When Will Congress & the FDA Learn from Past Failures of Prohibitions?
This article tells the humorous (and often tragic) story of the many historical failures of prohibitions over the centuries. The first half of the article is worth a quick read to learn the drastic punishments that were used to prevent the spread of coffee use -- and, as we see today, these efforts failed and people eventually learned to moderate their use of this herbal drink.
The story about how the original formula of the classic American beverage, Coca Cola gained market domination (and perhaps fueled the nation's vigorous growth in world commerce) is also instructive.
The tragic part of the story of repeated prohibitions of alcohol and popular herbal drugs comes later in the article, linked above, as jails across the nation were filled largely with parents who became criminals, merely because they enjoyed using a forbidden substance.
To be fair, we have seen Congress come to the support of helping prevent the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) from using their emergency powers for criminalize the herb kratom in 2016 at the urging of the FDA.
So, it may be inaccurate to imply they haven't learned from the failures of prohibitions, but -- doesn't Congress have a role in overseeing the activities of the FDA?
Kratom has become a Billion dollar industry in the U.S. because it serves multiple needs for the public. For most of the uses kratom serves, it produces far less evidence of harm than legal alcohol (or painkillers like acetaminophen) and has helped many millions relieve the chronic pain and emotional issues that drove them to the use of prescription opioids. Aren't these evidence of a significant benefit to society?
The major importers and sellers of kratom have also largely adopted Good Manufacturing Practices and are working to police their own industry, but they receive no thanks from the FDA.
It would appear that the herb kratom is here to stay and the vast majority of the mature adults who use it do so responsibly, so wouldn't it make sense for Congress to exert some oversight over the FDA's factually-unsupported whisper campaign to Law Enforcement Officials in small communities (and some large cities) around the country?
Locking more of the public in jail cells, just because they prefer to use an herb that the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse are finding is safer and poses minimal risk of addiction doesn't make policy sense and would appear to be counterproductive.
In recognition of the failures of past prohibitions, why are we pursuing yet another one -- especially of an herb that has so much potential to benefit the public's wellbeing?
Wouldn't it be more sensible to factually educate the public about safe use of this herb, rather than drive it underground and create another profit center for the criminal cartels?
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