Kratom Imports Will Be Detained By FDA

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The FDA recently re-issued an alert that agents, effective immediately, will detain any imports or supplements that contain kratom. The alert says that the “FDA has seen an increase in the number of shipments of dietary supplements and bulk dietary ingredients that are, or contain kratom…”, also known as Mitragyna speciosa and a variety of other names depending on the region.

What is Kratom?

Kratom was once used as a folk medicine to help people in Southeast Asia recover from opioid addiction and a variety of other remedies. Now, people have been using it in the US for years for that exact purpose and more. Depending on who you ask, people say it has helped them with chronic pain, inflammatory conditions, and mental health issues.

The FDA, however, has not approved the supplement for any use, and there is no …

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House Will Vote to Potentially Ban Kratom, Synthetics

The House of Representatives faces nearly two dozen votes on new drug-related bills in an effort to stem the addiction epidemic. Among those bills is H.R. 2851, The Stop Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues (SITSA) Act, a bill aimed at Kratom and other synthetic drug imports, even those that have not been created yet.

The bill, if passed and made into law, will significantly expand the powers of the Department of Justice, under the guise of unilaterally prohibiting any synthetic drugs the DOJ decides is chemically similar to currently banned drugs. People who import such drugs would face similar penalties to people who import substances that are alreadu banned.

While the measure may have been proposed with good intentions, critics say that if passed, a new era will be entered in the War on Drugs, and it may cause …

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Is Kratom an Opioid? The FDA Says Yes

The Food and Drug Administration put out new warnings about kratom, saying that the drug is best classified as a substance with “opioid properties” and linking it to 44 deaths. Previously, the DEA took steps to outlaw the drug altogether but halted their actions as Kratom advocates led campaigns against the agency involving petitions and phone calls.

Kratom has become popular among people with opioid use disorder trying to get clean from heroin and other potent, addictive drugs. People with chronic pain, depression, and a myriad of other diseases. Often, sellers of Kratom market the drug in capsule, powder, and tea form. People claim it helps ease the symptoms of a wealth of diseases.

While these benefits sound great, there are many people in the addiction community that believe that replacing opioids with Kratom is a dangerous and unsustainable practice. …

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