Why is the FDA [trying to] ban… kratom?
Kratom is a plant indigenous to Southeast Asia that has been utilized for millennia to treat pain and illness, and improve mood, among other uses … The FDA recently announced it was classifying Kratom as an opioid, paving the way for criminalization … The FDA’s current decision to classify Kratom as an opioid is both alarmist and dangerously unscientific … The reality of Kratom’s interaction with the brain suggests that the FDA is stretching the category of opioids for political, rather than scientific, reasons.
This isn’t the first time there has been an attempt to ban Kratom. A 2016 move by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to ban the herb testified to the importance it holds for many sufferers of chronic pain, as well as recovering addicts. The ban was staved off temporarily after a widespread negative response, including a petition signed by 142,000 people, as well 1,175 statements against the ban from doctors, veterinarians, scientists and law enforcement officials … The character of the FDA’s study demonstrates that its key concern is certainly not the threat Kratom poses to Americans, but how it can shore up the monopoly of the pharmaceutical industry and bolster industries around drug treatment and incarceration. The pharmaceutical industry has made billions of dollars through the production, dissemination and misuse of opioids for pain management.
Original Article (Truth Out):
Why is the FDA [trying to] ban… kratom?
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