The DEA Is About To Classify An Herbal Extract Used In Energy Drinks In The Same Category As Heroin

"Mitragynine (an alkaloid in kratom) completely blocked all withdrawal symptoms and could provide a remarkable step-down-like treatment for people addicted to hardcore narcotics such as morphine, oxycodone or heroin," McCurdy told Ole Miss News.

Barbara Carreno, spokesperson at the DEA headquarters, tells TheDCNF the reason for the potential scheduling of kratom is because there has been an increase in the number of calls to U.S. Poison Control centers. From 2010 to 2015, there were 660 calls relating to kratom exposure, according to the Office of the Federal Register.

McCurdy notes in his study that some of the incidence's of poisoning were due to other substances in the kratom, like hydrocodone, having been added to it. Which seems to make the case for regulation of kratom, not necessarily a banning, to make sure the kratom is not tainted with other substances that may negatively interact.

Carreno also told TheDCNF that kratom can be used by addicts to skirt drug tests since there are no tests for it yet, but Ash said that there are companies that can test for it.

Ash, a former addict of legally prescribed medications for lyme disease which left her bed-ridden, said within just a couple weeks of taking kratom she was able to get off opioid prescriptions completely and get her life back. She said the cocktail of prescription drugs she was on left her with little motivation for anything, a common complaint from those on opioids.

Oddly enough, despite the DEA saying there is no medicinal value, there is a U.S. patent, number 20100209542 A1, that says "[c]ompounds isolated from Kratom leaf extracts may be capable of allowing a patient to cease the administration of addictive compounds without experiencing physically debilitating withdrawal symptoms." Which seems to call into question the DEA Schedule I classification.

Ash said that she was surprised the scheduling happened without a phone call to her organization from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration or the DEA. She says that she agrees with the DEA on some aspects of the drug, namely the number of poisonings is of concern, but says that is more an argument on why it should be regulated as medicine, so strict regulations and education can help curb those numbers while allowing many to treat their illness with opioid medications.

Follow Craig Boudreau on Twitter.

Send tips to craig@ dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

Source: The DEA Is About To Classify An Herbal Extract Used In Energy Drinks In The Same Category As Heroin