Forgive me for stating the obvious, but I find the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's treatment of the herb Kratom to be very suspicious -- and counterproductive. But, it seems to serve some undisclosed agenda, which doesn't minimize the misuse of kratom.
In my wide reading about this fascinating plant, I've noticed that the popularity of kratom arose from a popular realization that there was a need for an inexpensive natural way to quit the dependence on opioid drugs, which were heavily marketed by the pharmaceutical industry as the ultimate solution for many intractable physical and emotional sources of pain, beginning in the late 1990s.
As a response to the need for a better way to reverse this dependence on opioids, some smart people used the Internet to search for a natural, traditional herbal method that might exist in other cultures for easing opioid withdrawal. They found kratom and began importing and distributing it in the United States.
Like any substance, used correctly and in moderation, kratom can be a great blessing. It has helped millions of Americans to permanently rid themselves of the need for opioids, which are a very problematic substance, especially when abused.
As a society, we need to recognize that anything can be abused, but a better public policy to minimize abuse and the damage it causes is to educate the public on how to use potentially dangerous substances like caffeine and alcohol in constructive ways, rather than subtly glamorizing the extreme euphoria they may briefly produce.
Unfortunately, the DEA, FDA, and CDC have chosen to communicate that kratom is only a dire problem that is so attractively dangerous (when abused, especially in combination with other substances) that it must be banned. They seem to think the public is not capable of making wise use of kratom, as most of us do with alcohol and caffeine.
I would argue that this policy is making abuse of kratom more of a problem, just as prohibition of other herbals has created the opportunity to sell much stronger and more problematic alternatives by organized crime.
Public agencies would serve the public better by working with the kratom community to correct the legitimate issues (accurate labeling, purity, non-adulteration, dosage guidance) and stop perpetuating the incorrect image that kratom is merely a substance of abuse. There are much more important issues for the DEA to address than the growing popularity of this useful plant, kratom. Kratom, truth be told, is not a good substance of abuse. Used constructively, it can be very helpful for the many who aren't well-served by synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, such as legal opioids, benzos, and antidepressants.
Kratom has been and can continue to be a useful, cost-saving ally in the fight against opioid abuse, if that is the true goal of our public agencies.