I would like to start by saying I hold an Associate in Medical Assisting, and a Bachelor in Nursing Science, I worked in the medical field under many positions for around 10 years. I have since moved into an adjacent but very different field. I own a large 30+ year old Radon Mitigation company that does business in multiple states.I have also been taking Kratom for nearly 10 years as an alternative to opioid pain medication for my chronic back, hip, and ankle pain from a severe injury. I did a large amount of research before starting to take Kratom as an alternate to Opioid pain medicine, and there is far more information available now than there was 10 years ago. In all of my past and current research I have not been able to find one corroborated report that Kratom has caused a fatality or injury. Nor have I found Kratom to be habit forming. I know multiple other long time users of Kratom and neither I or any of them have had an issue stopping Kratom or taking a break. The only negative from ceasing kratom for me and them is that we no longer have an aid for our chronic pain. Schedule I would mean that Kratom has no medicinal use, and would stop current research and prevent further research. It would also cause people who use Kratom for medicinal purposes to turn to more dangerous medications or in some cases illicit substances. This would not help anyone. We already have a massive Opioid epidemic, and this would make it worse in addition to preventing people from using Kratom to get off of illicit substances that have a potential to kill them. Scheduling Kratom is a lose lose situation for the great State of Virginia, and the great people that reside there. In addition to this I would no longer be legally allowed to travel to the Great State of Virginia (with Kratom), along with many others. This will impact mine and other businesses that have owners or workers that take Kratom. We will no longer be able to the state with our pain medication (Kratom), causing many to rethink their business dealings in Virginia. Thank you for taking these words into consideration.

Kind regards,

ET