The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) currently doesn’t want to hear dissenting opinions on its decision to temporarily ban Kratom, a plant substance found in energy drinks and tea.
DEA officials filed a Notice of Intent Tuesday in the Federal Register stating that they were temporarily classifying mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, the chemicals properties in Kratom, known as Mitragyna speciosa, as a Schedule I narcotic.
The scheduling will go into effect Sept. 30. The nation’s top drug-related law enforcement body will disregard any input from concerned parties or independent scientists prior to the ban.
Kratom is known to help people living with chronic pain and is promoted by drink company Vivazen, which markets its beverage as a “herbal dietary supplement.” The plant is also sold as a powder and a pill, which can give users an energy boost, not unlike caffeine, according to FOX 13 Salt Lake City. Kratom, is also known to help recovering heroin addicts when administered carefully.
Typically when temporarily banning a drug, according to the notice and comment requirements of Section 553 in the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the DEA allows interested parties to present their own findings and ask questions. When it comes to Kratom though, the DEA stated in its own Notice of Intent that officials believe, “there is good cause to forgo the notice and comment requirements of section 553.”
The Notice of Intent states that according to the DEA, “any further delays in the process for issuance of temporary scheduling orders would be impracticable and contrary to the public interest in view of the manifest urgency to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety.”
DEA National Spokesman Rusty Payne at least signaled intent to speak to experts when talking to the The Daily Caller News Foundation, “I’m sure there will come a time when they will have that opportunity, particularly when it comes to permanent scheduling; but right now this is viewed as an imminent public health and safety threat and that’s the step we took.”