The current scheduling of marijuana on the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is well documented here at Anon, and on countless research and media sites worldwide. The medicinal benefits of using marijuana make the cannabis plant a worthy candidate for extensive research and medical adaption – to benefit all patients that require it.
But what about the DEA’s August notice of intent about the pain relief supplement kratom? According to the DEA, kratom is up there with ecstasy and cannabis, and warrants its new place amongst other schedule 1 drugs. The DEA backed up this intent by filing the following:
“The Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is issuing this notice of intent to temporarily schedule the opioids mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, which are the main active constituents of the plant kratom, into schedule I pursuant to the temporary scheduling provisions of the Controlled Substances Act. This action is based on a finding by the Administrator that the placement of these opioids into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act is necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety. Any final order will impose the administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions and regulatory controls applicable to schedule I controlled substances under the Controlled Substances Act on the manufacture, distribution, possession, importation, and exportation of, and research and conduct of instructional activities of these opioids.”
The DEA’s proposal goes on and on in its convoluted statement.
Within the medical profession, I interviewed paramedics, nursing staff and a doctor about the scheduling of cannabis and the manufacturing of synthetic versions of cannabis.
As The Free Thought Project pointed out in September, cannabis and the active ingredient THC is illegal, yet pharmaceutical companies can manufacture synthetic versions of the drug.
During my interviews with the medical staff, all expressed their horror at the extreme rise in the number of cases of serious, prolonged seizure in patients using the synthetic version. The patients are normally healthy, most have only had a handful of tries of the synthetic version and none of them tend to have a predisposition to seizure – in other words, fit and healthy people are becoming critically ill.
The sources, who wish to remain anonymous for fear of professional reprisal, question the role of pharmaceutical companies and their profit-spinning endeavours.
It seems, now, kratom is in a similar boat.
Currently, as The Free Thought Project points out, Big Pharma is currently working on manufacturing synthetic opioids by using kratom alkaloids. In turn, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (mentioned in the above DEA notice of intent) are the magical ingredients to produce a pharmaceutical kratom.
Study after study after study suggests this plausibility. Kratom is a pain relief alternative as well as an excellent candidate to helping heroin users go clean, but it can be grown in a person’s backyard. This equates to lost profits to Big Pharma unless it is made illegal.
So, let the patents begin again. The question is, will mainstream media ignore the correlations of further health implications, or the rising health costs when another useful drug becomes patented, overpriced and out of reach? Will there be health implications to those using synthetic kratom as there are with users of synthetic marijuana?
Mother Nature wasn’t meant to be reproduced in this way. But for the sake of a fast buck for Big Pharma, the Devil will continue to dance on our graves.
This article (DEA Declares One Drug Illegal, Big Pharma then Patents It) is a free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author AnonWatcher and AnonHQ.com.
Supporting Anonymous’ Independent & Investigative News is important to us. Please, follow us on Twitter: Follow @AnonymousNewsHQ
