DEA Likely Decimates Kratoms Chances at Becoming Lawful Dietary Supplement
While many dietary supplement trade organizations welcomed DEA’s intent to schedule kratom as a Schedule 1 substance, a former FDA regulator said the status change would need to be followed up by strong enforcement.
September 1, 2016
A federal agency this week may have dealt a fatal blow to a controversial botanical’s potential future as a lawful dietary supplement in the United States.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced its intent in the Federal Register to place kratom’s primary active ingredients mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine on the Schedule 1 list under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The agency stated kratom poses an imminent hazard to the public safety due to its high potential for abuse and lack of currently accepted medical use in the United States.
By exercising its authority to temporarily schedule kratom, DEA is outlawing these compounds, or products containing these compounds, for a period of at least two years. As such kratom would join other schedule 1 substances including marijuana, heroin, LSD and peyote.
“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," DEA wrote, in its Notice of Intent.
The scheduling takes effect on Sept. 30 and runs for a period of two years, although DEA can extend this by one year.
Lawyers Skeptical on Kratom’s Future
Attorney Marc Ullman, of counsel to the law firm Rivkin Radler LLP, said he believes kratom as a dietary supplement is effectively dead or at the very least on its last breath.