Has anyone heard of Kratom or tried it?

Relying on FDA for kratom info? Did you know they’ve been caught concealing information?

FDA is the outlier and NIH, NIDA, WHO and former Assistant HHS director Four-star admiral Dr Giroir disagree. Other government agencies and now WHO do not want to be sitting on that branch with the FDA. Their branch isn’t supported by science and the other agencies don’t want to go down with the FDA when it breaks.

Why did the FDA withhold important information for over 2 yrs regarding ban rescinded? What are they hiding?

Four-Star Admiral Brett Girior, MD, Assistant Secretary (HHS),

“.....”relative lack of evidence” that kratom can be abused and posed a public health threat.”

Kratom anti inflammatory effects.

“Anti-inflammatory effects and potential mechanisms of Mitragyna speciosa methanol extract on λ-karagenan-induced inflammation model.

CONCLUSION
This study suggested that Methanol extract of Mitragyna (EMS) Speciosa possesses anti-inflammatory effects in carrageenan-induced rat paw edema. The anti-inflammatory mechanism of EMS may be related to protecting the skin thickness. Our study findings provide new perspectives on the therapeutic use of EMS in the management of inflammatory diseases.”

7 states already regulate it and more are in the process. Michigan passed the KCPA in the house. HB5477 passed 88-19

Kratom Consumer Protection Act gets rid of dangerous ADULTERATED kratom while keep plain leaf regulated and tested like supplements. Most importantly it has an age limit of 18 or 21 depending on state.

The FDA refuses to do their job and regulate it like a supplement even though for three years we have asked them to do that. So the community is getting legislation passed.

Issues are adulterated kratom not plain leaf. The adulterated products are those that have other substances added to them or the alkaloid ratio has been chemically manipulated to be something different than the plain leaf.

What does the KCPA do?

Here are the core points of the KCPA
1. Product registration and third-party independent testing.
2. Age restriction
3. Labeling requirements of content.
4. No adulteration of added substances.
5. No synthetics
6. Limit 7-OH limited to 2% 7. Appropriate warning labels: Include warnings that consumers should consult their doctors for any possible drug interactions with current medications prescribed to them; and warnings that pregnant women should not consume kratom because there is no safety data that has been published

I am an 8 year Kratom consumer.

Research published earlier this year showed that kratom has much safer than drugs such as opioids and research is being conducted at the University of Florida is studying whether kratom could be instrumental in solving the opioid crisis. The science speaks for itself – Dr. Nora Volkau, director of the National Institute on Drug Addiction, talks about it support for continuing research about the safety of kratom.

Today, thanks to kratom, I lead an active, happy lifestyle. I volunteer in causes that are important to me, for example, at a children’s fund, visiting hospital wards. I go on long bike rides with my husband on the trails around Kalamazoo and camp under the stars in the west. I was able to dance the night away at my son’s wedding. This year, I’ve been babysitting my now 1 yr old granddaughter all the time, and we went to the zoo every week, where I’ve been able to push her around in the stroller for hours. This is at the same zoo where my children used to push me around in a wheelchair. Now I’m actively involved in my family’s life, which I couldn’t say before.

My story is just one example of why kratom and its use must continue to be researched and regulated. Kratom has helped me and my family significantly, and I want to make sure that anyone who is trying to find solutions elsewhere can have safe and long-lasting access to kratom.

Many states are actively considering regulation bills would ensure that all kratom products are safe by establishing strict product standards and measures to keep criminals out of the industry, as well as mandating that these products be sold only to adults.

The most dramatic change that Kratom has made in our lives happened this past year. Before my daughter went off maternity leave the child care center closed down. They asked me to move across the state and move in with them for approximately 10 months until an opening would be available. They would’ve had to hire a private nanny to the tune of $50,000. Because of Kratom I was able to give an exuberant YES. And save a young family tens of thousands of dollars. I wasn’t able to be there for my children growing up because I was bedridden using a walker and wheelchair. Kratom has given me such a huge opportunity to be there for my adult children now. So I took care of my granddaughter full-time age 2 months through 11 months. And as I said I wasn’t there for my kids when they were growing up, so before Kratom there wasn’t much of a relationship with any of them. Doing this for my daughter allowed us to get so close. There were so many nights to where we would just be laying in the bed giggling for hours. It was such a privilege to get to know her. And I have had similar experiences with my other children. It is my pleasure and privilege to call my adult children my friends because of Kratom… Yes literally not exaggerating.

Here is a screenshot of a comment my daughter made on one of my posts not too long after I had moved in with them.

Effects of Kratom on kidneys, liver, thyroid and glucose

(I even have a damaged kidney from a birth defect. I was told the kidney would need to be removed when I got to be 40-50. I’m 57 and no issues whatsoever with my kidneys)

“There were no significant alterations found in the hematological and biochemical of kratom users, except for a decrease in white cell count after a 3-month interval. In general, the kidney, liver function tests, thyroid, and glucose parameters were not significantly affected. Calcium, total protein, and globulin levels were significantly increased at T2 compared to T1, but all these parameters were within the normal reference range. There were alterations in the lipid profile, where total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol parameters were elevated at both T1 and T2, while significant increase in HDL cholesterol, and decrease in triglycerides levels were observed at T2 compared to T1.

Conclusion

Our results indicated that continuous consumption of kratom decoction at a daily mitragynine dose of 76.3–114.8 mg did not appear to alter the safety hematological and biochemical parameters of kratom users.”

Journal of Substance Use
Research Article
Comparison of biochemical and safety parameters of regular kratom (Mitragyna speciosa Korth.) users at two different time periods

“Mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine are the primary active alkaloids responsible for the effects of kratom. Despite its interaction with opioid receptors, mitragynine is not structurally similar to traditional opioid medications.”

“Another key difference between kratom and traditional opioids is the lack of beta-arrestin-2 recruitment, which may explain the reduced side effects and risk of respiratory depression seen with kratom”

“It has been postulated that in addition to the opioid receptor effects, kratom may provide a second mechanism to potentially alleviate pain with these pathways that have already been well characterized and utilized for modern approaches to pain management with TCAs and SNRI medications.7 There is also evidence to suggest kratom has anti-inflammatory effects from cyclooxygenase-2 inhibition.”

Volume 20, Issue 5
A Kratom Primer: Miracle Medicine or Herb of Abuse?

Neuroscientist Dr. Michele Ross’s statement to the FDA on their attack on kratom. This was statement was WHO declined to an in-depth one year review of Kratom. The world health organization did a 4 day hearing and refused the request for a review.

“I strongly disagree with the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to petition the World Health Organization (WHO) to add kratom and two of its two active ingredients (mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine) as Internationally Scheduled Drugs, effectively criminalizing it and banning it worldwide.

I’m a PhD Neuroscientist trained in drug addiction who has studied kratom, published a book called Kratom is Medicine in March 2021, and worked with both patients and clinicians providing education about the risk and benefits of kratom use as the founder of the Institute For Plant-Assisted Therapy. There are many reasons why kratom should not be banned.

First off, kratom is a food often consumed as a tea made from dried leaves turned into powder, and has been used safely for hundreds of years in other countries. It is a relative of the coffee plant, and should be considered a beverage or supplement, not a scheduled drug. Criminalizing kratom use and commercial sales worldwide would be akin to make coffee and caffeine illegal.

While no substance is without potential risks or side effects, the main reasons to schedule a drug is because it is highly addictive and causing high number of overdoses or deaths. An appropriate scheduled and dangerous drug of abuse is heroin. Examples of safe and appropriately unscheduled drugs include caffeine in coffee and cannabidiol (CBD) in hemp. Kratom is not appropriate for placement as a banned drug and should not be on the same list of unsafe and untested synthetic drugs including eutylone, metonitazene and brorphine.

Recent studies suggest that kratom has more in common with CBD than heroin. Kratom has a low addiction risk and by itself cannot cause overdose death because the beta-arrestin pathway is not activated downstream of opioid receptors, preventing death by respiratory depression. In fact, kratom is currently being investigated for its use as a safe substitute for more dangerous opioids such as heroin, oxycontin, and fentanyl for those who are substance abusers or are dependent on high doses of legal opioids for chronic pain.

Millions of people in the United States and around the world use kratom for its ability to fight fatigue, relieve stress, and ease pain. Kratom contains numerous anti-inflammatory alkaloids and compounds with medicinal benefits, making this a safer choice for consumers to relax than alcohol or many other substances. Removing access to kratom would lead people back to using alcohol or dangerous prescription painkillers, doing the opposite of the intended effect, which is to save lives.

Banning kratom would also stifle research into the medicinal benefits of its numerous alkaloids and flavonoids, which have potential benefits for conditions as broad as arthritis, diabetes, fibromyalgia, pelvic pain, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The potential medical benefits of future research into kratom medicine is in the billions. It simply does not make sense to ban kratom as a scheduled drug, and will limit potential treatments for pain, mental health, and obesity, all of which are major health crises in the United States. As a scientist, I strongly urge the FDA not to restrict research into kratom, but to let scientists and doctors do their job and find out how kratom use impacts

Without kratom, I would be forced to reduce my work hours, reducing my income and my quality of life, and I know this would be true for many of the clients I work with. The harms to public health and worker productivity would be in the billions if kratom is banned.

I strongly urge the FDA to remove kratom and its active ingredients from its recent WHO scheduling recommendation, and to respect the autonomy of adults to use kratom as functional food for wellness or relaxation. Kratom should be regulated like hemp, not heroin.

If you have any questions about kratom, I am happy to answer them as a qualified neuropharmacologist as well as send copies of my book Kratom Is Medicine.

Thank you,

Dr. Michele Ross, PhD”

Kratom and pain relief

NIH National Library of Medicine

“Speciociliatine is a minor indole alkaloid found in kratom, a southeast Asian medicinal plant, used for centuries to increase energy, enhance mood, and mitigate pain and opioid dependence.”

Advanced
Preclinical pharmacokinetic study of speciociliatine, a kratom alkaloid, in rats using an UPLC-MS/MS method

I just posted a couple dozen comments Say king and I H, NIDA, HHS, Yale, WHO and more. The FDA is the outlier. I invite you to check out the information from these places I’ve commented. If you’d like more I have a couple hundred more, just ask

Kratom Abuse Potential 2021: An Updated Eight Factor Analysis
Jack E Henningfield et al. Front Pharmacol. 2022.

NIH published and peer reviewed. Dr. Jack Henningfield, Ph.D., vice president of Research, Health Policy, and Abuse Liability at PinneyAssociates, concludes: "Kratom has a low potential for abuse and a low dependence liability and there is insufficient evidence of personal harm, adverse health effects or detriment to the public health to warrant control under the [Controlled Substances Act] . . . Appropriate regulation of kratom under the [Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act] is the most effective way to protect the public health by ensuring appropriate access and oversight and to sustain the overall very low adverse personal and public health effects associated with kratom consumption."

Dr. Henningfield previously served as chief of the Clinical Pharmacology Research Branch of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and is currently an adjunct professor of Behavioral Biology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.