There's a lot that can be done to improve kratom's safety and marketing language, but -- rather than cooperate with the industry to improve the shortcomings -- the FDA would rather just schedule the herb and put those who would defy the law in prison. That's not a constructive direction for an agency that is tasked to solve the widespread issue of opioid addiction that they helped to create.
The FDA ignored the 8-Factor Analysis that Dr. Jack Henningfield did and came up with a computer program that produced the verdict that kratom was just another opioid and therefore would have the same deadly side-effects as the broad class of drugs (approved by FDA) that are causing so many deaths.
Dr. Henningfield's review of the scientific and anecdotal information available on kratom was done with the same resources and in the exact format that the FDA should have done their own 8-Factor Analysis, but apparently the FDA wasn't happy with the facts, so they turned the job over to a computer.
Jack Henningfield, PhD, and most of the millions of kratom consumers recognize the subtle, but significant, differences in kratom's blend of alkaloids and the way they act on the human body to relieve pain/anxiety/depression without the deadly side-effects that typical opioids produce. Kratom consumers realize and appreciate this unique difference -- and it has been verified scientifically in current research by human scientists at Columbia and Johns Hopkins Universities.
But the FDA's computer model totally missed this difference! If kratom is to be banned, based on a computer model "proving" the herb is just another opioid, then our society is in big trouble if that program's attention is ever turned on chocolate, exercise, coffee, and human breast milk! Perhaps they will be banned next.
It seems the FDA is trying very hard to avoid the work that is needed to assure that kratom is produced in the same safe, sanitary conditions that we expect of other consumable products. The inherent promise of this herb is recognized by millions of Americans who find no pharmaceutical able to do the job quite as well in restoring their sense of wellbeing, without impairment or addiction -- why must the FDA turn to a computer program to deny Americans the right to the treatment they prefer?
There are aspects of how kratom is handled, processed, and marketed that could be improved. That is an area where the FDA, in cooperation with the packagers and marketers of kratom, could perform a useful function.
How much longer will the FDA avoid becoming part of the solution, rather than remaining part of the problems they see with kratom? Without some assurance of continued legality, the industry has little incentive for upgrading to cGMP quality guarantees.