• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Your help is needed now to contact FDA regarding Kratom

Basilico

Florida
Messages
948
I am trying to spread the word, and since I know there are plenty of folks on this forum who use kratom, or who care about the FDA overstepping their authority to ban natural plant substances that have helped a lot of people cope with truly awful chronic pain, I wanted to post here to let you know what you can do to help.

TODAY: Tuesday Nov 28 from 8am eastern time until 4:30pm eastern time:

Call the Acting DEA Administrator, Robert W. Patterson, and tell him to "double-check the science on the FDA 8-Factor Analysis; it does not add up!" The FDA is claiming that people have died from kratom use, but in fact, not a single person has died from kratom use. It is only when it is mixed in with toxic doses of opioids or other illegal street drugs that people die.

Please be respectful, but firm. Tell the agent who answers the phone that the American Kratom Association will be sending a report to Administrator Patterson that proves that the FDA 8-Factor Analysis is JUNK SCIENCE.

The phone number for Administrator Patterson is 202-307-8000.

If the line is busy, please keep trying to call back.

The FDA wants to protect the multibillion-dollar opioid pharmaceutical industry and expand their regulatory power by forcing anyone who believes that kratom is an effective alternative to opioids to file a New Drug Application. Once they get control of kratom by classifying it as a drug rather than a natural botanical product, we lose because an NDA costs hundreds of millions of dollars to file with the FDA, and it takes nearly a decade to get an approval for any new drug.

The only incentive for paying all of that research and development money is to get a patent.
That way drug companies can charge exorbitant fees to the American public because they have no competition during the patent period. Kratom is a natural botanical plant that cannot be patented.


Wednesday, Nov 29:
American Kratom Association will collect signatures on an "Open Letter to Acting Administrator Robert W. Patterson" that will show the DEA that there are tens of thousands of committed kratom advocates who will protect and defend our freedom to make our own choices about our health and well-being.

***I will post a link to this petition as soon as I receive it. If you want to get the petition emailed directly to you, you can sign up with the AKA to be alerted whenever action is needed to protect your rights.

Thursday, Nov 30:
Contact your Senators and Representatives in the House to let them know that the science is clear that kratom is not dangerously addictive, with an addiction profile similar to caffeine and coffee.

The truth is, if kratom is banned, those who have chosen to use kratom as an alternative pain management option will be forced to go to dangerous and deadly opioids.

A ban on kratom will actually increase the death toll of opioids.

Look up your representatives:
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
 

rodgergrummidge

Senior Member
Messages
124
I am trying to spread the word, and since I know there are plenty of folks on this forum who use kratom, or who care about the FDA overstepping their authority to ban natural plant substances that have helped a lot of people cope with truly awful chronic pain, I wanted to post here to let you know what you can do to help.

Call the Acting DEA Administrator, Robert W. Patterson, and tell him to "double-check the science on the FDA 8-Factor Analysis; it does not add up!" The FDA is claiming that people have died from kratom use, but in fact, not a single person has died from kratom use.

Tell the agent who answers the phone that the American Kratom Association will be sending a report to Administrator Patterson that proves that the FDA 8-Factor Analysis is JUNK SCIENCE.

Hi @Basilico what specifically is the JUNK SCIENCE you mention? What in particular about the science doesnt add up? Can you lay out the supporting scientific data for the use of Kratom? To effectively lobby, people will need to be able to refer to the supporting science evidence.

Rodger
 

Basilico

Florida
Messages
948
Today, Wednesday Nov 29:

Sign this open letter to Robert Patterson, acting administrator of the DEA:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DEALetter

Dear Administrator Patterson,

We the undersigned, Americans who join the millions of our fellow citizens who responsibly use the botanical plant kratom as a part of our health and well-being regimens, join the American Kratom Association (AKA) in strongly urging the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to conduct a thorough and independent 8-Factor Analysis on kratom to test the credibility of the scheduling recommendation submitted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In its enactment of the Controlled Substances Act, Congress has wisely required the DEA to do its own independent review on scheduling recommendations submitted by the FDA to provide a 2nd opinion on important substance scheduling issues. That 2nd opinion is desperately needed in the evaluation of kratom because the science directly refutes the FDA claims.

Specifically, we respectfully ask the DEA to carefully examine the following issues in its own 8-Factor Analysis on kratom:
  • Kratom is a safe botanical that does not kill people. The deaths the FDA claims are caused by kratom are actually fatalities associated with underlying health issues of the decedent, or caused by the use of other toxic doses of substances that are co-administered or mixed with kratom. Kratom has a long history of safe use over centuries when responsibly consumed, and the FDA claims are simply unsupportable based on the science.
  • If kratom is banned, opioid deaths will increase. The opioid crisis in America kills more than 90 people every day. Credible studies show that many people manage pain using kratom as an alternative to dangerously addictive and potentially deadly prescription opioids. If it is banned, those people will be forced to opioid use, or to the black market for products that are contaminated or adulterated, and therefore very dangerous. The perverse public health outcome from any ban on kratom will result in more deaths.
  • Kratom is an alternative to opioids, not a gateway to opioid abuse. Kratom does not produce a high like opioids; kratom does not suppress the respiratory system like opioids; and kratom does not produce opioid-like effects. Kratom is safely and responsibly used by millions of Americans, including some for alleviating pain. Without kratom, many will be forced to opioid use to alleviate pain.
  • The AKA, and we agree, strongly supports appropriate FDA regulations to protect consumers. Protecting consumers from adulterated and contaminated kratom products; assuring children cannot purchase or consume kratom; imposing good manufacturing standards to ensure product purity; product packaging standards to prevent tampering; and clear labeling and health claims restrictions similar to other dietary supplement products, are important roles for the FDA to have in protecting consumer safety, and we welcome such restrictions to ensure continued safe and responsible use of kratom products by consumers.
The DEA has received an independent 8-Factor Analysis on kratom authored by one of the leading experts on addiction and substance safety, Jack Henningfield, Ph.D., and we believe that data will be critically important to the DEA’s own analysis of kratom. In addition, there are four other key studies on kratom use that the DEA should consider that clearly demonstrate the harm that will be done by any scheduling order on kratom.
 

Basilico

Florida
Messages
948
Hi @Basilico what specifically is the JUNK SCIENCE you mention? What in particular about the science doesnt add up? Can you lay out the supporting scientific data for the use of Kratom? To effectively lobby, people will need to be able to refer to the supporting science evidence.

Rodger

The Controlled Substance Act requires an 8 Factor Analysis consisting of:

  • Factor 1: Cannabis’ Actual or Relative Potential for Abuse
  • Factor 2: Scientific Evidence of the Pharmacological Effects and General Pharmacology of Cannabis
  • Factor 3: The State of Current Scientific Knowledge Regarding the Drug or Other Substance
  • Factor 4: Its History and Current Pattern of Abuse
  • Factor 5: The Scope, Duration, and Significance of Abuse
  • Factor 6: What, if any, Risk there is to the Public Health
  • Factor 7: Its Psychic or Physiological Dependence Liability
  • Factor 8: Whether the Substance is an Immediate Precursor of a Substance Already Controlled
After the death of one person who had some chemicals found in Kratom in his system (in addition to several other drugs), a coroner incorrectly decided that his death was due to Kratom, even though Kratom has never been proved to caused death. The FDA seized on this opportunity and created an 8 Factor Analysis attempting to classify kratom as a dangerous substance using "junk science".

In response, The American Kratom Association issued on November 30, 2016 a long-awaited 8-Factor Analysis by Dr. Jack Henningfield, Ph.D., vice president of Research, Health Policy, and Abuse Liability at PinneyAssociates, concluding that there is “insufficient evidence” for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to ban or otherwise restrict kratom under the Controlled Substances Act. According to the comprehensive Henningfield analysis, kratom’s potential for abuse and dependence is no greater than such widely used and unscheduled substances as “nutmeg, hops, St. John’s Wort, chamomile, guarana, and kola nut. (taken from their website)

***There is a ton of information on the AKA website, and by signing up you will receive very information emails explaining exactly what is going on and what you can do.
 

Basilico

Florida
Messages
948
I also would like to say that I personally don't use kratom. However, if when we see governmental abuse we decided to not take a stand because we don't care about the particularl issue, when it comes to issues that are important to us, our rights will have long ago been dismantled. The fact that so many people are able to find a harmless drug-free solution to chronic pain or addiction and now the DEA wants to rip that away from them really infuriates me.

It's clear that the DEA will never stop trying to make harmless substances illegal. After kratom, it will probably be something equally benign, like green tea. They don't care what's in the best interest of the general public, they care about legitimizing their existence and having a reason to request bigger budgets. They only exist as long as they have substances to demonize, and they will not stop with kratom. Whether you use kratom or not isn't important; this is government overreach at it's finest.