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kratom

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As pharma companies underwrite three-fourths of the FDA’s budget for scientific reviews, the agency is increasingly fast-tracking expensive drugs with significant side effects and unproven health benefits. Photo by Zero Creatives/Getty Images

Health Feb 19

Analysis: Some natural supplements can be dangerously contaminated

By C. Michael White, The Conversation

Nation Nov 10

HHS recommended that the DEA make kratom a Schedule I drug, like LSD or heroin

The Department of Health and Human Services asserted in a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration that two chemicals in kratom should be classified as Schedule I substances, meaning that the chemicals have “a high potential for abuse” and that…

By Ike Swetlitz, STAT

Nation Jan 15

Watch 10:39
If kratom helps opioid addicts, why might DEA outlaw it?

The national epidemic of opioid abuse has claimed more than 300,000 lives in the U.S. over the last 16 years -- and some researchers claim that kratom, an herbal psychoactive drug that is currently unregulated, could help people struggling with…

By Saskia de Melker, Melanie Saltzman

Nation Jan 15

What happens if kratom becomes illegal?

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has received thousands of comments on whether it should make kratom, a popular painkiller, illegal.

By PBS NewsHour

Health Dec 12

Herbal drug kratom faces uncertain legal future, despite public outpouring

Kratom, a leafy-green herbal supplement used by an estimated 3 to 5 million Americans, has inspired tens of thousands of responses in a public comment period over its possible controlled substance designation by the Drug Enforcement Agency.

By Michelle Harven

Sep 29

If DEA blocks kratom, promising research on opioid alternative may suffer

By Angus Chen, Scientific American

Kratom, a compound from a Southeast Asian tree, offers hope for a safer opioid alternative, but research could slow to a crawl as the DEA steps in.

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