The Food and Drug Administration declared kratom — a plant-based stimulant with growing popularity — to be an opioid on Tuesday, opening a new front in its battle to get people to stop using the herbal supplement.

New research shows kratom acts in the brain just as other 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 is used by some as a home remedy for opioid addiction — and by others just for fun.

“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.”

“As the scientific data and adverse event reports have clearly revealed, compounds in kratom make it so it isn’t just a plant — it’s an opioid,” Gottlieb wrote. LINK

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EDIT: Sorry to use the Huffington Post but they have a good article here:

On Tuesday, Gottlieb reiterated concerns about kratom’s “potential for abuse, addiction, and serious health consequences; including death.” As proof of the drug’s deadly harm, the FDA released reports on 36 deaths involving the use of kratom, culled from academic research, medical examiner reports and adverse event reports. Gottlieb also said the FDA plans to release the eight newly received reports.

Almost all of the FDA’s cases involve subjects who were found to be on multiple substances at the time of their death, with the vast majority including either illicit or prescription drugs that carry well-known fatal risks.

One incident describes a teenager who had hanged himself after struggling with depression and prescription drug abuse. He tested positive for a variety of drugs, including kratom, as well as alcohol and a handful of prescription drugs.

Another case involves a man who had fallen out a window, broken his arm and refused treatment before dying. He was ultimately found to have had nine different substances in his bloodstream, among them mitragynine, the primary psychoactive substance in kratom.

FDA’s list of kratom-related deaths also includes a 43-year-old man determined to have died from complications due to deep vein thrombosis. He had a long list of medical problems, including chronic back and shoulder pain and a history of alcohol and prescription drug abuse. At the time of his death, he’d recently been prescribed five different medicines. His toxicology test came back positive for opioids, benzodiazepines ? best known as Xanax ? anti-depressants and a medication apparently used to treat his Tourette’s syndrome. He also tested positive for kratom.

One case the FDA listed as a kratom-related death, which has been completely redacted in the document, appears elsewhere in an agency database as a death by homicide due to a gunshot wound to the chest.

Nine of the FDA’s 36 documented deaths were related to a string of fatal overdoses in Sweden in 2010, which involved a controversial kratom-based product that had been adulterated with a dangerous synthetic opioid. An additional eight cases that FDA previously released to HuffPost consisted largely of voluntary reports, including accounts from family members who simply suspected their loved ones had died from kratom use.

Just one of the FDA’s cases appears to involve the presence of kratom alone, though the report includes no information on the death apart from the subject’s age and ethnicity. The report shows the individual tested positive for high levels of mitragynine, but as in the rest of the cases, says nothing about how the substance was determined to have contributed to his death. The FDA denied HuffPost’s request for additional information on that case.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kratom-deaths-fda_us_5a7a3549e4b07af4e81eda8b

Let's Just Ban Everything

Edit because I'm dumb and missed the link

Oh, so it might help some people?

Quick, regulate it!

Make it illegal first. Crime should be illegal. Everyone will stop doing it then.

I just hope that shit never makes it to Canada.

Their data point to ban a plant is 44 cases, WOW!

They could literally find 44 deaths cased by damn near anything.

I’m going to go way out on a limb here and guess the scientific research involved in this study was funded by big pharma. They are not really a big fan of competition.  Especially unregulated competition.

44 Almost as many as accident poisoning by consuming household cleaners. Except it was never the sole cause, only a "factor". I.e. in their system.

Except prescription opioid for children.  Hand those out like candy

Yep we should ban cars how many people have they killed?

Off to Costco to clear them out...

Oh FFS.  Save us from ourselves dear government!

Costco sells kratom?

The pharmaceutical lobby is strong.

Never used it. Never heard of it.

But, we don’t need a federal agency banning/regulating a substance. Are you fucking kidding me?

The FDA didn’t need to pass a law...they just made a decree.

Fuck that bullshit.

Cant claim R&D costs to justify a $10 pill if its not regulated.

Two rows down from the gas pumps.

Blue van.

Tell them Dave sent you.

why cant people just stop taking mind altering substances?

... o wait, thats right, people are weak.

Bulk pre ban opioids! Buy cheap, stack deep. Amiright?!

"There is no evidence to indicate that kratom is safe or effective for any medical use."

How many studies have been done, I have to wonder?

I was under the impression that opioids were opium derived drugs, like opium from the poppy plant.

Kratom is not even remotely related to the poppy plant. But now it's "deemed" an opioid?

How does that work?

Guess I'll have to go do some google chemistry.

So kratom is supposed to create an opioid-like reaction and break down into morphine ...hmmm. Suspicious chemistry is suspicious.

Hmm, shouldn't the burden of proof be on them, not us?  "There's no evidence" doesn't equal guilt.

Kratom is helpful, and harmless.  It is less intense than having a glass or two of wine, and can help in many ways.

They better ban alcohol again then, by that logic.

Exactly. This f'd up goobermint gonna save everyone from themselves, which is the opposite of freedom. Where again in the constitution does it cover this activity?

Kinda like the devil's lettuce is a schedule 1 drug, the same as heroin and more worse than coke?

Well, alcohol is actually covered in the constitution. Once banned, then ban reversed (18th amendment, then the 21st amendment), so it is actually covered constitutionally. Now, what is funny about that is that the states have some crazy ass laws on it, when if it is actually mentioned in the constitution, then it should be regulated by federal law.

Wait...it's a stimulant that is an opioid...

Would it be crazy if I said I’ve never heard of the stuff? Or at least can’t remember ever hearing of it?

I used it for back pain. Worked well and absolutely no side effects.

In before OP learns that cocaine & heroin come from plants.

You know, there are probably more people in the US who would hold that opinion about your lifestyle than about the average stoner's, right?

A plant placed hear by God .....

God forbid we have anything to relive pain that isn't a prescription drug / opiod / narcotic that the government can't track or take complete control of.

Absolutely pathetic.

Fuck the FDA.

OP wouldn't care if they were legal either.

You've got opiates and opioids confused. It's a square vs rectangle type thing.  All opiates are opioids, but not all opioids are opiates.

It's whatever scary buzzword of the day.  Fucking dumbed down public school sheep eat that up.

Like Suboxone, correct?

Hmm...

ETA: Suboxone vs Kratom?

The DEA must be involved.  They call everything they don't like a narcotic too.  They use it all interchangeably, very annoying.

Suboxone contains more than one drug, it actually has an opioid blocker in it as well (the hated Narcan AKA naloxone AKA heroin antidote).  The other ingredient buprenorphine is an opioid.  Subutex is straight burpenorphine without the naloxone in it.

big pharma lobby?

Debil weed Bobby!!!

Opiates are natural and semi synthetic drugs derived from poppies.

Opioids include opiates as well as fully synthetic drugs like fentanyl and bupe.

Ok, thanks. I had a brief glance at what Kratom can be used for and at least one use is to treat issues of addiction. Same as Suboxone (someone very close to me). Is there any reason to find it suspicious?

AhHa!

https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/10/27/acsh-explains-whats-difference-between-opioids-and-opiates-12041

Must be some $$ going around with some lobbyists working OT. Big pharma does not like substances that occur naturally being legal as they can't make money off of it.

Quick, someone tell Useless Jeff Sessions that FHRC has a stockpile of this stuff

Land of the Free

Better safe than sorry.