Nowhere is the reason why kratom is being opposed made so clear as it is in Alabama. In Alabama, which still has the highest rate of opioid prescriptions per person of all U.S. states -- despite the DEA's crackdown on Rx of hydrocodone, etc. -- there are still more prescriptions for opioid drugs than there are people in the state! How can this be?!
Well, I knew that Florida, the former "Pill Mill state" had been shut down, as far as opioid painkillers like Oxycodone an Hydrocodone were concerned. I also knew that Florida still had one of the highest numbers of drug rehab facilities, which we have seen time-after-time are the loudest complainers about how kratom is hurting their patients' ability to successfully stay sober (and therefore, should be banned for the good of all -- or so their story goes).
So...when one member of our community made a list of how many rehab facilities there are in Alabama, the answer why Alabama legislators seem to be dead-set on banning kratom became clear as day. Alabama has 20 or more rehab facilities, most of which prescribe opioid drugs, like Suboxone and Methadone, to "help" pain-pill and heroin addicts trade one addiction for one that is even harder to quit.
For those who aren't familiar with how the Drug Rehab industry operates, it is a very profitable business -- doing a LOT of repeat business because their methods aren't very successful. At roughly $30,000 for a month's stay, and many patients needing to come back for more treatment, due to frequent relapses, Drug Rehab is "making bank"! And, like any successful business-owner, they will urge that laws be made, to ban anything that gets in their way.
Alabama seems to have made "Drug Rehab Tourism" their state's new growth industry.
Kratom, as many in our community can attest, is a better method for gently overcoming the biggest barrier to ending drug addiction. It is cheap, convenient, private, and -- from what I've seen and heard over the past 2+ years -- it is very effective (few relapses), compared to the Drug Rehab methods, based on 12-Step or synthetic opioids like suboxone and methadone, which are themselves harder to quit than heroin.
So, when Alabama's politicians raise the reason that kratom should be banned to "protect the children", we need to look into who has financial reasons to fund their re-election. How many drug rehab facilities are in their district? Follow the money, folks!
To learn more about kratom's superiority over conventional Drug Rehab