The Fight for Botanicals

In this policy commentary, we first take a look at the developments in Southeast Asia, where the criminalization of kratom significantly increased after Prime Minister Thaksin declared a war on drugs in Thailand in 2003.

This intensified law enforcement in the region put kratom on the radar of UNODC’s SMART programme. Yet Thailand, where repressive enforcement of the kratom ban had reached dramatic proportions following Thaksin’s drug war, moved to lift the ban in August 2021.

We then look at how kratom became an issue of concern when it was labelled a ‘New Psychoactive Substance’ (NPS) and how procedures established to expedite the scheduling process for NPS, especially UNODC’s Early Warning Advisory, propelled kratom onto the ECDD agenda.

Read the full commentary at tni.org.

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.

A 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.

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.

Those claims have yet to be fully vetted by scientists. The U.S. government has twice tried to restrict kratom’s use by classifying it as a controlled substance, arguing it has high potential for abuse and no known medical benefit.

The full Politico article has more.

TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) – A group of parents in Lee County are trying to keep kratom out of reach of children.

Kratom is a recreational drug that anyone can find at convenience stores or smoke shops.

Chris Hussey spoke on behalf of the group during Monday morning’s Lee County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Hussey said his 15-year-old son wasn’t the same person after he started taking kratom. A few months ago, his son disappeared in the middle of the night. Hussey and his wife found him running on the side of the road.

Hussey said he had to stop using kratom for about a week.

Sheriff Jim Johnson said he asked supervisors to ban the drug over a year ago, but they decided not to.

Read more at WTVA.

The issue of whether or not to ban kratom is an excellent litmus test of whether the Biden administration will actually use the philosophy of harm reduction to guide drug policy—or just spout the trendy catchphrase as window dressing to hide ongoing engagement in the war on drugs.

An estimated 10–16 million Americans currently use kratom as an alternative to opioids, most commonly to treat pain or as a substitute for street drugs. The herb, formally known as Mitrogyna speciosa, has a centuries-long history of use in herbal medicine in Southeast Asia—notably as a substitute for opium.

Kratom does appear to be far safer than all illegal and most prescription opioids: a CDC study of some 27,000 overdoses that occurred between 2016 and 2017 found that it was implicated in less than 1 percent of deaths.

Read more at Genetic Literacy Project.

Despite Thailand’s recent legalization of kratom—swiftly following the country’s decriminalization earlier this year—international kratom advocacy’s momentum is facing stern resistance from the United States Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA has made no secret of its attitude to the plant, following numerous attempts to schedule it as a federally illegal substance in recent years. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the agency’s former commissioner, even groundlessly blamed kratom for “fueling the opioid addiction crisis” this past spring. While the failures of attempts at federal scheduling have represented victories for kratom advocacy, it doesn’t mean the FDA is slowing down.

In late July, the FDA publicly announced that it will be gathering feedback from the US public as part of an effort to compile data on kratom.

Continue at Filter.

Kratom advocates have rallied tens of thousands of people to submit comments to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that will help inform the U.S. position on how the substance should be classified under international law.

In October, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence will discuss whether to recommend that kratom be globally scheduled. While FDA opened a public comment period for input that was set to end on August 9, the American Kratom Association (AKA) successfully sued for an extension that ended this week.

With those extra weeks for input, AKA’s online activist portal managed to get more than 63,000 people to share their experiences, scientific literature and recommendations encouraging the U.S. to oppose an international ban. FDA itself has logged about 26,000 comments that were directly sent in through the federal government’s own submission site.

Read more at Marijuana Moment.

In ordinary times, there would be no question about whether a drug with opioidlike effects should be proven safe and effective and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before it is widely marketed. But these aren’t ordinary times and the herbal supplement kratom is not a typical drug.

In fact, the issue of whether or not to ban kratom is an excellent litmus test of whether the Biden administration will actually use the philosophy of harm reduction to guide drug policy—or just spout the trendy catchphrase as window dressing to hide ongoing engagement in the war on drugs.

An estimated 10–16 million Americans currently use kratom as an alternative to opioids, most commonly to treat pain or as a substitute for street drugs. The herb, formally known as Mitrogyna speciosa, has a centuries-long history of use in herbal medicine in Southeast Asia—notably as a substitute for opium.

Read the full article at Scientific American.

Should kratom be banned on a global scale? Published in the Federal Register on July 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now seeking public comment to inform the U.S. position on how the plant should be scheduled under international statute.

Public comment will help inform the FDA’s position on kratom regulation ahead of an October meeting of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD), where international officials will discuss whether to recommend the substance be globally scheduled.

Kratom and its two active compounds—mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine—are in pre-review status, according to WHO. The pre-review process determines if there is sufficient evidence to bring the substance before the ECDD for a formal review; “findings at this stage should not determine whether the control status of a substance should be changed,” according to the WHO notification.

Read more at High Times.

Gov. Kate Brown intends to veto two bills approved during the recent Oregon Legislature session.

Brown’s office announced Sunday that she will reject Senate Bill 721. It changes the way members are selected for a consumer advisory council that helps the Oregon Health Authority deal with mental health and substance abuse. The bill would allow members of the advisory council to select future members and refines its advisory role in an attempt to ensure consumers have a voice in how mental health and substance abuse policies are crafted and enforced.

The governor’s office says the legislation is well intentioned, but contradicts federal law, which prohibits the Oregon Health Authority from delegating its responsibility over implementing Medicaid policies.

Sponsors plan to submit a revised bill.

Read more at OPB.org.

After failing to get kratom prohibited domestically, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now seeking public comment to inform the U.S. position on how the substance should be scheduled under international statute.

In a notice published in the Federal Register last week, the agency is soliciting feedback on a number of substances. But advocates are especially concerned about where FDA and global drug officials come down on kratom, which has been touted as a natural painkiller that works as a safer alternative to prescription opioids.

The U.S. agency doesn’t quite see it that way, however.

“Kratom is abused for its ability to produce opioid-like effects,” FDA wrote in the notice. “Kratom is available in several different forms to include dried/crushed leaves, powder, capsules, tablets, liquids, and gum/ resin. Kratom is an increasingly popular drug of abuse and readily available on the recreational drug market in the United States.”

Read more at marijuanamoment.net.