PDX Dopesmoker
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My impression is that government feels that allowing recreational inebriation will cut into tax revenues.
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The DEA's Crazy Kratom Ban
- Thread starter Betterhaff
- Start date
My impression is that government feels that allowing recreational inebriation will cut into tax revenues.
Probably similar to cannabis, it doesn’t work (or work the same) for everybody. And some types work better for some and other types work better for others.
The DEA Didn’t Talk To Kratom Users Before Pushing A Ban. Here’s What They Would’ve Said.
These people will soon be criminals in the eyes of the federal government.
“Oxycontin, morphine, fentanyl, Darvocet.”
Deanna McNair, 36, pauses before ticking off the rest of the drugs she’s been prescribed for pain following a series of car accidents and subsequent surgeries.
“Percocet, Opana, Norco, methadone,” she continues. “Not all at the same time, of course.”
Then there are the muscle relaxers, antidepressants and medications McNair had to take just to treat the side effects of her other prescriptions.
The panoply of pharmaceuticals was a necessity for McNair. Over a period of 13 years, she underwent five lumbar surgeries and one cervical surgery. Three vertebrae in her lower back are now fused, as is one in her neck.
“The drugs helped with the pain, but not with getting back to life,” McNair said. “They make you loopy, they make you tired, they make you nod out when you’re taking them.”
The prescription regimen left McNair unable to drive. She could no longer focus in class, so she put her education on hold. Despite being dependent on opioids for pain relief, McNair said she was luckier than many people. She never got addicted, and eventually stopped taking the painkillers when she felt she no longer needed them.
“I did experience withdrawals, but I just told myself it was the flu,” she said of the sweaty aches, cramps and nausea typically associated with coming off opioids.
McNair was eventually able to whittle down her list to five medications. About a year ago, just one, Percocet, was for her chronic pain. She was using it only as needed, maybe a few times a month.
It was an improvement, McNair said. But she was still suffering from anxiety, nerve pain and depression, and the pills were affecting her quality of life. She wasn’t ready to accept that this was as good as it could get.
Then McNair discovered the herbal supplement kratom. Now that’s all she takes.
“I’ve been able to replace all the prescription medicines,” McNair said.
Kratom is made from the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa, a Southeast Asian tree related to coffee. People have been using it in Asia for centuries and perhaps longer, and laborers today still chew the leaves for energy. In the 20th century, kratom, which contains alkaloids that activate opioid receptors, gained popularity in Thailand as a replacement for opium. Although most opioids have sedative qualities, low to moderate quantities of kratom actually serve as a mild stimulant.
McNair takes capsules filled with the powdered plant matter a few times a day. The kratom works quickly to address her pain, while giving her energy and focus, she said. McNair is taking classes again, and she’s happy to have gotten her life back.
Stories like McNair’s aren’t uncommon. (Read about the experiences of other people below.)
Kratom has been gaining popularity in the West over the past few years, attracting attention from prospective patients and drug warriors alike. People most frequently use kratom as a treatment for chronic pain and a variety of other symptoms, including anxiety, depression and opioid addiction.
Many kratom advocates suffer from debilitating disorders, like fibromyalgia, or severe joint pain stemming from past injuries or surgeries. Others carry only psychological pain. Most users have spent years searching for a way to effectively treat their conditions, a quest that more often than not involves a variety of prescription drugs. Some say the pills didn’t work at all. Others say they did, but at an extreme cost, including acute side effects, crippling dependency or addiction. Kratom is different, they claim, and provides many of the same benefits without the downsides. Thousands of kratom users now gather online to share their experiences and coordinate bulk purchasing of raw kratom powder from farmers in Asia.
But the federal government seems to think kratom is too good to be true. The Drug Enforcement Administration announced last month that it was moving to place kratom in Schedule I ― alongside heroin and LSD ― as soon as Sept. 30. Drugs in this category are considered to have no known medical benefit and a high potential for abuse. They also carry harsh legal penalties for possession and distribution.
The DEA argues this move is necessary because kratom hasn’t been approved as a medical treatment by any federal regulatory agency. Isolated reports also suggest that a small though growing number of Americans are doing harm to themselves by abusing the herb. In the six years from January 2010 to December 2015, U.S. poison centers handled 49 cases associated with kratom that involved “life-threatening signs or symptoms, with some residual disability.” It’s unclear how significant a role, if any, the kratom itself played in these episodes, as many incidents involved people who had taken multiple substances. But the DEA used the finding as a basis to conclude that the herb poses an “imminent hazard to public safety.”
Kratom advocates are now crying foul at the federal government’s rush to make them criminals without ever having sought their input or any sort of public comment. They accuse the DEA of cherry-picking data and misrepresenting kratom’s potential for harm, while failing to differentiate between natural forms of the herb and the legitimately concerning “gas station” kratom products, which may be mislabeled or contain unknown adulterants. Users also say the DEA ignored emerging science that could support anecdotal evidence of the herb’s therapeutic benefits. One doctor has even suggested that the alkaloids in kratom could help lead to the development of safer alternatives to the narcotic painkillers that have helped fuel the opioid epidemic.
As the kratom community shares its own experiences in an attempt to fill in the gaps deliberately left by the DEA, a few themes become clear.
Most kratom users are not fanatics of quack medicine. Some may be deeply skeptical or distrustful of pharmaceuticals, but not without reason. Many people who have turned to kratom only did so after years of failed attempts to find effective treatment through more traditional avenues. Kratom works for them where those methods failed. For some, the herb seems to border on a miracle drug. For others, it’s simply a cheaper, milder, all-natural alternative to the pills they’d gotten from doctors. Many believe more broadly that they should be free to choose their own treatment without government intrusion, a point of view that clearly puts them at odds with the DEA.
Kratom users are also convinced that the herb has a low potential for acute harm ― a view supported by preliminary research ― and believe people are misstating the risks associated with addiction and dependency. Most users claim that taking too much kratom, or raw kratom ingested on its own, at least, will lead only to nausea and vomiting. And while most users claim kratom is not physically addictive, they admit it can lead to dependency. But many of the people who use kratom have serious underlying medical conditions that require some form of treatment. If they weren’t dependent on kratom, they say, they’d be dependent on something else. Because kratom doesn’t drive them to other drug-seeking behavior or leave them with intense withdrawal symptoms, they see it as a preferable substitute to prescription opioids.
Users also believe the sudden move to ban kratom exposes the federal government’s hypocrisy when it comes to addressing the suffering unleashed by the opioid epidemic. The White House and members of Congress have been vocal about encouraging doctors to prescribe fewer opiates, but now the DEA is banning an herbal alternative that has already allowed many people to get off of such narcotic painkillers, or to avoid them completely. Kratom has also been used to wean people off heroin or other prescription maintenance treatments for opioid addiction. Users are quick to point out that pharmaceutical companies must be pleased by the DEA’s move to kill off an affordable competitor.
Above all, however, kratom users are passionate about having found a treatment that works for them. And now, they’re distraught about being forced to choose between continuing to use kratom criminally, returning to pharmaceuticals or potentially ending treatment altogether.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kratom-users_us_57d30ab7e4b06a74c9f49c10
These people will soon be criminals in the eyes of the federal government.
“Oxycontin, morphine, fentanyl, Darvocet.”
Deanna McNair, 36, pauses before ticking off the rest of the drugs she’s been prescribed for pain following a series of car accidents and subsequent surgeries.
“Percocet, Opana, Norco, methadone,” she continues. “Not all at the same time, of course.”
Then there are the muscle relaxers, antidepressants and medications McNair had to take just to treat the side effects of her other prescriptions.
The panoply of pharmaceuticals was a necessity for McNair. Over a period of 13 years, she underwent five lumbar surgeries and one cervical surgery. Three vertebrae in her lower back are now fused, as is one in her neck.
“The drugs helped with the pain, but not with getting back to life,” McNair said. “They make you loopy, they make you tired, they make you nod out when you’re taking them.”
The prescription regimen left McNair unable to drive. She could no longer focus in class, so she put her education on hold. Despite being dependent on opioids for pain relief, McNair said she was luckier than many people. She never got addicted, and eventually stopped taking the painkillers when she felt she no longer needed them.
“I did experience withdrawals, but I just told myself it was the flu,” she said of the sweaty aches, cramps and nausea typically associated with coming off opioids.
McNair was eventually able to whittle down her list to five medications. About a year ago, just one, Percocet, was for her chronic pain. She was using it only as needed, maybe a few times a month.
It was an improvement, McNair said. But she was still suffering from anxiety, nerve pain and depression, and the pills were affecting her quality of life. She wasn’t ready to accept that this was as good as it could get.
Then McNair discovered the herbal supplement kratom. Now that’s all she takes.
“I’ve been able to replace all the prescription medicines,” McNair said.
Kratom is made from the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa, a Southeast Asian tree related to coffee. People have been using it in Asia for centuries and perhaps longer, and laborers today still chew the leaves for energy. In the 20th century, kratom, which contains alkaloids that activate opioid receptors, gained popularity in Thailand as a replacement for opium. Although most opioids have sedative qualities, low to moderate quantities of kratom actually serve as a mild stimulant.
McNair takes capsules filled with the powdered plant matter a few times a day. The kratom works quickly to address her pain, while giving her energy and focus, she said. McNair is taking classes again, and she’s happy to have gotten her life back.
Stories like McNair’s aren’t uncommon. (Read about the experiences of other people below.)
Kratom has been gaining popularity in the West over the past few years, attracting attention from prospective patients and drug warriors alike. People most frequently use kratom as a treatment for chronic pain and a variety of other symptoms, including anxiety, depression and opioid addiction.
Many kratom advocates suffer from debilitating disorders, like fibromyalgia, or severe joint pain stemming from past injuries or surgeries. Others carry only psychological pain. Most users have spent years searching for a way to effectively treat their conditions, a quest that more often than not involves a variety of prescription drugs. Some say the pills didn’t work at all. Others say they did, but at an extreme cost, including acute side effects, crippling dependency or addiction. Kratom is different, they claim, and provides many of the same benefits without the downsides. Thousands of kratom users now gather online to share their experiences and coordinate bulk purchasing of raw kratom powder from farmers in Asia.
But the federal government seems to think kratom is too good to be true. The Drug Enforcement Administration announced last month that it was moving to place kratom in Schedule I ― alongside heroin and LSD ― as soon as Sept. 30. Drugs in this category are considered to have no known medical benefit and a high potential for abuse. They also carry harsh legal penalties for possession and distribution.
The DEA argues this move is necessary because kratom hasn’t been approved as a medical treatment by any federal regulatory agency. Isolated reports also suggest that a small though growing number of Americans are doing harm to themselves by abusing the herb. In the six years from January 2010 to December 2015, U.S. poison centers handled 49 cases associated with kratom that involved “life-threatening signs or symptoms, with some residual disability.” It’s unclear how significant a role, if any, the kratom itself played in these episodes, as many incidents involved people who had taken multiple substances. But the DEA used the finding as a basis to conclude that the herb poses an “imminent hazard to public safety.”
Kratom advocates are now crying foul at the federal government’s rush to make them criminals without ever having sought their input or any sort of public comment. They accuse the DEA of cherry-picking data and misrepresenting kratom’s potential for harm, while failing to differentiate between natural forms of the herb and the legitimately concerning “gas station” kratom products, which may be mislabeled or contain unknown adulterants. Users also say the DEA ignored emerging science that could support anecdotal evidence of the herb’s therapeutic benefits. One doctor has even suggested that the alkaloids in kratom could help lead to the development of safer alternatives to the narcotic painkillers that have helped fuel the opioid epidemic.
As the kratom community shares its own experiences in an attempt to fill in the gaps deliberately left by the DEA, a few themes become clear.
Most kratom users are not fanatics of quack medicine. Some may be deeply skeptical or distrustful of pharmaceuticals, but not without reason. Many people who have turned to kratom only did so after years of failed attempts to find effective treatment through more traditional avenues. Kratom works for them where those methods failed. For some, the herb seems to border on a miracle drug. For others, it’s simply a cheaper, milder, all-natural alternative to the pills they’d gotten from doctors. Many believe more broadly that they should be free to choose their own treatment without government intrusion, a point of view that clearly puts them at odds with the DEA.
Kratom users are also convinced that the herb has a low potential for acute harm ― a view supported by preliminary research ― and believe people are misstating the risks associated with addiction and dependency. Most users claim that taking too much kratom, or raw kratom ingested on its own, at least, will lead only to nausea and vomiting. And while most users claim kratom is not physically addictive, they admit it can lead to dependency. But many of the people who use kratom have serious underlying medical conditions that require some form of treatment. If they weren’t dependent on kratom, they say, they’d be dependent on something else. Because kratom doesn’t drive them to other drug-seeking behavior or leave them with intense withdrawal symptoms, they see it as a preferable substitute to prescription opioids.
Users also believe the sudden move to ban kratom exposes the federal government’s hypocrisy when it comes to addressing the suffering unleashed by the opioid epidemic. The White House and members of Congress have been vocal about encouraging doctors to prescribe fewer opiates, but now the DEA is banning an herbal alternative that has already allowed many people to get off of such narcotic painkillers, or to avoid them completely. Kratom has also been used to wean people off heroin or other prescription maintenance treatments for opioid addiction. Users are quick to point out that pharmaceutical companies must be pleased by the DEA’s move to kill off an affordable competitor.
Above all, however, kratom users are passionate about having found a treatment that works for them. And now, they’re distraught about being forced to choose between continuing to use kratom criminally, returning to pharmaceuticals or potentially ending treatment altogether.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kratom-users_us_57d30ab7e4b06a74c9f49c10
Kratom Drug Ban May Cripple Promising Painkiller Research
Compounds from the Southeast Asian tree offer hope for a safer opioid alternative, but research could slow to a crawl as the DEA steps in
Your body would never get used to the perfect painkiller, says Susruta Majumdar, a chemist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. So unlike the case with common opioids such as morphine or Oxycontin, you would not need to take ever-increasing doses to relieve the same amount of pain. The ideal analgesic would not have the high risk of addiction, withdrawal or fatal respiratory slowdowns that have turned opioid abuse into a massive epidemic. The holy grail of painkillers would not induce the seductive euphoria of common opioids or their less-pleasant side effects like itching or constipation.
A painkiller with just one of these properties would be great, but Majumdar thinks he has stumbled onto a class of chemicals that might have them all. They are found in kratom, a plant that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration intends to effectively ban from the U.S. in an emergency move as early as September 30. Without legal access to it, research on some of the most promising leads for a better painkiller may grind to a crawl.
Kratom comes from the Mitragyna speciosa tree native to parts of Southeast Asia, where people chew the leaves for a light, caffeine-like jolt of energy or as a traditional medicine for ailments ranging from diarrhea to pain. Kratom has been illegal since 1943 in Thailand, where it is believed to be addictive. Case studieshave suggested that suddenly stopping regular kratom use may lead to withdrawal symptoms—but they are widely considered milder than those associated with opioids.
Majumdar first learned about kratom via a Web search a couple of years ago. By then there were stories in the West about how kratom tea could be used to manage pain—and to mitigate brutal opioid withdrawal. That caught Majmundar’s attention, and he found research from the 1970s that described some of the basic biochemistry of kratom’s two primary psychoactive compounds, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, as well as one more molecule called mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, which is produced when kratom ferments. “We got excited because the chemical structure is almost completely unrelated to that of commonly used opioids,” says Andras Varadi, a colleague of Majumdar who is a medicinal chemist at Columbia University and Sloan Kettering.
When Majumdar and his team started studying the compounds in the laboratory, they realized all three molecules were binding to the mu-opioid receptor—one of three known kinds of opioid receptors in the brain—in an unconventional way. Think of this receptor as the ignition to a “hybrid car,” Varadi explains, and the opioids that bind to it as keys. A typical opioid such as morphine turns on the “electric engine,” and that leads to a desired effect like pain relief. But it also starts up the “gas engine,” causing negative side effects. The mitragynine molecules from kratom seem to activate mostly the “good” systems, leaving behind the unwanted effects yet keeping pain relief.
Scientists have been trying to develop next-generation drugs with this property. There is one candidate, pharmaceutical company Trevena’s TRV130, in clinical trials now. That’s part of what makes kratom exciting to researchers, says Laura Bohn, a biochemist at the Scripps Research Institute who was not involved with this work. “The more chemical structures you have [with this property] the more you can say, ‘here’s the right features of these, and let’s impart that into our drug development.’”
Majumdar noticed that the fermented-kratom compound mitragynine pseudoindoxyl—unlike most other drugs in development—also blocks off another opioid receptor, the delta receptor. “That’s when we got excited,” Majumdar says. Past experiments have shown that delta receptor blockers could reduce morphine tolerance and withdrawal symptoms in mice. “There were signs that delta antagonism is good,” Majumdar says. And if mitragynine pseudoindoxyl could both block the delta receptor and produce favorable behavior on the mu receptor, Majumdar says it might be better than any other pain drug science is currently investigating.
In an attempt to find out about these blocking capabilities Varadi injected mice with mitragynine pseudoindoxyl twice a day for a month. Then he checked if they could feel pain, using techniques such as putting them on a hot plate. In such experiments morphine usually loses its painkilling effects after five days. But after 30 days on a consistent dose of mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, the mice still showed numbness to pain. “It was the most exciting experiment I’ve ever done,” Varadi says. In other experiments Varadi and Majumdar reported that the mice exhibited few withdrawal symptoms from mitragynine pseudoindoxyl—and they displayed no indication that they actually enjoyed taking the drug. “[This is] early promise it’s nonaddictive,” Majumdar says. His team reported its findings in The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry last month.
Varadi says his results indicate that mitragynine pseudoindoxyl may have the peculiar ability to both activate the mu receptor—possibly making it a powerful painkiller that also reduces addictive and potentially deadly side effects—as well as lower withdrawal and tolerance. “It’s a double whammy,” Varadi says.
Although the kratom compounds have yet to be clinically studied in humans, Andrew Kruegel, a pharmacologist at Columbia who was not involved in Varadi’s study, says the results hold promise for better designer painkillers. “Those compounds alone may already be superior to codeine and oxycodone. At a minimum, if you can get rid of respiratory [problems] then you can save thousands of lives,” Kruegel says. “But we can tweak their properties to make them even better than the natural starting point.” Or they would do so if the research were able to legally continue, he adds.
The DEA plans to place kratom and its psychoactive ingredients in the agency’s most restricted controlled substance category, Schedule I, on September 30 at the earliest. That would place it in the same group as heroin, ecstasy and marijuana. All Schedule I drugs are supposed to have a high potential for abuse and harm, and to have no medical use.
Scientists can obtain a license to study Schedule I drugs but they are hard to acquire and significantly slow down research, says Chris McCurdy, a kratom researcher at the University of Mississippi. “I don’t oppose it being regulated, I just oppose Schedule I,” he says. “That’s where the frustration comes in, realizing you have to shut everything down because we don’t have a Schedule I license.”
At the moment, neither do several other kratom researchers, including Majumdar. “We’ll have to destroy all our samples in the lab,” Kruegel says. The DEA’s emergency scheduling of kratom will expire after two years if the agency does not move to make the scheduling permanent. But for that to happen, Kruegel thinks scientists will likely need to show further proof that kratom is medically useful. “That we’ll have any progress in the next two years is very unlikely,” he says.
Russ Baer, a spokesperson for the DEA, says the reason for putting kratom and its psychoactive ingredients in the most restrictive drug category is to protect public safety and stop misuse. “Independent of the DEA, the Food and Drug Administration has issued a number of public health warnings and import alerts, most recently about July 2016, and concerns they have about kratom representing a health risk,” he says. “And it’s been on our radar for awhile as a drug of concern.”
A DEA announcement cited 15 kratom-related deaths between 2014 and 2016, and there have also been accounts of kratom being misused. “One of my [research] partners has treated people in the emergency room who would dissolve and then inject kratom extract,” says Ed Boyer, a professor of emergency medicine at University of Massachusetts Medical School and a kratom researcher. Most of these incidences of abuse probably involved other substances as well, he adds.
Some Kratom purchased in the U.S. has been found to be adulterated with other compounds, including common opioids like hydrocodone. “People think they’re getting kratom; they could be getting anything,” says Kavita Babu, a toxicologist at UMass Memorial Medical Center who was not involved with Majumdar’s study. “In terms of death, we really only get into that issue when it’s combined with other substances,” says Alicia Lydecker, also a toxicologist at UMass. She was not involved in the study.
Mitragynine seems to be a fairly weak drug on its own, Majumdar says. It is about 55 times less potent than morphine in terms of pain relief. “I did drink kratom tea,” he says, “and I felt nothing.” Another compound, 7-hydroxymitragynine, is about six times more potent than morphine—but Majumdar says it occurs in such small amounts in the plant that it is probably not responsible for most effects experienced by consumers of unaltered, natural kratom.
The DEA’s decision on kratom has even begun to draw critical attention from U.S. lawmakers. Rep. Mark Pocan (D–Wis.) has urged Congress to sign a letter asking the DEA to delay making it a controlled substance. But the impending ban has left an especially bitter taste with many researchers who feel there is already ample evidence the plant has clear medical potential. “It is frustrating,” Bohn says. “I totally empathize with trying to prevent misuse, but it has to be thoughtful and protective. For us, [kratom] is a valuable, valuable research tool.”
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/kratom-drug-ban-may-cripple-promising-painkiller-research/
Compounds from the Southeast Asian tree offer hope for a safer opioid alternative, but research could slow to a crawl as the DEA steps in
Your body would never get used to the perfect painkiller, says Susruta Majumdar, a chemist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. So unlike the case with common opioids such as morphine or Oxycontin, you would not need to take ever-increasing doses to relieve the same amount of pain. The ideal analgesic would not have the high risk of addiction, withdrawal or fatal respiratory slowdowns that have turned opioid abuse into a massive epidemic. The holy grail of painkillers would not induce the seductive euphoria of common opioids or their less-pleasant side effects like itching or constipation.
A painkiller with just one of these properties would be great, but Majumdar thinks he has stumbled onto a class of chemicals that might have them all. They are found in kratom, a plant that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration intends to effectively ban from the U.S. in an emergency move as early as September 30. Without legal access to it, research on some of the most promising leads for a better painkiller may grind to a crawl.
Kratom comes from the Mitragyna speciosa tree native to parts of Southeast Asia, where people chew the leaves for a light, caffeine-like jolt of energy or as a traditional medicine for ailments ranging from diarrhea to pain. Kratom has been illegal since 1943 in Thailand, where it is believed to be addictive. Case studieshave suggested that suddenly stopping regular kratom use may lead to withdrawal symptoms—but they are widely considered milder than those associated with opioids.
Majumdar first learned about kratom via a Web search a couple of years ago. By then there were stories in the West about how kratom tea could be used to manage pain—and to mitigate brutal opioid withdrawal. That caught Majmundar’s attention, and he found research from the 1970s that described some of the basic biochemistry of kratom’s two primary psychoactive compounds, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, as well as one more molecule called mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, which is produced when kratom ferments. “We got excited because the chemical structure is almost completely unrelated to that of commonly used opioids,” says Andras Varadi, a colleague of Majumdar who is a medicinal chemist at Columbia University and Sloan Kettering.
When Majumdar and his team started studying the compounds in the laboratory, they realized all three molecules were binding to the mu-opioid receptor—one of three known kinds of opioid receptors in the brain—in an unconventional way. Think of this receptor as the ignition to a “hybrid car,” Varadi explains, and the opioids that bind to it as keys. A typical opioid such as morphine turns on the “electric engine,” and that leads to a desired effect like pain relief. But it also starts up the “gas engine,” causing negative side effects. The mitragynine molecules from kratom seem to activate mostly the “good” systems, leaving behind the unwanted effects yet keeping pain relief.
Scientists have been trying to develop next-generation drugs with this property. There is one candidate, pharmaceutical company Trevena’s TRV130, in clinical trials now. That’s part of what makes kratom exciting to researchers, says Laura Bohn, a biochemist at the Scripps Research Institute who was not involved with this work. “The more chemical structures you have [with this property] the more you can say, ‘here’s the right features of these, and let’s impart that into our drug development.’”
Majumdar noticed that the fermented-kratom compound mitragynine pseudoindoxyl—unlike most other drugs in development—also blocks off another opioid receptor, the delta receptor. “That’s when we got excited,” Majumdar says. Past experiments have shown that delta receptor blockers could reduce morphine tolerance and withdrawal symptoms in mice. “There were signs that delta antagonism is good,” Majumdar says. And if mitragynine pseudoindoxyl could both block the delta receptor and produce favorable behavior on the mu receptor, Majumdar says it might be better than any other pain drug science is currently investigating.
In an attempt to find out about these blocking capabilities Varadi injected mice with mitragynine pseudoindoxyl twice a day for a month. Then he checked if they could feel pain, using techniques such as putting them on a hot plate. In such experiments morphine usually loses its painkilling effects after five days. But after 30 days on a consistent dose of mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, the mice still showed numbness to pain. “It was the most exciting experiment I’ve ever done,” Varadi says. In other experiments Varadi and Majumdar reported that the mice exhibited few withdrawal symptoms from mitragynine pseudoindoxyl—and they displayed no indication that they actually enjoyed taking the drug. “[This is] early promise it’s nonaddictive,” Majumdar says. His team reported its findings in The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry last month.
Varadi says his results indicate that mitragynine pseudoindoxyl may have the peculiar ability to both activate the mu receptor—possibly making it a powerful painkiller that also reduces addictive and potentially deadly side effects—as well as lower withdrawal and tolerance. “It’s a double whammy,” Varadi says.
Although the kratom compounds have yet to be clinically studied in humans, Andrew Kruegel, a pharmacologist at Columbia who was not involved in Varadi’s study, says the results hold promise for better designer painkillers. “Those compounds alone may already be superior to codeine and oxycodone. At a minimum, if you can get rid of respiratory [problems] then you can save thousands of lives,” Kruegel says. “But we can tweak their properties to make them even better than the natural starting point.” Or they would do so if the research were able to legally continue, he adds.
The DEA plans to place kratom and its psychoactive ingredients in the agency’s most restricted controlled substance category, Schedule I, on September 30 at the earliest. That would place it in the same group as heroin, ecstasy and marijuana. All Schedule I drugs are supposed to have a high potential for abuse and harm, and to have no medical use.
Scientists can obtain a license to study Schedule I drugs but they are hard to acquire and significantly slow down research, says Chris McCurdy, a kratom researcher at the University of Mississippi. “I don’t oppose it being regulated, I just oppose Schedule I,” he says. “That’s where the frustration comes in, realizing you have to shut everything down because we don’t have a Schedule I license.”
At the moment, neither do several other kratom researchers, including Majumdar. “We’ll have to destroy all our samples in the lab,” Kruegel says. The DEA’s emergency scheduling of kratom will expire after two years if the agency does not move to make the scheduling permanent. But for that to happen, Kruegel thinks scientists will likely need to show further proof that kratom is medically useful. “That we’ll have any progress in the next two years is very unlikely,” he says.
Russ Baer, a spokesperson for the DEA, says the reason for putting kratom and its psychoactive ingredients in the most restrictive drug category is to protect public safety and stop misuse. “Independent of the DEA, the Food and Drug Administration has issued a number of public health warnings and import alerts, most recently about July 2016, and concerns they have about kratom representing a health risk,” he says. “And it’s been on our radar for awhile as a drug of concern.”
A DEA announcement cited 15 kratom-related deaths between 2014 and 2016, and there have also been accounts of kratom being misused. “One of my [research] partners has treated people in the emergency room who would dissolve and then inject kratom extract,” says Ed Boyer, a professor of emergency medicine at University of Massachusetts Medical School and a kratom researcher. Most of these incidences of abuse probably involved other substances as well, he adds.
Some Kratom purchased in the U.S. has been found to be adulterated with other compounds, including common opioids like hydrocodone. “People think they’re getting kratom; they could be getting anything,” says Kavita Babu, a toxicologist at UMass Memorial Medical Center who was not involved with Majumdar’s study. “In terms of death, we really only get into that issue when it’s combined with other substances,” says Alicia Lydecker, also a toxicologist at UMass. She was not involved in the study.
Mitragynine seems to be a fairly weak drug on its own, Majumdar says. It is about 55 times less potent than morphine in terms of pain relief. “I did drink kratom tea,” he says, “and I felt nothing.” Another compound, 7-hydroxymitragynine, is about six times more potent than morphine—but Majumdar says it occurs in such small amounts in the plant that it is probably not responsible for most effects experienced by consumers of unaltered, natural kratom.
The DEA’s decision on kratom has even begun to draw critical attention from U.S. lawmakers. Rep. Mark Pocan (D–Wis.) has urged Congress to sign a letter asking the DEA to delay making it a controlled substance. But the impending ban has left an especially bitter taste with many researchers who feel there is already ample evidence the plant has clear medical potential. “It is frustrating,” Bohn says. “I totally empathize with trying to prevent misuse, but it has to be thoughtful and protective. For us, [kratom] is a valuable, valuable research tool.”
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/kratom-drug-ban-may-cripple-promising-painkiller-research/
The DEA is withdrawing a proposal to ban another plant after the Internet got really mad
The Drug Enforcement Administration is reversing a widely criticized decision that would have banned the use of kratom, a plant that researchers say could help mitigate the effects of the opioid epidemic.
Citing the public outcry and a need to obtain more research, the DEA is withdrawing its notice of intent to ban the drug, according to a preliminary document that will be posted to the Federal Register Thursday.
The move is "shocking," according to John Hudak, who studies drug policy at the Brookings Institution. "The DEA is not one to second-guess itself, no matter what the facts are."
The DEA had announced in August that it planned to place kratom in schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, the most restrictive regulatory category, as soon as Sept. 30. But since announcing their intent to ban kratom, the "DEA has received numerous comments from members of the public challenging the scheduling action," acting administrator Chuck Rosenberg wrote in the notice, "and requesting that the agency consider those comments and accompanying information before taking further action."
A spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Kratom is a plant from southeast Asia that's related to coffee. It contains a number of chemical compounds that produce effects similar to opiates when ingested.
People who take it have have said kratom helped them overcome addiction to opiates or alcohol and treat otherwise intractable pain. Researchers say that their work with kratom could eventually lead to the development of nonaddictive alternatives to powerful opiate painkillers. Placing kratom in schedule 1 would cripple researchers ability to study the drug, they say.
U.S. lawmakers were among the groups expressing their displeasure with the DEA's intent to ban kratom. A group of 51 U.S. representatives wrote to the DEA saying that the DEA's move "threatens the transparency of the scheduling process and its responsiveness to the input of both citizens and the scientific community."
Another group of nine senators said the DEA's "use of this emergency authority for a natural substance is unprecedented," and urged the administration to reconsider.
The DEA will now open up a period for public comment until Dec. 1 of this year. It is also asking the FDA to expedite a "scientific and medical evaluation and scheduling recommendation" for the active chemical compounds in kratom.
At the close of the comment period, a number of things could happen. The DEA could decide to permanently place the plant in a schedule of the Controlled Substances Act, which would require an additional period for lawmakers and the public to weigh in. It could also decide to temporarily schedule kratom, which would not require any additional comment.
It could also decide to leave kratom unregulated.
Advocates for kratom use, who say the plant has helped them treat pain and stop taking more powerful and deadly opiate painkillers said they are elated.
"I am in tears," Susan Ash of the American Kratom Association said in an email. "Our voices are being heard, but we still have a long road ahead of us.
Lawmakers who criticized the initial announcement to ban kratom are also pleased. "Concerned citizens across the country have made it clear, they want the DEA to listen to the science when it comes to the potentially life-saving properties of kratom," said Mark Pocan (D.-Wis.) in an email.
Researchers are welcoming the move, but they point out that the future of their work with the plant is an uncertain one.
"It's certainly a positive development," said Andrew Kruegel of Columbia University in an email. Kruegel is one of the researchers working to develop next-generation painkillers based on compounds contained in kratom.
Kruegel says that the FDA's evaluation of the drug will carry a lot of weight in the DEA's decision. But the kind of rigorous, controlled trials that the FDA typically refers to in situations like this simply don't exist for kratom.
"Unfortunately, in the United States I don't think we have a good regulatory framework for handling this situation or taking perhaps more reasonable middle paths" between banning the drug outright or keeping it unregulated, Kruegel says.
Still, he says, "the FDA is a scientific agency rather than a law enforcement agency, so I am encouraged that they will now be having more serious input on this important policy decision."
Marc Swogger, a clinical psychologist atthe University of Rochester Medical Center who has published research on kratom use and earlier called the decision to ban the plant "insane," said in an email that "I'm happy to see this. It is a step in the right direction and a credit to people who have spoken out against scheduling this plant."
He added "now, the government should take into account, not just the minimal available scientific data on kratom, but the broader impact that criminalizing the use of this plant will have on vulnerable citizens."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-to-ban-the-opiate-like-plant-kratom-for-now/
The Drug Enforcement Administration is reversing a widely criticized decision that would have banned the use of kratom, a plant that researchers say could help mitigate the effects of the opioid epidemic.
Citing the public outcry and a need to obtain more research, the DEA is withdrawing its notice of intent to ban the drug, according to a preliminary document that will be posted to the Federal Register Thursday.
The move is "shocking," according to John Hudak, who studies drug policy at the Brookings Institution. "The DEA is not one to second-guess itself, no matter what the facts are."
The DEA had announced in August that it planned to place kratom in schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, the most restrictive regulatory category, as soon as Sept. 30. But since announcing their intent to ban kratom, the "DEA has received numerous comments from members of the public challenging the scheduling action," acting administrator Chuck Rosenberg wrote in the notice, "and requesting that the agency consider those comments and accompanying information before taking further action."
A spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Kratom is a plant from southeast Asia that's related to coffee. It contains a number of chemical compounds that produce effects similar to opiates when ingested.
People who take it have have said kratom helped them overcome addiction to opiates or alcohol and treat otherwise intractable pain. Researchers say that their work with kratom could eventually lead to the development of nonaddictive alternatives to powerful opiate painkillers. Placing kratom in schedule 1 would cripple researchers ability to study the drug, they say.
U.S. lawmakers were among the groups expressing their displeasure with the DEA's intent to ban kratom. A group of 51 U.S. representatives wrote to the DEA saying that the DEA's move "threatens the transparency of the scheduling process and its responsiveness to the input of both citizens and the scientific community."
Another group of nine senators said the DEA's "use of this emergency authority for a natural substance is unprecedented," and urged the administration to reconsider.
The DEA will now open up a period for public comment until Dec. 1 of this year. It is also asking the FDA to expedite a "scientific and medical evaluation and scheduling recommendation" for the active chemical compounds in kratom.
At the close of the comment period, a number of things could happen. The DEA could decide to permanently place the plant in a schedule of the Controlled Substances Act, which would require an additional period for lawmakers and the public to weigh in. It could also decide to temporarily schedule kratom, which would not require any additional comment.
It could also decide to leave kratom unregulated.
Advocates for kratom use, who say the plant has helped them treat pain and stop taking more powerful and deadly opiate painkillers said they are elated.
"I am in tears," Susan Ash of the American Kratom Association said in an email. "Our voices are being heard, but we still have a long road ahead of us.
Lawmakers who criticized the initial announcement to ban kratom are also pleased. "Concerned citizens across the country have made it clear, they want the DEA to listen to the science when it comes to the potentially life-saving properties of kratom," said Mark Pocan (D.-Wis.) in an email.
Researchers are welcoming the move, but they point out that the future of their work with the plant is an uncertain one.
"It's certainly a positive development," said Andrew Kruegel of Columbia University in an email. Kruegel is one of the researchers working to develop next-generation painkillers based on compounds contained in kratom.
Kruegel says that the FDA's evaluation of the drug will carry a lot of weight in the DEA's decision. But the kind of rigorous, controlled trials that the FDA typically refers to in situations like this simply don't exist for kratom.
"Unfortunately, in the United States I don't think we have a good regulatory framework for handling this situation or taking perhaps more reasonable middle paths" between banning the drug outright or keeping it unregulated, Kruegel says.
Still, he says, "the FDA is a scientific agency rather than a law enforcement agency, so I am encouraged that they will now be having more serious input on this important policy decision."
Marc Swogger, a clinical psychologist atthe University of Rochester Medical Center who has published research on kratom use and earlier called the decision to ban the plant "insane," said in an email that "I'm happy to see this. It is a step in the right direction and a credit to people who have spoken out against scheduling this plant."
He added "now, the government should take into account, not just the minimal available scientific data on kratom, but the broader impact that criminalizing the use of this plant will have on vulnerable citizens."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-to-ban-the-opiate-like-plant-kratom-for-now/
Now that we have chastised the feds for trying to ban a near harmless plant that affects a few thousand people,let's DEMAND they stop the insane prohibition of a near harmless plant that affects a HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE - in this country alone.
I made a thread about this exact thing and hardly anyone commented and now like 4 pages. I wonder if anyone can see threads I start?
Anyway, anything that is medicine or gets you high is in the cross hairs of the DEA (and other agencies like it in other countries). Nobody gets high or well without giving Uncle Sam his cut. It is worse than the mafia.
I know that pharmacy companies spend a ton of money developing drugs, and pay a ton out for dangerous side effects. You hear it every day. I am always seeing some expensive drug on TV or in print that has a class action suit against if for horrible side effects. And.... Big Pharmacy is a huge lobby force in Washington DC. They buy a lot of power from the senators. They want us to go to the doctor and take the drugs they are pushing down our throats... Fuck look at all the commercials on TV where they tell you about some drug and tell you to tell your doctor you want some. And look at all the side effects.
Are there any side effects from cannabis? Do people get strange cancers or other medical consequences? Same with Kratom. Chew it raw, make a tea, refine it and put it in a gel cap. No dangerous side effects. It helps people beat opiate addictions, and probably others.
There are forums out there, just like ICmag that people talk about Kratom. People buy it by the kilo for hundreds of dollars and are worrying about what the DEA is doing. There a a lot of loyal Kratom users, much like cannabis users, only a small number for some reason. The stuff is easy to grow, has huge yields and is very effective medicine or recreational substance. Much much much safer than anything made in a lab. Even when put in capsules is it still not a laboratory drug. It is just a useful herb that grows naturally on the planet.
Since Kratom users are such a small minority the DEA will have very little push back from the general public. It will be like cannabis in the 1930s. Once this drug is officially banned it will be treated like cannabis used to be, and people will go to jail. People will go to fucking jail. And once it is illegal it will be a century before it will be made legal again.
FUCK THE DEA
Anyway, anything that is medicine or gets you high is in the cross hairs of the DEA (and other agencies like it in other countries). Nobody gets high or well without giving Uncle Sam his cut. It is worse than the mafia.
I know that pharmacy companies spend a ton of money developing drugs, and pay a ton out for dangerous side effects. You hear it every day. I am always seeing some expensive drug on TV or in print that has a class action suit against if for horrible side effects. And.... Big Pharmacy is a huge lobby force in Washington DC. They buy a lot of power from the senators. They want us to go to the doctor and take the drugs they are pushing down our throats... Fuck look at all the commercials on TV where they tell you about some drug and tell you to tell your doctor you want some. And look at all the side effects.
Are there any side effects from cannabis? Do people get strange cancers or other medical consequences? Same with Kratom. Chew it raw, make a tea, refine it and put it in a gel cap. No dangerous side effects. It helps people beat opiate addictions, and probably others.
There are forums out there, just like ICmag that people talk about Kratom. People buy it by the kilo for hundreds of dollars and are worrying about what the DEA is doing. There a a lot of loyal Kratom users, much like cannabis users, only a small number for some reason. The stuff is easy to grow, has huge yields and is very effective medicine or recreational substance. Much much much safer than anything made in a lab. Even when put in capsules is it still not a laboratory drug. It is just a useful herb that grows naturally on the planet.
Since Kratom users are such a small minority the DEA will have very little push back from the general public. It will be like cannabis in the 1930s. Once this drug is officially banned it will be treated like cannabis used to be, and people will go to jail. People will go to fucking jail. And once it is illegal it will be a century before it will be made legal again.
FUCK THE DEA
N
noyd666
yes FUCK THE DEA.UP THEM FOR THE RENT.
Do you actually think 100 million Americans smoke Marijuana or do you have this stat as approx 100 million tried it at one time ?? sure seems like allot.
Green Squall
Well-known member
Yup. Right now I'm reading "Opium: A History" by Martin Booth and both opium (mostly laudanum) and cocaine were widely available at any chemist. Every neighborhood had one. Usage depended on how much you earn and there was very little drug related crime.
About 25% of the posts in this thread are mine and maybe it’s a bit longer because I started it when the news first broke.
That’s beside the point, what really matters is the content and the message it may contain. To me the important point is the DEA should not be involved in making policy especially when it comes to decisions that require scientific evidence. They way too far have over stepped their bounds, not just with this but also with their recent decision about cannabis and scheduling. Something’s not right when a blind eye is turned when some evidence may be there…at least it’s worth exploring, no?
I use tobacco, I use alcohol, both of which have been proven to be health risks but are legal substances that I can easily run down to the corner store and buy. I choose to use and I don’t see why there should be any difference with cannabis yet I can’t because of its illegal standing (at least where I live). Cannabis should be de-scheduled and let the bricks fall where they may.
Its not that MJ should be de scheduled, its all about the blackmarket and crime related crimes i would think You know what feeds gangs
Maybe Cocaine should be legalized because it comes from a plant Heroien ?? Opium ,, where does it fucking end all of these drugs can in fact ruin a person be it family or friends.. and even kill you .
People scream that MJ is a medicine Yet when you ask anyone has it cured you ?? And if so why are you then still smoking it right ???
If we look at how these legal state growers are growing soon we see a pattern of illegal plant counts and why ?? is it done for supplement there income ?????
selling to the black market or the corner kid wanting a 1/4 oz ??? same shit over n over n over again ..
How easy it is to put or point a finger at the culprit when that culprit all along was you ..
Seriously laws are put in place for the protection of every citizen be it a baby teenager or adult ..
With out laws in place no matter what law it is and No police you would see any country raping and pillaging plain and simple
PS its a cruel world we live in but i am going to be damned if i am going to become some tree hugger or some other activast trying to push some movement..
Example Taxes i disagree that i should have to pay for some war tax only to see that my tax money is wasted in stupid things ..
As a home owner and having my kids out of school now for some time why should I have to pay for some fucking immigrant to go to school .. where does it end
And at the end of the day Who fucking cares legal or not has it detoured people from growing it ??? or speeding in there car ???
If we look back to the roman empire Yes even Romans prayed and believed in Jesus ..
Do your thing grow cocaine opium marijuana keep it to your self legal or not least you have some privacy in your home ..
Least for a little while longer
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I’m saying cannabis is relatively harmless by comparison. I’m not saying everything should be legalized (although Portugal has with some success in regards to drug use and helping with dependency and treatment). Prohibition, of cannabis, has probably created more problems than it has stopped. Wasn’t cannabis prohibition enacted with political motives (as well as some business interests earlier)?
Kratom ban withdrawn.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkr...ban-opens-formal-comment-period/#603941587ba9
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkr...ban-opens-formal-comment-period/#603941587ba9
I had to laugh when I was reading that article. This is a quote in the article from the FDA, although it was pertaining to kratom as a dietary supplement.
Sounds similar to some of the disclosures you hear in advertisements about FDA approved drugs although “sometimes death” is not mentioned. On a side note, I still don’t know why prescription drugs are allowed to be advertised in the first place.
LOL I still haven't tried it. I have a back injury and have been taking percocets. I want to wait until my system is clean before trying it. Maybe tomorrow. I got 4 ounces of the tan powder called Red Vein Sumatra. Hope it lives up to the hype. If I like it as much as others seem to I will be buying kilograms of it.
Top_shelf_farms
Active member
Kratom is a life changer for sure...
