does anyone know how the Kratom march in D.C. went yesterday??

No one has said anything about it.

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read that there were "hundreds" of ppl...doesn't sound too good

JackARoe said:

Yeah man, lot's of good stuff happening with this. Typically nobody fights any of the nasty drugs that they want to ban. But now we have another basically harmless tree leaf and people are voicing their opinions. I have never seen anything like this. Keep up the good work all.

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Kratom is not "another basically harmless tree leaf". It's addictive, and it basically is an opiate. I have friends who mistakenly bought into the hype that it was harmless, not nearly as addictive as oxy, heroin, etc. or that it can be safely used to manage pain or get someone off opiates.

They are all addicted to Kratom and this is just a substitute addiction for them. Many have relapsed on heroin, oxy, or whatever opiate they were trying to get sober from.

Kratom itself is not safe. Different types or strains of it effect people differently, and people react to it at different doses, and people have overdosed and even died from it.

alpha_centauri said:

Kratom is not "another basically harmless tree leaf". It's addictive, and it basically is an opiate. I have friends who mistakenly bought into the hype that it was harmless, not nearly as addictive as oxy, heroin, etc. or that it can be safely used to manage pain or get someone off opiates.

They are all addicted to Kratom and this is just a substitute addiction for them. Many have relapsed on heroin, oxy, or whatever opiate they were trying to get sober from.

Kratom itself is not safe. Different types or strains of it effect people differently, and people react to it at different doses, and people have overdosed and even died from it.

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Stop copying and pasting your bullshit.

I already PM'd you.

YES, Kratom is NOT a very dangerous substance, MUCH safer than most other drugs and safer than alcohol and tobacco.

I'm not letting you have the last negative post in threads which are about spreading the more positive aspects of Kratom.

We are already losing the battle over this mostly helpful plant and don't need your bullshit.

Kratom should NOT be illegal and we don't need you going around saying that because your friends couldn't control themselves that we should all be in prison for taking it.

SOMEHOW we should and hopefully will find a way to keep a version of Kratom on the street.

You people who want to criminalize this plant and other plants because they CAN be abused will not win without a fight.

Actually kratom has a significant risk of liver damage and weird long term side effects such as blackened cheeks , other safer alternatives exist , codeine is way safer than kratom imho but possibly more addictive in nature.

So does codeine/APAP because lets be honest how many addicts know about and take the time to do a CWE. I would love to have codeine as an option but good luck getting an opiate prescribed these days and a script that's large enough to be worth the hassle.

bingey said:

Actually kratom has a significant risk of liver damage and weird long term side effects such as blackened cheeks , other safer alternatives exist , codeine is way safer than kratom imho but possibly more addictive in nature.

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There have been rare people who's livers seem to not have been able to metabolize Kratom who have immediately gotten jaundice but the rest of us are usually fine.

It's probably no different from how many Asians like a friend of mine who is Japanese, cannot metabolize alcohol and immediately get flushed cheeks.

There have been MANY people who have taken Kratom for years with ZERO liver problems.

The onus is on YOU to prove that this is actually the case.

I don't believe that Kratom causes liver damage to most people but I think there are certain people who for whatever reason cannot metabolize it.

I don't believe that codeine is safer than Kratom, I think if anything it might be equal but I'd say I believe Kratom to be safer and IF Codeine is safer than most other Opiates are FOR SURE more dangerous like Oxy, Hydro, Dilaudid, Heroin, Fentanyl, Morphine are ALL more dangerous.

Kratom should stay legal is the point.

Snake_Eyes said:

So does codeine/APAP because lets be honest how many addicts know about and take the time to do a CWE. I would love to have codeine as an option but good luck getting an opiate prescribed these days and a script that's large enough to be worth the hassle.

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I said codeine not acetaminophen it's otc in parts of Europe without apap ..

To the same token though there is something about taking a powdered leaf for some people that, that alone, can make it safer.

This may be ripped to shreds but I personally feel safer with kratom. I have a lot of experience with codeine and don't find it hard to move from one pharm to another. To me, it becomes all about the high and obviously there are better highs than codeine. So I progress onto other things.

I've been on kratom since may and haven't increased my dose at all. I've actually cut back this last batch I got because 10g was too much so I dose 6g now. I'm sure that's the individual batch/strain but I have not gone up at all.

To me....especially considering most deaths come from tolerance issues after periods of sobriety....that makes kratom safer.

Good for Europe, that's helpful to those of us who take kratom in the US and since the kratom ban is happening in the US and these groups are trying to keep it legal in the US and the person you replied to is in the US. A lot of good it does suggesting something that's basically unavailable as a safer alternative.

Codeine has a ceiling dosage. For someone with a heroin habit as large as mine, no amount would be useful to me. Not saying that makes it useless for everyone of course. Just that it's not the be all end all.

I just called my congressman/respresentative's office today and spoke with one of my representative's staff members about Kratom and shared the entire story and he was extremely polite and said he would mail me back a response.

Call (202) 224-3121 and ask for your representative's number and they'll ask you for your zip code and then tell them to sign that Pocan/Salmon Dear Colleague Letter and how 130,000 people have already signed a petition to the White House to stop Kratom's ban and if you want you can share your story and tell why it is so wrong that they are trying to ban Kratom.

He said I wasn't the first person in my area to call about this issue.

THIS IS THE FIRST THING LIKE THIS I'VE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE!!

It felt good to do, regardless of whether or not I make an impact.

PLEASE EVERYONE WHO READS THIS PHONE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE ASAP!!!

People are saying it must be done by 4:30PM so you have HALF AN HOUR Eastern Standard Time or I guess 2-3 hours if you are on the West Coast depending on your area.

DON"T DELAY!!!

(But even if you DO miss that deadline I'd suggest you KEEP calling!!!)

WE MIGHT be able to make a difference!!

I don't care if Kratom is allegedly hepatotoxic.

I don't care if Kratom is the deadliest plant known to man and consuming it spawns xenomorphs which are born as shown in the movies.

Banning it in a nation which heralds itself as "the land of the free" while at the same time ignoring the latest research conducted on Ethyl Alcohol (which shows that it's directly linked to SEVEN types of Cancer regardless of the amount consumed + neurotoxic, cardiotoxic and hepatotoxic) and continuing to allow ridiculously low-tax cigarettes to be sold in many states (it's only 17 cents in Missouri for example - highest being New York btw) is fundamentally and categorically unjust and blatantly hypocritical.

No drug is 100% risk free. The active constituents present in Kratom are certainly no exception, I'm sure. Whatever the case, it shouldn't be a controlled substance.

Haven't we proven that it is futile to wage this stupid war?

Organized crime is certainly glad that they've been handed another plant to exploit/supply without regulation to whomever demands it (there will always be a demand until our race ceases to exist).

My goodness - talk about an expensive, dangerous, cop-relationship-ruining exercise in futility.

When will enough actually be enough? This is a sad fucking story, and I hope that other western nations don't follow suit, but I ain't holding my breath.

America could really use an Elizabeth Warren and/or a Bernie Sanders whose fight is against the drug war rather than corporate greed and corruption. Keeping my fingers crossed...