Big Pharma's patents expose real reason why corrupt DEA wanted to ban Kratom

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: kratom, DEA, patents

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(NaturalNews) The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is now free to ban all access to a plant known as kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) that for centuries has served as a natural remedy for pain, and that's helped countless opiate addicts overcome withdrawal symptoms. The federal government claims that kratom serves no legitimate medical purpose, but a closer look reveals that not only is the opposite true, but drug companies actually hold patents on kratom's medicinal compounds. Public uproar after the DEA announced its plans has led to the agency saying in statements that it has no "timetable for officially listing kratom—it could be next week or longer—leaving users on the edge of their seats," according to ARS Technica.

The DEA plans to classify kratom as a "Schedule I" drug – the highest classification reserved for hard drugs like heroin – and claims that kratom has a high potential for abuse and serves no legitimate purpose in health. However, several patents, including one dating back to 1964, show that kratom's alkaloid compounds indeed exhibit pharmacodynamic activity.

Three compounds in particular – MGM-9, MGM-15, and MGM-16 – serve as proof that kratom holds therapeutic potential. Each of these synthetic opioid compounds was synthesized from various alkaloids present in the kratom plant; MGM-9 came from a compound known as mitragynine, while MGM-15 and MGM-16 came from 7-hydroxymitragynine. These two compounds are considered to be among the primary active constituents in kratom.

MGM-15 and MGM-16 have been shown in studies to aid in treating both acute and chronic pain, while others demonstrate analgesic activity in a highly potent, yet low- or non-addictive way. That's what makes kratom unique from the opiate drugs derived from it: It works, its safe and users don't become addicted to it.

The DEA needs to keep its hands off kratom!

The pharmacological potential of kratom is so immense that some of the first patents on its medicinal use were filed as far back as the 1960s, one of these concluding that a kratom alkaloid known as Speciofoline has "useful pharmacodynamic activity, particularly analgetic and antitussive activity."

U.S. patent 20100209542 A1 is another one filed by researchers from the University of Mississippi and the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2010. It plainly states that kratom is an effective remedy for opioid withdrawal because it works like opioid drugs, except without the addictive and toxic properties.

The patent admits that "abrupt cessation of opiate abuse may be self-managed by using kratom." The reason for this, it adds, is because it contains components like mitragyinine that display "high binding affinity at mu, delta and kappa opiate receptors." In other words, kratom is therapeutically active in the body, which means that it's medically significant – the exact opposite of what the DEA is now claiming by categorizing it as Schedule I.

If kratom and its active constituents are so medically useless that they had to suddenly, without cause, be added to the Schedule I restricted list of controlled substances, then why did this study out of Japan conclude that mitragynine exhibits "opium-like properties?"

Or how about this study, which found that 7-hydroxymitragynine is an effective treatment for "acute and chronic pain?"

Could it really be that the DEA is just completely unaware of these studies? Hardly. The DEA knows full well that kratom is an effective pain reliever – and an exceptionally safe one, at that. It also knows that legal access to kratom in natural plant form eliminates all opportunities for pharmaceutical companies to bank on synthetic impostors made from the plant's constituents.

Be sure to check out the Health Ranger's new book Food Forensics to learn more about how to safely nourish your body with clean, whole foods and herbs rather than pharmaceutical drugs.

Sources for this article include:

ARSTechnica.com

TheDailySheeple.com

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov

Google.com/patents/US20100209542