Kratom Ban Form Letter for Representatives

Dear _____________,


I am writing you regarding an issue very close to my heart.  This is in regards to the DEA’s Notice of Intent to ‘Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of Mitragynine and 7-Hydroxymitragynine Into Schedule I’, essentially banning a harmless medicinal herb, which has helped many individuals to alleviate their own personal physical pain, but help with withdrawal symptoms from prescription opioid drugs and street narcotics.  It is my opinion that the DEA is exceeding it’s authority to place a plant used by hundreds of thousands of law abiding citizens on the list of Schedule I drugs, which would turn them into immediate criminals - risking extensive jail time due to mandatory minimums, removing their right to vote, and severely impairing the ability to get a job once they are freed, amongst all the other negative consequences. The statistics show we have the highest prison population in the world, a great deal for nonviolent drug offenders.  Allowing the DEA to add a substance used by many hundreds of thousands of people daily, including our men and women in and out of uniform that have served who cannot find relief for their daily physical pain (or choose not to) through conventional narcotic pain medication, would only increase the prison population greater or lead to these people to choose a path they don’t want: that of using prescription painkillers.  It is absolutely absurd for the DEA to add a plant, which has been used as a tea for thousands of years by Pacific Islanders and people of East Asia, to their scheduling list.  According to medical literature, not a single death has been caused by kratom (without the individual being a polydrug cocktail that included kratom).  The DEA says that kratom has resulted in a total of 30 deaths in the US, and although that is a tragedy, prescription opioid medications alone have resulted in a whopping 28,000 deaths from heroin and prescription painkillers in 2014.  Right now, there is a huge crisis of deaths from opioid abuse in this country that could be helped greatly by leaving kratom available and in the hands of consumers.  Kratom, being a natural plant, should be regulated by the FDA under the DSHEA as a dietary supplement, as it meets that exact criteria.  If there is concern about it’s misuse, it should be restricted to adults age 18 or 21 to purchase.

Recently, the state of Florida had proposed to ban kratom earlier this year, but after testimony and an examination of common sense medical information, Florida came to the conclusion:

“a review of information currently available through identified law enforcement and laboratory sources in Florida indicates that Kratom does not constitute a significant risk to the safety or welfare of Florida residents. The Florida Department of Health (DOH) reports no pervasive health issues attributed to the ingestion of Kratom products in Florida.” [1]

I myself am a daily kratom user, drinking it in the form of a tea to help alleviate the excruciating pain brought upon by my irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD).  Banning this substance would negatively affect my quality of life to intolerable degree, of which I have found no prescription medication or treatment to be as effective as kratom.  Because I live in Texas, which has refused to accept the Affordable Health Care funds for strictly political reasons, I am currently uninsured and do not have the financial means to purchase insurance.  That isn’t to say I haven’t seen doctors for treatment -- luckily for me, I have supporting parents who are able to (currently) afford doctor visitors for me and the medication that partially treats my symptoms, but not the pain.

I am not the only one who will be impacted by this insane ban.  Just search the hashtag #IamKratom on Youtube, Twitter or Facebook and listen to the stories of people who have been helped tremendously -- many have had their lives saved -- by this simple plant, a tea, that the DEA wants to take away from us for no just cause.

So, I ask you, honorable sir, to please look into this issue as soon as possible and help us to stop this irrational action by the DEA.  The DEA has said that there is no need to have a period of public comment before kratom is banned, so I also ask you to request that the DEA rescind this opinion and allow for a period of public comment where legitimate users of this medicinal plant are able to testify before a committee or submit comments to the DEA for the purpose of showing them that they are wrong in taking this action.  There is not much time before the full ban is scheduled to take place on the 30th of this month.

Please help.

Thank you and God Bless,

[Your name, address, phone number (optional) and email address]


Footnote source [1]: https://www.botanical-education.org/florida-law-enforcement-recognizes-kratoms-positive-safety-profile/