The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs to be seen for what it is -- a protection agency that frequently gives legitimacy to drug dealers selling Dangerous Products such as pharmaceutical quality opioids and amphetamines, tobacco, and Alcohol that kill hundreds of thousands of our citizens every year. Their other function is to protect those "clients" of theirs from inexpensive herbs, such as kratom, which have helped arguably millions of us get free of the legal poisons that are FDA-approved.
The first step in solving any problem is to see it for what it is. We need to open our eyes to the true role that the FDA plays at our expense.
We need to remember their recent history of falling for the facile lie of the pharmaceutical industry that opioid drugs -- oxycodone, in particular -- had been made "safe" and of very little potential for addiction, simply by making it "slow release". Nevertheless, they don't admit their mistakes.
The FDA has refused to consider the substantial body of scientific research that shows kratom's harmless nature, when used responsibly by adults with correct product use information. Instead, the FDA created their own unproven computer model to distract the trusting media and law enforcement agencies with the goal of driving this herb off the market.
Why isn't alcohol, which kills six Americans a day from alcohol poisoning alone, banned? And, this is a substance that, like kratom, is sold at gas stations, supermarkets, convenience stores and even online, but -- unlike kratom -- alcohol gets a free pass because it is licensed and regulated by the FDA.
We need to see the simple, commonsense truth behind all this deception: Deadly drugs can be accepted in our society as long as they have paid the "gatekeeper" -- the FDA. They aren't attacked and any deaths that result are largely seen as the fault of the user, since the dangerous side-effects (including death) are freely available.
I don't want to belabor this point. Kratom has been proven by centuries of use to be safer than alcohol -- and has helped many abusers of alcohol, opioids, and other drugs to end their abuse, so why can't we let the science be our guide and provide the truth about this plant, rather than the FDA's deceptive characterization that kratom is merely a "drug of abuse", a use which it really isn't suited for?
With a long, tarnished history of licensing dangerous products for Americans to use, it is the FDA's usefulness as a source of unbiased product safety information that should be under scrutiny, not kratom's safety.
The science is clear, but will the DEA take a serious look at it?