Will Someone Please Test The DEA For Use Of Banned Substances? Now Kratom Ban NOT In Effect.
It is a sad thing to witness, when someone’s mind starts to go. When logic and linear thinking seem to be too much, and complex thoughts go unfinished.
It’s even sadder when it happens to an entire government agency.
That’s what many observers are saying about the Drug Enforcement Agency these days, as the agency has had a series of weird and disjointed and poorly thought-out announcements that have left many scratching their heads.
Some observers are wondering if perhaps someone high up in the agency is…well, high.
First there was the unexpected announcement that in defiance of all evidence and logic to the contrary, marijuana was to remain a Schedule 1 drug, fully illegal–despite being legalized for medical use in 25 states and legal for recreational use in four–and listed as one of the most dangerous substances along with heroin and LSD and with no proven medical benefit.
Tell that to the millions of people who use it legally every day to treat chronic pain, nausea, and even PTSD. (Why does the DEA hate our fighting men and women?)
Then the agency announced in August that on September 30, the herb kratom, long a medicinal plant used in southeast Asia to treat similar ailments to those treated by marijuana, was also to be suddenly added to the Schedule 1 list of drugs, without public hearing, independent testing, or any other notice, aside from a letter of intent to the Federal Registry.
Now, however, the agency has rescinded that announcement, and kratom remains ostensibly legal–for now.
And while kratom users and related enthusiasts rejoiced at the news, the DEA made it clear that it was just a delay.
“We are moving forward in terms of scheduling,” an agency spokesperson told a reporter for website Heavy. “We don’t know if it’s going to be on that date or sometime thereafter. The reason September 30 came into play was…we’re required by law to post in the federal register our intent to schedule at least 30 days prior to the actual temporary scheduling action.”
Interestingly another thing that kratom has in common with marijuana is that pharmaceutical companies are vigorously pursuing ways to harness its active ingredients–and then commercialize them.
What these DEA decisions to keep these plants illegal do then is to rig the game in favor of the desires of a few giant mega-corporations over those of millions of users: if, once the plants are illegal to acquire or cultivate you still are in need of the relief they bring, you are likely to go to the only source available: those that have been chemically treated, sterilized, removed from nature, packaged and thoroughly denatured by Big Pharma.
And people will be forced to pay much, much more than they do now, count on it.
The DEA has announced that there will now be a public comment period. Stay tuned for information on when and how that will take place. In the meantime, contact your congresspeople and tell them to tell the DEA to back off on both marijuana and kratom.
Its time to put the doddering old drug warriors out to pasture. Time has passed them by and they are no longer relevant.
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http://heavy.com/news/2016/09/kratom-ban-united-states-dea-update-washington-d-c-letters-will-kratom-be-banned/