The World Health Organization recently sternly warned the FDA AGAINST banning Kratom or Kratom derivatives, especially, they pointed out, given all of the overdoses from illicit street drugs (w/ fentanyl etc.) occurring here in the States. 

We need a Kratom Consumer Protection Act to make sure that products are not adulterated. Most states are taking this approach. 

People who use drugs will be forced to turn to the street if you take Kratom away.

I — a person w/ chronic pain — will be forced to leave my home, my state, if you do this. My daughter is in Fairfax County Public Schools, and me and my husband are tax paying productive members of the NoVa economy and community. This all could not happen, however, if I did not have access to the pain relief that ONLY Kratom (or prescription opioids, which doctors are too terrified to precise now!!)  can provide. No — not a “high,” simple pain relief from a couple teaspoons of powdered leaf in hot water each morning, which allows me to get up and take my kid to school.

You see, I have polyarthralgia, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome, chronic pelvic pain, and even CPTSD (from being denied pain medication, harassed and abused about the medical use of prescriptions pain meds simply because the CDC and DEA have restricted the scrips SO much/scared the hell out of pain mgmt docs by raiding their offices etc).  

What you don’t understand is that pain patients like me are at the end of our rope. If you take Kratom away, we have no other options. They’ve already taken the prescription opioids away from us (CDC opioid guidelines harm pain patients, see media about this) and we have had to suffer so much abuse in attempting to maintain consistent access to those meds so we can work, sleep, cook dinner, etc.

Many of us use Kratom so we don’t have to deal with the government and doctor and public stigma and abuse anymore. What I do in my private house should be none of your business. I am not hurting anyone, as a matter of fact, Kratom has kept me off disability, and so therefore it is a benefit to everyone.