More than a year after backtracking on plans to ram through a ban on the herbal supplement kratom, federal authorities once again appear to be getting ready to crack down on the botanical drug used by many Americans.
On Tuesday, Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, issued a public health advisory on kratom, outlining concerns about its “deadly risks.”
Kratom, which is derived from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree related to coffee, has been consumed for millennia, usually as a tea or powder. The product sold in the U.S. today ranges from bags of raw kratom powder, marketed as an herbal supplement, to consumables in brightly colored packaging, found at gas stations and pushed as a cheap high, with minimal information about what might be mixed in with the kratom.
Gottlieb’s statement outlined concerns about the herb’s potential for abuse and addiction. He claimed there was “clear data” on these harms, pointing to reports of 36 deaths associated with kratom-containing products and a tenfold increase in calls involving kratom to U.S. poison control centers from 2010 to 2015.
Although kratom users have touted the herb as a safe and effective treatment for conditions like chronic pain, anxiety and depression, as well as a replacement drug for opioid addiction, Gottlieb said there is “no reliable evidence to support” those applications. In particular, he called the use of kratom as an opioid substitute “extremely concerning” and suggested that it could actually “expand the opioid epidemic.”