The Scheduling of Kratom and Selective Use of Data.

Kratom is a traditional drug from Southeast Asia that has been an emerging new substance in the United States. On August 30, 2016, the DEA announced the intention to emergency schedule kratom into Schedule I. To support this decision, the DEA cited an increase in drug seizures of kratom and an increase in calls to poison control concerning kratom. However, a short time later, on October 12, 2016, the DEA withdrew the intent to schedule kratom after public and congressional backlash. The withdrawal by the DEA was somewhat unprecedented. To better understand both decisions, the current article examines the evidence the DEA cited to support their decision to emergency schedule kratom and the degree and type of media coverage of kratom to determine if a media-driven drug panic occurred.

Do You Get What You Paid For? An Examination of Products Advertised as Kratom.

Although some novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are newly discovered chemicals, others are traditional or indigenous substances that are introduced to new markets. One of these latter substances is a plant many people refer to as kratom. Indigenous to Southeast Asia and used for a variety of instrumental and recreational purposes, kratom has recently become available to Western drug users. Kratom is somewhat unique in that the plant contains two different psychoactive chemicals, which have both stimulant (mitragynine) and narcotic (7-hydroxymitragynine) properties. Thus, kratom may appeal to different types of drug users for reasons other than curiosity. In the current study, 15 samples of products that were either directly advertised as kratom or were listed in the results of a web search (but were not directly advertised as kratom) were purchased for testing. After laboratory testing, it was determined that all products advertised as kratom contained the active chemical mitragynine, but 7-hydroxymitragynine was not detected in any of the samples. Implications are discussed.

Regulating a novel drug: an evaluation of changes in use of Salvia divinorum in the first year of Florida's ban.

BACKGROUND: A plant with dissociative and psychoactive properties began to attract the attention of the media and United States policymakers following a well-publicized suicide in 2006 and reports that the plant served as a 'legal high' and substitute for cannabis. As a result, Salvia divinorum and its active ingredient, salvinorin A, were classified as Schedule I substances by the Florida Legislature on July 1, 2008. As of yet, no research has explored the efficacy of this policy or similar policies in other jurisdictions. METHODS: Three self-report studies collected from young adults both prior to and following the policy's implementation are employed to investigate the potential relationship between the policy and usage rates. In addition, law enforcement personnel from the state's most populated areas were interviewed to determine the extent to which they were encountering salvia in their work. RESULTS: It was indicated that less than two-thirds of those surveyed were aware of the drug's legal status. Lifetime prevalence of salvia use was largely unchanged. However, the rates of self-reported past year and past month use in Florida were significantly lower following the scheduling. Though use of Salvia divinorum appears to have decreased, perceptions of peer use increased markedly. Law enforcement officers and laboratories reported rarely, if ever, dealing with cases of salvia possession. CONCLUSIONS: Data suggests the classification of Salvia divinorum as a Schedule I drug was followed by a substantial reduction in recreational use. We caution that other factors may have influenced use, that the efficacy of scheduling novel substances is likely to vary by drug type, that such a reduction in reported use may only exist transiently until a sophisticated illicit market develops to replace the legitimate one, and that a state's success in regulating salvia may be related to their regulation of and enforcement of other drug prohibitions.