I found Kratom, a cousin of coffee, in 2017. I had been prescribed opiates for menstrual pain and chronic pain At the time I found Kratom I had been taking the opiates daily for well over 10 years. My dosage had increased 5 times over in 10 years. I knew I was at risk of becoming a statistic. I was scared to keep going and scared to get off the opiates, but I knew I had to. Kratom came up on my radar after a local health food store began selling it. I researched it for a couple months before I decided to give it a try. The rest is history. I had next to zero opiate withdrawal symptoms. I wasn’t fuzzy headed and numb anymore. I’ve been taking the same small amount of Kratom daily without need to increase the amount. I take 1.5 teaspoons every 12 hours. Kratom allows me to live my life fully and joyfully pain free. Kratom doesn’t give a high or intoxicated feeling. I have a commercial driver license and can do my job without feeling altered. I can do my job pain free. I can do my job. On opiates I was limited to only taking them when I wasn’t on the clock….and they still left me fuzzy all the time. 

I believe Kratom needs to be protected, not scheduled and criminalized. A bit of oversight to make sure people are getting unadulterated, clean, toxin-free Kratom would be nice, maybe? I’ve been with the same company for the last 4 years. They lab test for impurities and alkaline percentages. I believe I would be dead already if I had not quit the opiates. I believe I would have eventually OD’d because my therapeutic dose began to have a higher and higher ceiling. I never would have met and married my spouse. I never would have become an Auntie to my beautiful nieces. I never would have climbed the professional ladder and experienced so much satisfaction in my work. I never would have co-created a homestead with my spouse, traveled, loved, LIVED. Kratom saved my life and I know it has saved many, many more. 

Wherever Kratom is legal, there are lives saved. Wherever Kratom becomes illegal, there will be lives lost to opiates. Please, keep and protect Kratom for your constituents. It is not an opiate. It does not cause respiratory depression or slowed heart rate. 

Your efforts would be much better served dealing with the fentanyl crisis in your state. Or the meth problems. Those two things destroy and kill. Kratom saves.