The DEA is planning to place the chemicals present in the ancient plant called kratom on the Schedule 1 Controlled Substances List at the end of this month. If that plan goes through, kratom will take a spot alongside drugs like heroin, MDMA and LSD—substances labeled as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Millions of people who drink a tea made from its leaves for a variety of reasons—from pain relief to depression—will abruptly lose a remedy they’ve come to rely on. And all of this is happening on an accelerated timeline that has those closest to the issue wondering how questions of efficacy and marginal evidence turned into an emergency drug scheduling with few if any precedents.
