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fapjack
Title



Registered: 07/26/07
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Kratom Gets Reprieve From Drug Enforcement Administration 3
#23733250 - 10/13/16 06:50 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/10/12/497697627/kratom-gets-reprieve-from-drug-enforcement-administration
It's been a wild ride for kratom lately.
Since Aug. 31, when the Drug Enforcement Administration announced its intention to classify the plant as a Schedule I substance, a group of kratom vendors filed a lawsuit against the government to block the move, angry advocates took to social media in protest and scientists questioned whether they would be able to continue kratom research.
Now, the DEA is withdrawing its notice of intent to put kratom in the most restrictive category of controlled substances, with drugs like LSD and heroin. The DEA says it will instead open an official public comment period — to last until Dec. 1, 2016 — for people to share their experiences using kratom as a medical treatment. It has also requested that the Food and Drug Administration expedite scientific research.
DEA spokesman Russ Baer says the DEA received more than 2,000 phone calls since August, mostly in opposition to the plan to classify kratom as Schedule I.
"So in a spirit of transparency, and to open this up to public dialogue, we withdrew our notice to temporarily schedule kratom," Baer says. "We will then give full consideration to those comments before we move forward with any action."
Kratom is derived from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia. It is a relative of the coffee plant. According to David Kroll, a pharmacologist and medical writer, farmers and indigenous people have used it for hundreds of years as both a stimulant to increase work output and also as a way to relax.
In the U.S., kratom has become popular among people coping with chronic pain and others trying to wean themselves off opioids or alcohol.
The main active ingredients in kratom are mitragynine and a related chemical that bind to some of the same receptors as opioids, providing some pain relief and feelings of euphoria. But, Kroll says, not the same high. And the chemical isn't known to cause the same, sometimes deadly, side effects as opioids, such as respiratory depression.
Still, the DEA attributed 15 deaths to kratom between 2014 and 2016. Fourteen of the 15 people who died also had other drugs or illegal substances in their systems.
Kratom advocates, like Karisa Rowland of Cleburne, Texas, point out that opioid abuse kills tens of thousands of people every year. She's thrilled that the DEA will now take time to gather public comments and more scientific research.
"Now that the DEA is officially withdrawing the proposal, I can continue the crusade for the rights of chronic pain sufferers like myself," Rowland says.
She attributes the change in position to work by activists and to lawmakers who urged the DEA to reconsider its "hasty" ban.
Kendra Jowers, an attorney who works in the substance abuse treatment industry in Florida, says in an email she is heartened that the DEA has reconsidered what she calls a "misguided and improper attempt to schedule kratom without the input of relevant stakeholders."
"This represents a huge sigh of relief for individuals who have come to rely on kratom to overcome addiction or maintain their sobriety," Jowers says. "At least for the time being, it relieves some [of] the terror people felt at once again facing a life of intractable pain or depression. It has been a lot of work to get to this point, and now I encourage people to fully engage in this hard-fought comment period."
Kratom user Seth Long of Kearney, Neb., is also pleased the DEA is listening to the public. "The DEA spokespeople have emphasized their reliance on science rather than anecdote in making scheduling decisions, so given the response not just from the public but from research scientists at Columbia University, among other institutions, they seem willing to admit their mistake in lumping together a coffee plant with synthetic 'designer' drugs," he writes in an email. "I hope the decision signals the DEA's willingness to become a more responsive institution and isn't just squid ink covering the same old drug war policies."
Instructions for submitting a comment by mail or electronically can be found in the DEA's Oct. 12 announcement. After the public comment period ends Dec. 1, the DEA could still decide to temporarily ban kratom, or permanently place the plant in a scheduled category defined by the Controlled Substances Act. The agency could also decide to leave kratom unregulated.
This story is part of a reporting partnership with NPR, KERA and Kaiser Health News.
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musiclover420
psychonaut



Registered: 11/06/12
Posts: 19,563
Loc: PNW
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Re: Kratom Gets Reprieve From Drug Enforcement Administration [Re: fapjack]
#23734392 - 10/13/16 02:52 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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Hopefully this is a good sign, we all need to keep up the pressure to make sure they don't just emergency schedule it again when commotion dies down.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,372
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Re: Kratom Gets Reprieve From Drug Enforcement Administration [Re: musiclover420]
#23734650 - 10/13/16 04:19 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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I think its more likely they'd schedule via a non-emergency "regular" route.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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musiclover420
psychonaut



Registered: 11/06/12
Posts: 19,563
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 2 years, 5 months
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Re: Kratom Gets Reprieve From Drug Enforcement Administration [Re: badchad]
#23734732 - 10/13/16 04:52 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
badchad said: I think its more likely they'd schedule via a non-emergency "regular" route.
That seems likely but you never know
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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zZZz
jesus


Registered: 12/28/07
Posts: 33,478
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Re: Kratom Gets Reprieve From Drug Enforcement Administration [Re: fapjack]
#23734747 - 10/13/16 04:57 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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Now let's get them to remove shrooms from the list..
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musiclover420
psychonaut



Registered: 11/06/12
Posts: 19,563
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 2 years, 5 months
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Re: Kratom Gets Reprieve From Drug Enforcement Administration [Re: zZZz]
#23734794 - 10/13/16 05:18 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
zZZz said: Now let's get them to remove shrooms from the list..
With the research being done into mushrooms therapeutic potential you would think they already have a case to at least get it lowered from schedule 1...
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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