From FibromyalgiaTreating.com:
The Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday that their research has reaffirmed their suspicions that Kratomis similar to addictive, dangerous opioids. The drug, an herb from Southeast Asia that many fibromyalgia sufferers use for relief from their symptoms, is still legal in the U.S. (unless you live Alabama, Indiana, Arkansas, or Wisconsin). Still as many as 5 Million people in the U.S. use or have used kratom to get relief from pain, anxiety, opioid withdrawal, and fibromyalgia. The FDA has not announced whether it will place the drug on the Schedule 1 list of addictive drugs like cocaine and morphine (and for some reason, marijuana), but yesterday’s announcement is probably not good news for people who use the substance.
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There was a time when announcements from the FDA were reassuring, letting us know they were on the job regulating acceptable standards for our food supply and holding pharmaceutical manufacturers accountable for safe, sound drug research and creation.
But that time has long since passed.
Big Pharma is out of control marketing drugs to an uninformed public in an endless stream of daily commercials. The announcer tells us how we’ll feel better, look better, have better super sex, and play more golf, swim, jog, garden, and socialize with our friends on the patio.
Of course, as the commercial ends, the announcer’s speech takes on a rapid pace and he runs through the list of possible side effects, one of which for so many drugs, is death.
But, we ignore the last part and run to our doctors requesting the latest wonder drugs to ease our pain and cure our hearts, livers, eyesight, diabetes, psoriasis, acid reflux, and prop up our bladders.
And when people taking these drugs die… because remember, death is a side effect, Big Pharma and the FDA stand side-by-side and proclaim it wasn’t the drug that killed. Never mind the tests results and autopsy findings. The facts have no place in this.
Last Tuesday’s announcement about kratomis is a joke… without a fact in sight.
The FDA’s research reaffirmed their suspicions? And based on suspicions the drug could get Schedule 1 listed? What type of science works on suspicions?
I know very little about kratomis and have only been following its articles for about a year. But, sounds like I know about as much as the FDA.
And it is in that mindset that I call bullshit!
I am one of no less than five million people who live with daily pain. And in the latest opioid addiction epidemic, there is no relief for people like me.
With announcements like the FDA’s latest, it doesn’t appear there will be relief any time soon.
The link below is to an article by Dr. C. Michael White, professor and head of the Department of Pharmacy Practice for the University of Connecticut. Dr. White is not affiliated with any drug companies or research studies.
Dr. White’s article details the benefits and disadvantages of using kratomis. Guess what? The benefits are winning.
Wonder if the FDA knows this?
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The dangers and potential of ‘natural’ opioid kratom
Given the opioid addiction crisis, it would seem preposterous that an opioid is legal for use in the United States and can be purchased at tea stores, convenience stores, over the internet and, yes, even from vending machines.
However, kratom is not your average opioid. The Drug Enforcement Agency found this out when it tried to ban the herb in 2016.
Public outcry from users and 51 congressmen around the country from both political parties was loud. The DEA has since dropped its attempt to ban kratom, although its use is banned in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin and Louisiana.
More recently, on Nov. 14, 2017, the FDA issued a public warning about kratom, citing 36 deaths that the agency has attributed to kratom use.
Kratom lies at the intersection between natural product and drug of abuse, areas I have been been exploring as a clinical pharmacology researcher and a pharmacist for two decades. From ephedra for weight loss to MDMA (molly) for PTSD, experience has taught me that natural products are not always safe and that banned drugs may actually benefit some patients.
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