BATON ROUGE — A little-known drug derived from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree would be added to Louisiana’s list of illegal narcotics, under a bill advanced to the full House for consideration.
Depending on how much is ingested, Kratom can act as either a stimulant known to make users irritable, or a depressant with an opium-like effect, Calcasieu Parish District Attorney John
DeRosier told the House criminal justice committee Tuesday.
“Whether you want to be rockin’ and rollin’ or relaxed depends on how much you take,” DeRosier said of the substance, which can be purchased by anyone over the age of 18.
Kratom — which can be smoked, ingested in gel tabs or steeped in tea — is on the Drug Enforcement Agencies list of “Drugs and Chemicals of Concern.”
DeRosier said packets of the drug, which retail for around $35 each, were recently the focus of a criminal investigation after the owner of a Lake Charles smoke shop reported the theft of $60,000 worth of Kratom from his business.
“We started researching it then and discovered” Kratom is becoming “more and more prevalent as a drug of choice, especially among young people,” DeRosier said.
The drug, which has been marketed on the Internet as “alternative medicine,” has “no legitimate
medical use,” according to the DEA.
The criminal justice committee approved the prohibition bill (House Bill 174) by Rep. Bernard LeBas, D-Ville Platte, without objection.
2 thoughts on “Lawmakers pushing to ban Kratom”
Kratom is a great alternative to highly-addictive opiate pain meds. It can be smoked but you’ll get higher smoking parsley or powdered cat turds. Contrary to the Feds’ misleading statements, it is almost impossible to overdose. It takes about 2 grams to get the stimulant effects, and this is about 3 tablespoons of this very bitter powder. To achieve pain relief takes 3-4 grams ( quite a bit to gulp down and follow by copious water or drink because it is mostly insoluble in water). I suffer from chronic neck and back pain and I was thrilled to find a natural alternative that actually works without making you suffer “medicine head” like narcotics will do. It has gotten to the point that the only was to get pain relief is to plunk down your money to your local doctor and then hopefully get a 30-day supply of pain meds. There is not much choice on the pharmacy shelves except for aspirin, acetaminophen, naproxen sodium, and ibuprofen. Even Ketoprofen, which worked better than ibuprofen, has been restricted to prescription-only. Kratom is powdered leaves from a plant prevalent in Oriental countries, where natives and citizens alike seek it for its stimulating [Ma Deng Kratom] and pain relieving qualities [red kratom varieties]. You’d better buy some plants so you can grow your own before they make it illegal! The DEA and the FDA need to concentrate on highly-addictive narcotics, meth, crack, heroin, cocaine, etc., and leave Kratom and other safe natural remedies not marketed by Big Pharma alone.
Here is one of many sites with info on Kratom: http://psychoactiveherbs.com/catalog/articles.php?tPath=9 Although both users and vendors KNOW what it does and how it is used, sellers must CYA by labeling it is an exfoliating agent or bath salt NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. Of course, warnings like this never stopped people from using significantly more dangerous bath salts and artificial cannabis compounds so…read the info and use at your own risk.