The DEA has a
long and questionable history in the ‘war on drugs’. Lately, it has come to the
public’s attention that the infamous government agency plans on emergency
scheduling two chemical compounds from the Kratom plant as Schedule 1
Substances- the most restricted categories of drug compounds. As you can
imagine, this has faced considerable backlash from proponents of Kratom as well
as those who see its potential in the field of medicine.
Kratom is almost
as commonplace in Southeast Asia as a cup of coffee in the United States.
Mitragyna Speciosa is literally in the coffee family and the DEA thinks it can
outright destroy lives.
The
Transnational Institute, a research and advocacy group, reported in 2011 that
kratom "is chewed in teashops, at certain ceremonies (though this practice
is fading), and other informal social events, as well as while engaging in
manual labor and in the comfort of one’s own home. Eating kratom is a tradition
that has been practiced for centuries in southern Thailand and up to 70 percent
of the male population in some districts use kratom daily. Indeed, many people
in southern Thailand consider chewing kratom similar to drinking coffee."[1]
Despite
this, the DEA has taken precautionary measures in banning the substances that
can be derived from Kratom because they believe that there isn’t enough
research that supports its purported benefits. The agency has established a two-year
probationary ban in order to establish the possible medicinal effects of this
plant. I can empathize with their cautionary sentiments but their timing could
not be any worse. Currently, there is an opioid painkiller and heroin epidemic
in the United States and Kratom could be the key to harm reduction and
potentially saving thousands of lives.
Kratom,
according to a study done for the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, can be a safer
analog to opioids as it helps reduce pain with only minimal negative side
effects.
The study found several positive effects (from most to least
common): euphoria, relaxation, enhanced sociability, increased energy, pain
relief, sensory enhancement, and warmth or tingling. It also found some
negative effects (from most to least common): nausea and stomachaches,
withdrawal (from addiction), chills and sweats, dizziness and unsteadiness,
vomiting, hangovers, and itching. Reviewing other research, the study found no
good evidence that kratom alone has caused deadly overdoses.
According to the study, the pain relief element has become
particularly promising for pain patients who want to seek alternatives to
highly addictive, potentially deadly opioid painkillers. The study also found
that kratom may aid with easing withdrawal from opioid addiction.(1)
The
study is bolstered with evidence from the transnational institute, which
reports that Kratom use in Thailand within the past few decades has been tied
to reduction of pain from withdrawal symptoms. It was even widely used to wean
off of alcohol and nicotine dependence and was not exclusively effective for
opiate withdrawals.
However,
this evidence is not up to par with the Government’s expectations for
‘medicinal value’. Large Scale clinical trials like the ones the FDA conducts
are needed to prove that Kratom is more than just another illicit and highly
addictive substance. This process of testing and research could take a lot more
than two years, as we have seen with Medical Marijuana legalization on the
federal level. That is a scary prospect for people who desperately need to wean
off opiates or risk dying from withdrawal from the likes of heroin and fentanyl
(another opiate).
Meanwhile,
thousands of Americans are dying because of opiate addiction and dependence on
heroin, a drug that is arguably much more harmful than Kratom. The idea of
Kratom being banned terrifies me because we as a society could lose out on a
potentially wonderful alternative to opioid painkiller addiction. I can see why
the DEA wants to put a short term ban on it- they want to be absolutely
positive that the plant does have some medicinal value, but I am incredibly
fearful of Kratom becoming mired in the bureaucratic bog of drug legalization. It’s
terrifying to think about all those opiate-addicted victims that are going to
suffer in the short term while waiting for what seems to be a decent alternative
to withdrawal and a valuable tool to wean off truly harmful ‘hard’ drugs.
