The Food and Drug Administration has issued letters of warning to – and therefore breaking federal law – according to a statement from FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD. These vendors both claimed that their kratom products could, among other things, “relieve” or “treat” opium/opioid withdrawal.
ThorPorre/commons.wikimedia.org
The Mitragyna Speciosa tree, from which the drug kratom is produced.
“To date, there have been no adequate and well-controlled studies involving the use of kratom as a treatment for opioid use withdrawal or other diseases in humans,” noted Dr. Gottlieb.
As Dr. Gottlieb pointed out in his statement, not only can fraudulent health claims pose direct health risks, they can also, in the case of kratom, deter or delay people who’re suffering from opioid use disorder from seeking FDA-approved treatments that have been demonstrated to be safe and effective.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb
Kratom, also known more formally as Mitragyna speciosa, is a plant native to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Some compounds in the plant are believed to be opioids, some of which may have the potential for abuse. As Dr. Gottlieb pointed out in his statement, the substance is illegal or controlled in several countries and banned in some states and municipalities in the United States.
Find out more in Dr. Gottlieb’s full statement on the FDA website.