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FDA Declares Popular Alt-Medicine Kratom an Opioid (nbcnews.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: The Food and Drug Administration declared the popular herbal product kratom to be an opioid on Tuesday, opening a new front in its battle to get people to stop using it. New research shows kratom acts in the brain just as opioids do, FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. And he said the agency has documented 44 cases in which kratom at least helped kill people -- often otherwise healthy young people.
"Taken in total, the scientific evidence we've evaluated about kratom provides a clear picture of the biologic effect of this substance," Gottlieb wrote. "Kratom should not be used to treat medical conditions, nor should it be used as an alternative to prescription opioids. There is no evidence to indicate that kratom is safe or effective for any medical use." The FDA released detailed accounts of several of the deaths. The victims often had mixed kratom with other substances, including chemicals taken out of inhalers and found in over-the-counter cold and flu drugs.
"Taken in total, the scientific evidence we've evaluated about kratom provides a clear picture of the biologic effect of this substance," Gottlieb wrote. "Kratom should not be used to treat medical conditions, nor should it be used as an alternative to prescription opioids. There is no evidence to indicate that kratom is safe or effective for any medical use." The FDA released detailed accounts of several of the deaths. The victims often had mixed kratom with other substances, including chemicals taken out of inhalers and found in over-the-counter cold and flu drugs.
Learn something new every day. Never even heard of "kratom" until today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
"is a tropical evergreen tree in the coffee family (Rubiaceae) native to Southeast Asia in the Indochina and Malaysia phytochoria (botanical regions). M. speciosa is indigenous to Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea, where it has been used in traditional medicine since at least the 19th century. Kratom has some opioid- and stimulant-like properties."
1) 44 people who had the substance in their system. Correlation is not causation.
2) 44 people is a teeny tiny number. About the same number of people that are killed by toasters.
3) All drugs are poisons (Paracelsus, 1580 or thereabouts).
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
The age of "racist drug policy" is long gone;
False.
the urge to ban substances is based on authoritarianism and dogooderism.
And it disproportionately targets blacks and other minorities (but especially blacks.)
Accusing people of racism where none exists weakens your case and makes you look like a fool.
Pretending racism doesn't exist where it totally does exist weakens your case and makes you look like a white supremacist.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"