Out of the blue “well they were already trying to crack down on kratom”, in a kind of “nacht und nebel” operation the DEA anounced on tuesday 30th of august that they have the intention to put a “temporary” ban on kratom.
How did the DEA do it?
Normally a body like the DEA (the Drug Enforcement Agency) has no power to regulate or forbid the import and selling of a NATURAL remedy such as Kratom since kratom is classified as a “herbal remedy” or “herbal supplement” and it is not in the DEA’s power to regulate natural supplements.
So the DEA had to find another way to get the power to enforce a ban on Kratom so what they did was to put some alkaloids that are found in Kratom on the so called “schedule 1 list (*)”. Putting those alkaloids on this list (mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine) gave the DEA the power to put a ban on the plant in which these alkaloids are found and that happens to be of course Kratom.
(*) Schedule I drugs, are substances, or chemicals defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.
Why a temporary ban?
A temporary ban (DEA schedule 1) means that more investigation in the plant and a study of it’s components need to be done. If these studies return that kratom is in fact safe and good for a lot of health issues then the ban will be lifted.
However the problem is that once a substance is put on a temporary ban by the FDA /DEA then it will be very hard to study such a substance because of the label associated to it, it will then be stigmatized so to say.
The ban should come into effect by the end of September, giving USA sellers time to get rid of their stocks and prepare for the ban.
Some further reading and if you can sign the petition to stop the ban
Petition:
Sign the petition against the ban
DEA letter:
DEA letter
