An Excuse For Crushing Kratom

The FDA’s ban on a painkiller prior to proper testing is unscientific

Last year, Americans spent an estimated $374 billion on prescription drugs, up 13 percent from the year before. These drugs include OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet and others that the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for sale without regard to their potential for abuse.

Meanwhile, the “potential for abuse” was used for many years to block even a discussion of the possible medical benefits of cannabis. And now federal officials are using it again to attack another potential natural remedy, kratom.

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), which derives from a tree that grows in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, has been found to reduce pain, lessen dependence on opiates (like OxyContin), and work as a mild stimulant.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration considers kratom a “drug of concern.” The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) calls it “dangerous.”

Last year, U.S. marshals, at the request of the FDA, seized more than 25,000 pounds of raw kratom in Van Nuys, Calif. The action, explained Melinda Plaisier, FDA associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, “was taken to safeguard the public from this dangerous product.” Ms. Plaisier called kratom “a botanical substance that poses a risk to public health and has the potential for abuse.”

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