Kratom Krazed: One Florida Lawmaker’s Lonely, Wacky Crusade to Ban the Herb
Florida state Rep. Kristin Jacobs (D-Coconut Creek) is a woman on a mission, albeit a strange and misinformed mission. For the last three years, Jacobs has waged a lonely crusade in Tallahassee to ban kratom, the herb derived from a Southeast Asian tree and widely used for pain relief, withdrawal from opiates and as a less harmful alternative to opiates.
Saying the kratom ban was a “fall on the sword issue” for her, Jacobs railed against the people who have opposed her prohibitionist efforts, accusing them of Goebbels-like propaganda.
The Botanical Education Alliance is a small, non-profit organization that aims to educate the public about kratom. Its stated mission is, “to increase understanding in order to influence public policy and protect natural supplements. Our vision is to create a society where every adult has the right to access safe and effective natural supplements.”
According to the American Kratom Association, “Kratom is not a drug. Kratom is not an opiate. Kratom is not a synthetic substance. Naturally, occurring Kratom is a safe herbal supplement that’s more akin to tea and coffee than any other substances. Kratom behaves as a partial mu-opioid receptor agonist and is used for pain management, energy, even depression and anxiety that are so common among Americans. Kratom contains no opiates, but it does bind to the same receptor sites in the brain. Chocolate, coffee, exercise and even human breast milk hit these receptor sites in a similar fashion.”
The American Kratom Association and the Botanical Education Alliance have led the charge against the DEA’s move to federally ban kratom, a pushback that resulted in the agency’s unprecedented decision to delay or possibly even undo the proposed ban. Now they are leading the charge to push back against Rep. Jacobs and her war on the herb.
