The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an import alert on kratom in 2012, giving the agency the legal right to seize imports. The justification for the alert was based on laughably flimsy evidence, including nine deaths in Sweden of a product called “Krypton”, that contained toxic levels of O-desmethyltramadol (Babin, 2018). Since then, the …
FDA-Induced Panic by Another Kratom-Induced Seizure Read More »
Most of the world’s commercial kratom is produced in Indonesia. A ban in Indonesia would be severely detrimental to the kratom supply. Kratom is illegal to sell as a food or medicine domestically in Indonesia, but as it grows wild there, those who use kratom can easily obtain it from native trees. It is legal …
Kratom has received plenty of attention across state legislatures this month. Below is a rundown of all that has taken place in the US kratom sphere since the beginning of February. Mississippi Back in early January, a Mississippi Senate Bill was proposed calling to add kratom to Schedule I of the Uniform Controlled Substance Act. …
Important Kratom Legislative Updates: February 2021 Read More »
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESOffice of the SecretaryOffice of the Assistant Secretary for HealthWashington, D.C. 20201 AUG 16 2018 [stamped] The Honorable Uttam DhillonActing AdministratorDrug Enforcement AdministrationU.S. Department of Justice8701 Morrissette DriveSpringfield, VA 22152 Dear Mr. Dhillon: Pursuant to the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), 21 U.S.C. § 811, I am rescinding our prior recommendation …
Full Text of 2018 HHS Letter to DEA Rescinding Kratom Ban Recommendation Read More »
The United States House Committee on Appropriations has allocated the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) $500,000 towards kratom research for the year of 2021. The AHRQ was given a budget of $338,000,000 in total. “The Committee is aware of the potential promise of kratom-derived compounds for acute and chronic pain patients who seek safer …
On August 16, 2018, Brett Giroir, Assistant Secretary of Health for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent a letter to then Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Uttam Dhillon, rescinding a previous HHS recommendation that kratom should be federally outlawed. Pursuant to the Controlled Substances Act…, I am rescinding our …
This is a timeline of actions taken by federal agencies concerning kratom up to the August 16, 2018 HHS decision to withdraw a recommendation to ban kratom. FDA has been the most active federal agency in trying to control kratom, from releasing several import alerts, to requesting shipment seizures, to sending cease and desist letters …
Federal Actions on Kratom: 2006 to 2018 HHS Decision to Withhold Ban Read More »
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 …
What a busy start to 2021. On Friday, January 29, the Idaho Senate committee will meet to vote on an anti-drug constitutional amendment. Specifically, the Senate Joint Resolution No. 101 will ban, “the production, manufacture, transportation, sale, delivery, dispensing, distribution, possession, or use of psychoactive drugs in the state of Idaho.” The amendment is significant …
On January 8, 2021 a Mississippi Senate Bill was proposed calling to add Kratom to Schedule I of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act. After a brief holiday break period, statewide legislative sessions are now back in full swing. If those of us in the Kratom community have learned anything from the past around this time …