Study to Be Launched on Removing Kratom from Narcotics List

A Memorandum of Understanding is to be signed for a study that could see kratom leaves removed from the narcotics list. The MOU is to be signed Dec 27th by Health Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul and Justice Minister, Somsak Thepsutin.

Should the study indicate that the kratom leaves should be dismissed from the list, relevant agencies will propose an amendment to the narcotics act. “The amendment, if it comes, is not expected to take a long time”, the Nation reports.

The Ministry of Justice has also ordered the Department of Corrections to provide the exact number of offenders sentenced in kratom related cases. The result could see some 10,000 prisoners acquitted if kratom leaves are removed from the narcotics list.

A committee assigned to determine whether kratom leaves qualified as a narcotic held a meeting on December 18th. The committee acknowledged that laws regulating kratom leaves are treated in different ways in other countries.

“In Indonesia, kratom is specified as a poisonous substance and as a result must be controlled”. “But the leaves are not illegal or considered as a narcotic. Conversely, the distribution of kratom leaves is against the law.”

Kratom is used to Fight Opioid Addiction

kratom is a tropical evergreen of the coffee family native to Southeast Asia. It is indigenous to Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea. Kratom has been used in traditional medicines since at least the nineteenth century.

As of 2018, kratom’s usefulness and safety as a therapeutic agent is also unclear. Research into its use has been of rather poor quality.

In 2018, the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that there is no evidence that kratom was safe or effective for treating any condition.

Some people take Kratom for managing chronic pain or for treating opioid withdrawal symptoms. More recently – for recreational purposes. The onset of Kratom effects consequently begins within five to ten minutes. As a result they lasts for two to five hours.