The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is asking the World Health Organization (WHO) to consider banning kratom internationally. For those of us who use this amazing plant to mitigate our RLS symptoms, such a ban would be disastrous.
Kratom supporters are trying to get as many comments to the WHO as possible in support of kratom. These can be simple testimonials of how kratom has helped you, or they can be written by someone else (your spouse/partner, kids, other relatives, friends, etc.) about how kratom has helped you or someone else. It only takes a few minutes to submit a comment here: protectkratom.org/whocommen...
Thanks for posting Dougg. I will. As my memory is bad and I am away from home,will you or someone else interested help by bumping this post weekly - if necessary?
I always wonder what is behind such actions. Most likely money. Or belief. But whom and how? I can draw quite a few hypotheses, but probably we'll never know. I hope they won't succeed.
Madlegs1 - I would not be at all surprised. It’s my understanding that one of the leaders behind the FDA’s continued actions against kratom is a former FDA official who now sits on the Board of Directors at a major pharmaceutical company.
Thanks, LotteM. The deadline for comments is August 9 – coming up fast – which I probably should have put in my original post.
As for what or who is behind this, like you I would love to know the full behind-the-scenes story. The science is clearly on the side of kratom, yet the FDA persists.
Form completed. I'm in the UK, as are most members of this site, but want to lend my support.Kratom is illegal here in the UK but I have used it and it was brilliant for severe, refractory RLS. The only problem for me was I developed panic attacks and had to stop. I was devastated.
Thanks, Joolsg. I'm sorry to hear about the panic attacks. I don't know if this helps, but I have found that different strains of kratom produce significantly different reactions in me. Slow strains mitigate my RLS symptoms, while fast strains actually make me more anxious and jittery - similar to the experience I have if I drink too much coffee. That said, it seems that everyone's biochemistry is a bit different, and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for others. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were a single answer!
It would. So many people react differently to drugs and supplements. Magnesium makes no difference to my RLS but it completely resolves it for others. Same with Iron. Infusion of Injectafer didn't help my RLS.Interesting about the different strains of Kratom.
I can't help but think this is big pharma trying to stop something they can't make megabucks from.
The UK made it illegal in 2016 but it's still possible to get hold of from the Netherlands.
My vendor organizes their strains into slow, moderate, and fast, and they list them in a hierarchical chart here: happyhippoherbals.com/pages...
I've found that I personally get the best mitigation effects for my RLS by staying in the slow range of that chart, with a few into the moderate range. Hope this helps!
Can anyone tell me what the argument is against it? I presume some harms will be cited same as for other illegal natural products? I don’t know how it works or what it does. Who makes the money from its sale/growth.I remember a few years ago there was something written about contracting a gut bug ?? Salmonella but presume that was due to unhygienic practices by illegal growers.
Might be safer to make it legal but only from reputable sources but it would then have to go through all the drug regulatory processes.
I know it was made illegal in the UK because many people were using it to get 'high' as it works on opioid and dopamine receptors in a similar way to morphine. It's traditionally used to get off opioids.There was a salmonella issue in the USA and I presume that, and the abuse issue has led to the FDA concerns.
Like all legal or illegal highs, there will be people who abuse it, but if regulated, I think it's a useful tool in the fight against RLS. I know many people abuse pregabalin in the UK to get 'high' but that will always happen.....
Yes it’s interesting. I was somewhat amazed when I discivered that Pregabalin was a drug of abuse when I was already taking it. I discovered this while working in a charity shop which also helped about to be released prisoners join the real world & one began bragging to me about how you could obtain pregabalin ( in high doses ) ‘inside’ and the effects it had. I hope my poker face mask gave nothing away!I think the problem will be with Kratom that it will need to go through the drug approval process in order to be legalised and I am not aware of it having a known legal medicinal effect for someone to apply for a drug licence.
I think natural substances are otherwise regarded as foods which
I don’t think are regulated apart from via hygeine processes or if harm/addiction is spotted.
Some campaigning needed maybe - or have I got the info wrong?
That's why Dougg is asking for testimonials, to persuade WHO and FDA that it helps many people. Scary about the FDA official behind the call for a ban being a board member of a big pharma company.....
Clearly a conflict of interest. I don't use Kratom and never have but I would want to have it available if needed. Presently I am doing well , but I have had RLS long enough to know you can't count on it staying the same. Who knows what I might need in the future . I want anything that helps available to me. Anyone with RLS should be paying attention to this. ( I probably didn't put this in the right spot )
Exactly. We all know that there are limited meds that help and we're all trying to help each other because of the complete lack of research in the UK and the total lack of training & knowledge amongst doctors.I did use it ( in desperation) and it was very effective. Unfortunately I developed severe panic attacks ( I always do with opioids or similar) so had to stop. If something is so effective, it should be researched further, not banned. But, yet again, if big Pharma can't control it or profit from it, they'll see it as competition and try to ban it.
With regard to who makes money, I would say it’s farmers/growers in Asia, and importers/resellers in countries where kratom is legal. Similar to coffee or chocolate.
There was apparently a salmonella case several years ago which prompted an FDA warning. My vendor (and this is probably true for some other vendors as well) uses a third-party lab to test each batch for salmonella, pesticides, and so forth. So I see this as a quality control issue, not an issue specific to kratom.
As to the argument against kratom, for a long time it appeared that the FDA’s position was based on approximately 44 deaths over a 7-year-period reported to be associated with kratom. However, it’s my understanding that independent scientists have shown that most if not all of those deaths were a result of substances the kratom was taken with rather than the kratom itself. In a 126-page report on kratom, Pinney Associates, a consulting firm to the consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, states: “A recently published, peer-reviewed article outlines well the position of the published studies: “Although death has been attributed to kratom consumption, there is no solid evidence that kratom was the sole contributor to an individual’s death” (Warner et al., 2016). We do not rule out the possibility that there have been overdose deaths involving extremely high doses of kratom; however, to date, we have been unable to document a single death in which kratom overdose can reasonably be concluded to have been “causal” in the death. By any measure this is in stark contrast with what has been documented for most recognized drugs and substances of abuse.“
The FDA claims kratom is dangerous. However, the report cited above further states, “… given the two decades during which consumption has increased to an estimated two or more million consumers in the US, in addition to far more extensive consumption in Southeast Asia, this is a substance and category of product with a remarkable safety record. It is not the profile of a serious or emerging public health problem that warrants drastic actions that would prohibit kratom consumers from continuing to lawfully purchase kratom.”
The report also states, “As demonstrated in the analysis above, kratom use has not promoted crime or violence. It does not sap the productivity of consumers or jeopardize their health. Its effects are mild and are generally reported to involve alertness and mood enhancement, comparable to the effects of coffee. The product has low intrinsic attractiveness and has not been associated in published literature with single-substance deaths.”
So given all of that, the FDA’s position makes no sense to me, unless there’s some other agenda at play. Mystery upon mystery.
My apologies for the lengthy post, but I thought these quotes from this report would provide important background. Please know that I'm not here to push kratom. I wish I didn't have to use it. But given that it helps at least some people deal with the horrible effects of RLS and other chronic pain conditions, I'd like to see availability of this plant continue. Thanks for listening.
I had never heard of Kratom till I joined this site.
It sounds very useful and as safe as anything, and considerably safer than a lot of licenced medicines, if not all!
All my blood pressure tabs are unsafe in higher doses, paracetamol and ibuprofen, availsble otc have risks, and as for alcohol sold in vast quantities, there are many deaths & harms each year - or probably each week. Sugar isn’t good for one either! How many people die of complications of diabetes each year.
It is all very incongruous!
Thank you for campaigning.
I so want to find something to get rid of this awful condition.
Form completed. It only took a minute. Submitting the form using Dougg's link means that the contents are shared with the WHO also.
I really hope others will also complete it. Kratom is a life saver for me - I cannot use opioids because of side effects, dopamine agonists have failed (augmentation) and a2d ligands do not help my rls. I honestly do not think I could carry on if I did not have kratom to treat my rls.
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