Fears and evidence clash in the battle over kratom
“Since kratom can be grown in your backyard, pharmaceutical companies can’t monopolize it — unless the government outlaws it.”
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“They (the FDA) kind of cast aside some of the scientific literature that actually models or observed it in actual receptors,” he says. According to Grundmann, that research shows that although kratom binds to opioid receptors, it uses different pathways in the brain. -Oliver Grundmann (teaches medicinal chemistry and toxicology at the University of Florida’s College of Pharmacy, has studied the pharmacology of kratom. He says part of the problem with the FDA’s analysis is that it’s based entirely on a computer model.
Some scientists have criticized the FDA’s statements as lacking proof. Among them is Marc Swogger, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “I’m not sure why this particular drug hysteria is being pushed by the FDA, but their comments about kratom have been unscientific,” he says. “They do not match the current science.” Swogger, who’s done several studies on kratom, says the FDA’s computer analysis doesn’t paint a complete picture. “Kratom does not act on opioid receptors in the same way that classical opioids do,” he says. “It’s a partial effect. So you don’t get the same sort of respiratory depression and you don’t get the same sort of euphoria.” … “This is the cure for opioids,” Darshan Singh says. “If a scientist can actually prove that it’s a safer alternative, let me tell you, all the big pharmaceutical companies will be shutting down, because we could sell it 80 times cheaper than classical opioids, with far less detrimental effects.” -Darshan Singh, a researcher at the University of Science Malaysia’s Centre for Drug Research he has studied kratom for nearly 10 years, and says his work has convinced him of its potential.
Original Article (Whyy.org):
Fears and evidence clash in the battle over kratom
Artwork Fair Use by: The Conversation
