Previously unreleased HHS letter discovered according to AKA Press Release
Via the American Kratom Association (AKA) press conference held today, the Department of Health and Human Services had withdrawn its recommendation back in 2018 to the Drug Enforcement Administration that kratom become a Schedule 1 Drug.
The HHS initially recommended kratom be put on Schedule 1 in October 2017, making it just as illegal as LSD and heroin. Media only discovered the October 2017 recommendation letter a year later, AFTER the HHS withdrew the recommendation in a letter stamped “Aug 16 2018”. It’s unknown why anyone at HHS or DEA didn’t refute the reports about the 2017 recommended scheduling when they came out, or why either of these letters weren’t made public immediately.
From the AKA press release:
Congressman Mark Pocan (WI) and Congressman Morgan Griffith, in exercising their oversight responsibilities over the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), discovered that on August 16, 2018 HHS had rescinded the request for the kratom to be classified as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
It’s unclear why this information wasn’t released sooner, or if anyone at these agencies were in violation of the law.